Upani in Diani

We were amazed by the mediocrity of the entire place and stay. First of all, the pictures are not in any way the reflection of reality, they surely had a great photographer! We got a 3 bedrooms villa and we were left (cause that's what happens, you're left with the place and no one will check on you unless you look for them) with an old and tired house with two bedrooms, not three, and beds in the upper area beneath the makuti roof where mosquitos eat you alive even with the nets. The kitchen is tiny and lacks basics like salt or pepper, and they don't clean it - I mean don't even take the trash out - while the times they came for doing the beds they just moved the pillows.. was comical. Wi-fi is weak.
May be the other houses look ok? we don't know. No one took us around, or was there for anything there isn't a real "Manager" figure. To be honest one of the worst value for money I've seen in Kenya, where with literally the same price or $30 more per day you can get a pharaonic villa in your own compound with service staff devoted to make you enjoy your stay.
We were long-life friends traveling and just wanted to have a good time while in Diani which we did, just not when in the house. Nothing personal at all with the staff or the ownership, just an overall bad stay with a recommendation to look elsewhere.

The location is great the beach is not far from the villa 5 minutes walk .The villa we booked is perfect for a large group and its a very beautiful villa everything about it is just amazing and clean .The pool is very clean ,we literally did not want to come out of the pool. Everyone is friendly at upani ready to help . Kudos to the chef (Chris) very nice guy , he made all the meals for us and we enjoyed it especially the breakfast.
However the only thing should be done is cleaning of all the rooms on a daily changing of bedsheets and pool towels daily.

All in all ,This place is amazing its perfect for a group of friends and family,its worth every penny
its sad we had to leave.

I had a wonderful time in Upani cottage. The staff are very nice and kind. The rooms were very clean and the pool was nice and clean.The location of the cottage was also good. Mike and Caren( staff) were very kind and hospitable. Definitely coming back!

Awesome! From the staff, the cleanliness everything is great. I loved the experience 🤗. Will definitely visit again 💃

The place was dirty to an extant that we could not touch the oven due to the stickiness of things.

After complaining, the host called us and asked us not to complaint because they will be off listed.

Poor Coustomer service and totally not value for money.

Thank you for your feedback, we rely on our guests to know what we are doing right and where we fall short in terms of service delivery. However, I'll take the liberty to let all future guests know that you were problem guests from the start. We made as much effort to make you and your partner as comfortable as we could by agreeing to all your requests. We even gave you a free upgrade from a standard room to a full 3 Bedroom Villa just for two, as a free upgrade, one for which you would normally pay 6 times more, to make sure you enjoyed your time at Upani. This does not seem to have resolved your issues, in fact you went on to look for MORE issues. And the fact that you have decided to leave a negative review here in addition to the other platform through which you booked shows that this is now personal. As the owner, I never had such a conversation with you as you claim, perhaps a member of my staff may have, knowing that we take reviews seriously, I am not aware. I mentioned that we always seek to resolve issues on the ground to resolve any problem, none of which you were willing to do.

Considering that you paid $39 a night due to an offer at the time you booked, yet got a free upgrade for the exclusive use of our $300+ a day pool view villa, from your indication of it not being value for money I'd conclude that you would have preferred to stay completely for free. We usually find the most difficult guest to be those like you who are seeking some type of free stay which needless to say, is not sustainable for us as a business. Further to that, we received your email in our inbox asking us to respond to your issues, long after you had checked out and left the negative review, which we have simply never encountered in the past except in cases where a person is looking for a refund. If that is what you are seeking, do feel free to say so, rather than taking this roundabout route, and seeking to malign our holiday villas while you do so.

Regarding the place being dirty, are you referring to the oven or the entire place? A dirty oven is a housekeeping issue and simple to resolve, and while it for sure should not have been dirty, the oven is now clean. It hardly warrants a 1-star rating. The house is cleaned daily, the floor, depending on the time of day you go there, has sheddings from the makuti roof, a fact we clearly state on our listing and I quote "We have a natural thatched roof made with natural materials ("makuti') and local wood. For this reason, you may from time to time encounter little insects that like to live in this environment. While we make every effort to make the roof as inhospitable to them as possible, due to the climate they will seek out the cool inner sections and may also cause fine sawdust to accumulate here and there as they make themselves comfortable. We clean the house daily, twice a day in some areas and also treat the house and compound as much as possible while also bearing in mind your safety as guests. Therefore we request that you do bear that in mind during your stay and if the natural roof may be a problem for you then think twice before booking. It has not been a problem for most of our guests in the past, and if you are familiar with coastal architecture then you will hardly notice it. "

End quote.

We get guests that sometimes don't take the time to fully read our descriptions before booking, such as in your case. However, we pride ourselves in being able to resolve situations. I would not recommend you as guests to any host at all since even seeking any resolution fell on deaf ears. Next time, just cancel your booking and save your hosts the trouble.