Our story
Built with thought.
Lala Hotels was built to fill a gap: somewhere affordable, well designed and well run, for people who are globally savvy, locally rooted, and would rather not wreck the place while they're at it.
The idea
Everything you need. Nothing you don't.
Lala is Swahili for sleep. We took it seriously.
We are open to all, engaging and mindful. We offer comfortable cabins, food you will talk about, and community-based experiences that make it hard to leave. No gratuitous luxury; the creature comforts that matter, done properly, at a price that does not need a sabbatical to justify.
LalaGalu opened in 2023 on Galu Beach, the quiet southern end of Diani: fourteen individually spaced timber cabins, a two-bedroom Family Cabin, a pool, and Sunnyside Up on the sand. It is the first Lala. It will not be the last.
Forging an African identity
A conscious approach.
Designed for the continent, we were careful not to appropriate any of its cultures. Aesthetically we tried to answer Africa's modern textures, fine art and vibrant music, and wherever we can we give back to the communities we operate in.
We worked with as many locally based artisans as possible: the timber, the woven pendants, the furniture on the decks, the prints on the walls. We keep engaging our neighbours to show their work through interiors that are never quite finished, and Sunnyside Up doubles as a gallery for artists from Nairobi and beyond.
The planet
Lightly, and for real.
We say this once and quietly: it is how the place is built, not a campaign.
- Solar powered. The cabins and the restaurant run on the sun. Air conditioning included.
- Single-use plastic ban. Across the property, and we recycle in every way we can.
- Our own water. Cleaned by an on-site, tested reverse osmosis plant and given to you in reusable bottles. We won't charge you for it.
- Light on the land. Individually spaced cabins on a modular footprint that needed very little infrastructure to build.
- Local first. Local artisans, local produce where the reef and the market allow, local staff who know the beach better than any guidebook.
Lala Hotels
A day off for the always on.
Our mission is an affordable, efficient and planet-friendly leisure stay for the quality-conscious, entrepreneurial travellers of Africa. Our vision is to enrich the lifestyle of the conscious traveller as they build the dynamic African economy of the future.
Put plainly: you are busy, you make things happen, and somewhere along the way you need to recharge. We built the place to do that in. Come and see.
Come and see for yourself.
Best rates direct. Questions answered on WhatsApp within the hour, most hours.