We didnt have a good start. Despite the hotel having rooms available they had the audacity to assign us in front of a giant extremely noisy aircon facility. Extremely noisy. Contact the hotel to make sure you dont end up somewhere near room 47/48.
Its an outrage to even have such noisy equipment close where people live not to mention paying top dollar in a very poor country. This alone disqualifies this hotel from luxury.
Other rooms we were offered looked into bushes a dark depressing hole they market as executive because of a bathtub.
Rooms are nothing to write home about. Basic in all aspects. Most definitely not luxury. Bedding poor. Especially pillows. Mattress bearable at best. Sight protection in the bathroom already peeling off. No coffee maker. Tiny wardrobe. Basic amenities. I was glad I brought mine from my previous real luxury hotel. Aircon in the room was good and ok noise wise.
Other annoyances were very little animation and activities. Not even beach volleyball because the folded it for some wedding and didnt set it up in a weeks time.
Our highlight was a water polo in the pool which was played daily.
One time there was a coconut presentation which was very good!
We expected more of that kind of experiences.
Food with the exception of local fruit lacks local items. Extremely poorly cooked western food. Cocktails, with exception of the ones on the beach which arent advertised and we found out about accidentally, are a joke. Wine selection very poor and outrageously priced. If you bring your own theyll have the audacity charge you $25 to corkage fee!
Evening music consists of poor singing of western songs or 40-50 old songs. Nothing local despite a rich local music heritage.
This very very expensive and not worth it expensive hotel will help you experience very little about Zanzibar. Youll get in touch with local staff, mostly from dares-lam, thats about it. No local food, no local music, almost none local experiences of any kind.
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