Riu Palace Zanzibar

We stayed at the Riu Palace at the end of August. First the positives: Layout: One large pool and 2 smaller ones (although I wouldn’t call them small). Each pool has its own bar although the large pool of course has the best bar. Plenty of loungers around and servers are always walking around to take drinks orders. Lots of steep pathways. Beach: Again a fantastic beach. Perfect white sand. It can get busy and the sea is tidal at certain parts of the day although not as bad as resorts on the east coast. Loungers on the beach can be hard to find unless you go down after breakfast. Food: The buffet restaurant, Promenade, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Food is varied and plentiful and good quality. At breakfast there is an egg station as well as pre-prepared eggs of all types. At mealtimes there is also a kids station serving burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, marshmallows, chocolate fountain. Room: We stayed in Room 716. This is a superior ocean view room although you are not too close to the ocean. The room is very nice with a walk in closet with plenty of space for suitcases and clothes. The living room has a sofa bed which was made up nicely. There is also a balcony/terrace with loungers and chairs and some hanging rails for drying clothes. The main issue we found was the location of the shower which was open and made of frosted glass giving very little privacy. Probably a nice set up for honeymooners but not for a family. Another problem with the shower was the shower tray which was acrylic and had various stains and scuffs as well as rust. They would have been better off tiling the shower floor rather than using a tray. Housekeeping: Excellent. Room was always cleaned well and always had plenty of towels left for us. Now the negatives. Luggage: When we first arrived we were driven to our room via Golf Buggy. A short while later our luggage was delivered to our our room by Advent who was always very courteous and willing to help throughout our stay. In order to get the luggage into our room you need to carry the bags down a couple of stair cases to the level your room is on. Advent did this all by himself. On our last day we asked for a porter to be sent to help us with our luggage. He arrived in the buggy, decided to sit in the buggy at the top of the stairs and then called the reception on his walkie-talkie to ask them to tell us to carry out luggage up the stairs.....Now I don't mind a bit of hard work and I am happy to carry my own luggage but surely in a 5 star resort the whole point of a having porters is to help guests with these sort of things, especially when this was done on arrival or maybe as we were now leaving last impressions didn't matter. Terrible Transfers: Part of our package included free transfers form the airport and back. Please bear in mind that these transfers are subcontracted to a company called Fisherman's Tours and are not actually run by the Hotel so they "conveniently" don't take ownership of any issues despite using the company for transfers. We spent the first 2 nights in Zanzibar in a different hotel so we could not take advantage of the free airport pickup to the RIU. However, we were expecting to have the free transfer from the hotel back to the airport at the end of our trip. How wrong we were. 3 days before we were due to leave I spoke to reception about booking the transfer back to the airport. They said they could not find the booking on their system even though I was able to show them email confirmation that we had it as part of our package. The front desk then asked me to contact the transfer company myself and speak to a Mr Wahid. So I messaged Mr Wahid on whatsapp. He responded a little while later and I explained the situation. He then told me that he would pick us up at 6:30am on the morning of our departure and that we should be sure to be in reception 10 minutes before. Our flight was at 10am and I did ask Mr Wahid if this was sufficient time to get to the airport given the fact that it takes 1hr 30 mins. He said "this is the normal pickup time". On the morning in question we arrived at the front desk at 6:15am. By 6:45am we had seen no sign of the transfer. I messaged Mr Wahid and got no response. I was then forced to ask reception to book me a taxi at a cost of $60 to take us to the airport as we were at risk of missing our flight. I messaged Mr Wahid later in the day to complain about the situation. I got no response for over 8 hours. He then called and his words were "is there a problem?". My recommendation to anyone looking for a transfer is to either book one yourself privately or alternatively check out a day earlier and spend the last night in hotel near the airport like the Golden Tulip. Avoid 3rd party companies like Fisherman's. Unavailability of Speciality Dining: Impossible to book slots via the App. Best bet is to go to reception and do it there. No Access to Other Hotels: One of the reasons we booked RIU Palace was because we thought we would be able to visit the RIU Jambo too and utilise their facilities. This is no longer allowed. Not sure why. High Exchange Rate: Make sure to change any cash you want to Shillings at the airport. The hotel offers a terrible exchange rate. We were able to change at a rate of 2600 shillings to 1 dollar at the airport. The hotel's rate was 2000 shillings.

nice hotel friendly stuff and good personal we very enjoyed staying here everything is beutiful especilly Entertaiment team We met Roni good potable organizer so super 10/10 hotel

Roni is was the best person in the hotel! Hakuna Matata.

A wonderful excursion thanks to Haji My daughter and I went on a jet ski excursion, and we would especially like to thank Haji, whose kindness and care made the experience unforgettable. I was having trouble with my knee and found it difficult to keep up. Haji was incredibly patient: he waited for me, adapted to my pace and made sure I felt comfortable throughout. Eventually, I rode with him on his jet ski, which allowed me to relax and thoroughly enjoy the trip. I felt looked after and never pressured to go faster. We visited beautiful places, but what stayed with us most was his kindness and understanding. Haji turned an activity I was initially struggling with into one of the loveliest memories of our holiday. He is attentive, patient and a true credit to his team. We hope the company recognises how lucky they are to have him. Thank you so much, Haji, from both of us!

We were a few days here and booked a moto tour and scuba diving. The instructor HAJI, the guide for the water moto, and also ALEX, the guide of the scuba, were fantastic professionals and persons. We deserve the better for them and we’re hoping to come back. 💗 The rest of the personal is also loving and caring and the hotel installations wondrous.