Zanzibar Bay Resort

Good experience overall. For a solo traveler, I didn't feel it coz the staffs were warm and welcoming. Special thanks Haysam Oscar for his people skills

Wonderful reception team and lovely surroundings, but serious problems with food, service and management** I want to start with the people who deserve recognition: the reception team at Zanzibar Bay Resort were outstanding. We were six adults travelling as three couples: my wife and me, and our two daughters, both in their late twenties, one with her husband and the other with her boyfriend. We arrived late following a delayed flight, with four of our six guests missing their luggage through no fault of the hotel. Reception made check-in easy and gave us a warm welcome during a stressful situation. A special thank you to Juma, who helped rearrange our safari by two days while we waited for the missing luggage. Our initial two-night stay became four nights, and the reception team could not have been more helpful. The surroundings are lovely, parts of the hotel look great, and the main restaurant is a stunning space that appears recently built. Unfortunately, the food and much of the service did not match those first impressions. During our first four days and four nights, five of our six guests became ill, three of us severely. All our meals had been supplied by the hotel; we had not eaten anywhere else. Given this, we firmly believe the illness was caused by food served at the resort. We left for our three-night safari still unwell and only started feeling better on its third day. This affected a significant part of our holiday and left us unwilling to risk eating at Zanzibar Bay again. We found the food bland, repetitive and mass-produced. The Asian and Indian speciality restaurants were particularly disappointing. Both were self-service buffets, with none of the à la carte experience or attentive service we had expected. Nobody approached our table to offer drinks; we had to get them ourselves. The contrast with our Selous African Adventure safari stay was extraordinary. This was part of the same hotel group, yet it felt as though we had stepped into a different world. The staff were incredible, the safari experience was wonderful, and the food was vastly better. We even considered staying an additional night there because our alternative hotel in Zanzibar could not yet accommodate us, and we were already dreading returning to Zanzibar Bay. Around the resort, the lack of attention was a recurring problem. Dozens of used glasses were left uncleared beside us at the pool. Getting served at the bar could involve waits of up to 25 minutes, with staff continuing other tasks without acknowledging us. We were regularly approached by spa staff selling treatments, yet rarely offered ordinary assistance or drinks. Our original room also felt dated. For all four nights, the air-conditioning did not work and the water was lukewarm at best. The room we received for our final night after safari was much better, with working air-conditioning and hot water. The hotel can clearly provide functioning rooms, but that was not our experience during the initial stay. While on safari, we decided to leave Zanzibar Bay early. We returned for one night before moving to another hotel, leaving five nights unused across three rooms—15 room-nights in total. Moving involved a substantial additional expense, but we had lost confidence in eating at the resort and did not want to risk further illness. The handling of our complaint made matters worse. Initially, I gave reception a brief explanation about our disappointment with the restaurant arrangements because I did not want an uncomfortable discussion. When the general manager came to meet us by the pool bar, I explained the full concerns: the illness, food, service and room problems. We also told him we were extremely hungry because we felt unable to eat there. I had even tried to get a freshly cooked omelette at breakfast, hoping that would be something I felt comfortable eating. After it was prepared and I briefly stepped away, the cook would not let me take it. The interaction left me feeling as though I was being accused of trying to take something I was not entitled to. I left without the omelette. The general manager did not appear to listen to what we were telling him. His sole focus seemed to be getting us to sign a waiver. We asked for the document to accurately reflect our reasons for leaving, including the illness, poor service and room problems. Despite repeated requests and revised versions, it continued to focus on the à la carte issue and failed to properly record our main complaints. We felt that getting a signature mattered more to him than understanding why six guests were leaving early. We ultimately declined to sign. There was also the issue of our airport transfer. A manager, whom I understood to be the assistant manager, expressed concern that we were leaving and offered to arrange collection from our new hotel for our journey to the airport on our final day, as our return transfer was already booked. At the time, I thought this was a thoughtful gesture. However, when I asked the general manager to confirm that arrangement during the discussion about the waiver, he said he could not confirm it and would need to speak to Secret Escapes. Having left 15 room-nights unused because of our experience, we felt that helping ensure our existing airport transfer went ahead was the least the hotel could do. We never received confirmation. With no reassurance that we would be collected, we arranged our own journey to the airport and messaged the hotel to let them know. What initially sounded like a helpful offer became another source of uncertainty and disappointment, reinforcing our feeling that the general manager showed little willingness to help. Even checking out was frustrating. My wife, who is nearly 60, and I carried three heavy suitcases from our room to reception ourselves. Six staff members stood near the towel collection point and watched us struggling without offering help. When we subsequently began loading the van, none of the other staff helped either. Another member of the reception team eventually came out and helped us load our luggage into the vehicle. We appreciated her assistance—once again, reception provided the care that was missing elsewhere. My wife and daughter also heard “get out of here” as we were getting into the van, which was an upsetting final impression. We could not find suitable alternative restaurants nearby, making the food situation particularly difficult. The hotel we moved to provided a dramatically better experience. If you enjoy a very informal holiday with buffet food and self-service throughout, the resort’s appearance and surroundings may appeal to you. For us, the level of service felt closer to a campsite-style holiday than the four-star hotel experience we had paid for. If enjoying your food, receiving attentive service and feeling looked after are important parts of your holiday, I could not recommend it. I have travelled in Africa many times and stayed in numerous four-star hotels. This was among my most disappointing experiences for food, service and complaint handling. Our excellent safari stay within the same group showed how much better it could have been. Thank you again to Juma and the reception team. You were the highlight of our stay, but unfortunately we would not return.

I had the most amazing stay at Paradise Beach resort Makuti the food is amazing and the staff are even better. They serve you with a smile and I will definitely be coming back next year. You should allcome here.happy she is very friendly and welcoming.

I had a good experience here for the 3 nights and four days...generally it was great .good customer service and the hiccups i experienced about the room they were promptly sorted out by the help of Machibya. Happy and Yohanna amongst others were of really great help. Wishing to be back here in my next visit.♥️

We booked this hotel through Secret Escapes. Combining the hotel with a 3 night safari at Selou. The hotel is vey good and the staff are very friendly and welcoming. There are a couple of types of room, Pool View and Beach View. We were located in the Beach View rooms thanks to the manager Ibrahim. The rooms are spacious and the views are spectacular. The downside is the travelling. We arrived at Gatwick Airport at 8.00 am on the Saturday and arrived at the hotel in Zanzibar at 6.30am Sunday. There are curently no non-stop flights from the UK to Zanzibar. The Safari was organised through Beachsafari.com. This was excellent. Our guide on day one and three was Sadick and he made the safaris even better. We saw a wide array of animals, a swim in a hot spring, and a lunch for two with a view that we will never forget. The camp had no fences so after dark we had to be escorted back to our hut by a Maasai warrior. We came across a warthog one night..! The huts are clean and well equipped with all the necessary modern facilities. All in all a trip of a lifetime and we enjoyed every minute