Reviews of Dhow Palace Hotel
(76%) From 27 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Dhow Palace Hotel review
nice place. Centrally located in Stonetown, so its easy to walk anywhere. Room was clean, large and comfortable. Staff were helpful and friendly. Lots of old world ambiance. Incense at bedtime was a nice touch. Air conditioning at night was a relief for us cold climate people. Pool and courtyard are very nice.
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Single Rooms shoudl be avoided !!!!
The Dhow Palace is a hotel of faded grandeur. We had a lovely room on the 3rd floor with a balcony over the pool and the sweeping corridors filled with antiques are impressive.
Sadly the three single rooms the rest of our group had were on the ground floor, small, dark, dingy and generally didn't feel at all secure. When we enquired about those in these moving an immediate "sorry the hotel is full" fell from the receptionists lips almosy before we'd even finished talking. I suspect that the single rooms are often complained about and as such Expert Africa should really book doubles for single travellers and inform them they do not recommend the the single rooms,
Room 11 which a female friend was in had a window that opened out onto a flat roof with a doorway opposite and people coming and going all the time. She felt so unsettled my better half slept in her room that night and she shared with me, he confiemed the next morning the comings and goings went on into the early hours. Its not a particularly expensive hotel and EA do themselves a disservice by allowing the hotel to place single traveller clients in these rooms. Otherwise though its a good base for Stonetown as long as you get a good double room on an upper floor.
Overall Stonetown is an eclectic, shabby, interesting place to spend a night but I wouldn't linger more than one. We did spend a delightful last night high in the rooftops at the Cafe at Emerson Spice Hotel the food and service fantastic and a great view of the town and out to sea.
Dhow Palace Hotel
Hotel was very convenient, with good facilities and the room was excellent. Some staff (but not all) were very helpful, and they facilitated our trip to a spice farm - though the promised breakfast on our last day, when we were leaving very early, did not materialise.
It's worth telling guests that the hotel won't accept credit cards for any extras (meals. laundry etc) and their exchange rate for dollars is poor.
Dhow Palace stay
Lovely old building, nice rooms, efficient reception, good aircon.
We didn't have a very good meal in the rooftop restaurant and ( not surprisingly) there was noone else there! When we went to book, with plenty of notice, as advised by reception, they seemed unprepared.
Breakfast was served downstairs in the juice bar area and rather haphazardly laid out in quite a small area. Wasn't very appealing.
Dhow Palace Hotel review
The hotel is centrally located so it is convenient to all amenities. The staff was friendly. Breakfast was included but somewhat limited in selections. My room was old but clean. I believe my bathroom is situated right next to the kitchen so it was noisy in the morning until I learned to close the bathroom door.
The rooster woke me up at the earliest light which was before 5 every morning. We were not sure about the quality of the food in the hotel so we did not stay for lunch or dinner. The internet-connected computer in the lobby area is a good convenient feature.
There is very limited space for hanging up clothes and no cloth line for drying hand-washed clothes.
Dhow Palace Hotel review
This hotel is really well located in Stone Town, at the quiet end of a great street for shopping and eating.
The hotel is essentially two buildings conjoined, surrounding a pretty courtyard and a great cooling swimming pool [very much appreciated in the heat of the day!]. Rooms are of various sizes and configurations, and we were showed several before making our choice [a nice touch]. The rooms are small, but fairly well appointed, with some nice, authentic furniture, and a comfortable bed and en-suite bathroom.
There is a great roof terrace from where you can watch the sun set [a much nicer location than the bar of the Africa House Hotel - crammed every day with coach parties from the nearby resorts all bussed in to have one drink and watch the sun go down]
Sadly, meals at the Dhow Palace can't be recommended - the menu is a mix of simple European dishes, which were not particularly appealing.
Overall, this is a comfortable place to spend a couple of days in Stone Town.
Dhow Palace Hotel review
Quite faded really. Staff were very helpful. Did see rsther large rat in foyer which no-one else seemed to mind.
Read more about the whole tripDhow Palace Hotel review
Check-in efficient. The Air con in room failed overnight.
We were upgraded to a fantastic rooftop suite for our second night.
Staff really helpful in letting me use the phone to call the Azanzi about a lost shirt and to reconfirm our flights.
Beautiful hotel antiques.
A delightful hotel
This is a lovely looking hotel with beautiful decor. Our room was on the 3rd floor so there were a few steps to climb. I'm not sure if there was a lift or not. The room was of a nice size and comfortable. The bathroom was pretty small with the toilet so close to the sink you could wash your face at the same time. The shower was of a morrocan/persian style with an hand held type shower head on the wall. We did get a strong musky smell and a few times a sewage smell which wasn't too pleasant.
We did have an evening meal at the hotel which was a bit to be desired and only had 1 breakfast (we were only there for 2 nights) again nothing special.
The hotel is in a good location and is a few steps away from the Africa House Hotel in which you can have drinks on the balcony and watch the sunset. (Drinks very pricey though) Overall this hotel is pleasant and we did like the decor.
Dhow Palace Hotel review
Attractive hotel good for our one night in Stone Town - perhaps not for a longer stay.
Beautiful and cold pool!
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
