Reviews of Zanzibar Palace Hotel
(90%) From 38 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
This is not a great hotel.
The rooms are dark, have horrible scratchy fabric on the beds, no chairs to sit on and the bathroom was not very clean, the bath was rank. All very dull and below par.
Very disappointing after our wonderful experiences on safari and in Zamzibar.
Expert Africa comments
We were concerned to hear such negative comments from these travellers, because this hotel usually gets consistently high reviews. We may have failed to explain the typical Zanzibari style and character found in most of Stone Town’s boutique hotels - which are often decorated with of heavy dark furniture and fabrics, and polished stone. The result is usually very authentic, although it can feel quite dark, especially if the sun isn’t consistently shining.
We passed these comments to the lodge and the director, Frans, was clearly surprised and upset. He said that he was very sorry that these travellers hadn’t raised any of the issues with him, while they were there. If they’d been raised at the time, he would then have then had a chance to check the cleanliness of the rooms; make sure the bath had been polished; and remove the bed’s decorative but harsh and scratchy throw; and provide additional chairs to add to the Baraza sofa in the corner.
We think that the Zanzibar Palace was a bad match for these travellers – and we’re sorry we got it wrong. Meanwhile Frans tells us that he has organised a staff meeting to discuss these issues – and we will continue to monitor the hotel’s feedback closely.
Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
A very beautiful and atmospheric hotel - the room was huge with a quite spectacular bathroom. It is well located and the staff were extremely helpful.
We didn't eat lunch or dinner at the hotel but breakfast was very pleasant.
Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
We had a very spacious room with large ensuite facility, extremely comfortable beds. Reception staff extremely helpful, good location - in all, very good value.
Zanzibar Palace Hotel is in a good central location, very helpful reception and the rooms were spacious, comfortable and extremely good value.
Would recommend.
Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
Very courteous and helpful staff during our short stopover here.
Read more about the whole tripZanzibar Palace Hotel review
We were glad to have air conditioning at the Zanzibar Palace Hotel. Friendly helpful management and staff
The weather felt so much hotter in Stone Town.
The room was very comfortable. The food was very good.
Perfect place to end a holiday.
Stayed for one night only. Beuatiful room,, great place to end the holiday.
Read more about the whole tripZanzibar palace hotel review
Beautiful hotel, lovely staff, good location, lovely lunch.
Couldnt have been better
Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
Expert Africa suggested The Zanzibar Palace Hotel for our night in Stonetown and it proved an excellent choice.
We were not there long enough to really appreciate it but our room was superb, with the highlight a roof top bathroom and veranda from which we watched the sun go down. An excellent dinner was served in the hotel and they went out of the way to make sure breakfast was available before we left at 5.30am.
We would highly recommend.
Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
We had a very brief stay here, which was very unfortunate as its a lovely hotel and we would have loved to stay longer. We were very lucky to have the Dunia suite on the top floor which has a penthouse outdoor bathroom, which is a brilliant place to watch the sun go down with views over Stone Town. it has a lovely bath but is a bit unpractical to use as the water pressure was quite low so would have taken all day to fill, but dont let that put you off it trully was an amazing and unique room.
The hotel had a lovely unique feel to it but it does have a lot of stairs and no lift which may be issue to some.
Were not sure if it was the manager or the chef but he was very friendly who even escourted us to a local shop to look for some gifts. I cant comment on the food or activities as we didn't really eat there apart from a very light breakfast to catch the early flight home - we were very grateful that they provided us with something even at 5.30am!
Zanzibar Palace Hotel review
We really enjoyed our time here. The room we had was first class. We were really well looked after, including giving us breakfast at 5.30am on our day of departure, when normally service starts at 8.00am. The hotel is well located in Stone Town and is very near to all the shops and restuarants.
Would recommend Mercury's, Livinstones and The Silk Route for eating out.
Expert Africa comments
Whilst in Zannzibar, we organised a half-day trip to Jozani Forest for these travellers. The rated this as 'good' and commented:
"We also had a spice tour and a tour of Stone Town. All three were good, epscially the spice tour which exceeded our expectations and seeing the market in Stone Town was particularly good. Our only slight concern was our guide, Rasheed, did take a number of calls on his mobile, during the spice tour and the Stone Town tour. It didn't spoil our enjoyment of either, but we felt that the phone should either have been switched off our he should have explained why he was taking the calls, e.g. someone not well at home, or a problem with some element of the tour. It flet more like they were personal calls.
It would be helpful of EcoTours were aware of this.
The tour to Jozani was as we expected with the viewing of the Kirk's Red Colobus very easy as they have been habituated. What was interesting was seeing everday life on Zanzibar on the drive from the spice farm to the forest. Still a worthwhile trip."
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.
