Zuri Zanzibar

Unfortunately, everything was ruined the moment we stepped in the room. We came during an extremely busy Christmas period, so the hotel had 100% occupancy. The moment we stepped into the room, the stench of mildew was overwhelming. It was suffocating and even obvious to the hotel associate guiding us. You could see it in the look on their face. They were upset to bring us there. All our clothes smelled from mildew. The plastic luggage also. Leather products smell to this day. Never stay in rooms 48 and 49 (we paid double so we could have connecting rooms). We had congestion and problems breathing. They know it’s a scam to put us there. When I complained, Zofia D. was absolutely useless and insulting. No offer for compensation or to offset the cost of the dry cleaning. Just gave us a future 10% discount during non peak season on a $3000 per night villa. Horrible experience. Please stay away. This hotel is set in the most beautiful natural grounds you can imagine. It is filled with incredibly friendly and helpful staff. The beach is absolutely amazing. These factors alone should create a 5 star experience.

Everything in the resort was splendid, late-night room service might need some improvements, but everything else was perfect in our stay. The staff are extremely friendly and will always make u feel welcome. Asante Sana Zuri Hotel and see u next time

Splendid relaxing vacation amidst lush and quiet garden. Beach, pool, clear ocean, great food, attentive service, unique room design, spacious common areas - truly dream like vacation. The chill out sundowners session is a daily routine must.

Wow. I expected a lot about this hotel due good recommendations and the pictures and videos I saw so far. But I was not disappointed. The service was very friendly and the food genious. If possible try to eat at all different locations. Especially the dinner at the beach was a fantastic experience. The beach was very clean and you won't be bothered by beach sellers as soon as you stay at the ground. The security was even to strict some times. As soon as you get back to the huge garden you find yourself in a different world full of flowers and even some curious monkeys coming by to say hello. The hotel rooms are laid in this huge garden offering a lot of privacy. The rooms are very modern and perfect. All with a spacious patio including outdoor shower, hammock and a table.

It is my second stay in Zuri after 6 years. I think it is the best and only luxurious hotel in Zanzibar. Beautifully decorated and spacious rooms with a private terrace, beautiful beach and very nice restaurants. I will definitely go back soon

This hotel is beautiful and has an amazing location however I don't feel it quite offers the right experience to justify the 5* rating. The beach is amazing, perfect white sand and turquoise clear water, gorgeous sunbeds and drinks/food served at your lounger. The people constantly approaching you to sell things all day was very irritating - you can't even walk to the water's edge without being approached by someone, let alone take a walk on the beach. One thing that I found very unusual and quite irritating was that any drinks/food served to your sunlounger had to be signed for each time, despite being all inclusive. Sometimes waiters were calling you out of the sea to sign your "bill" for $0. Halfway through our stay, the waiters were adding a 5% service charge to everything we ordered, and again we had to sign for that each time as well. I found this very strange - I've never been charged service in a 5* all inclusive, that would usually be included in a tip at the end of the stay. The staff were even charging a service fee to re-stock the mini-bar in the room. The rooms were nice and very private, really enjoyed the outdoor shower however the rooms were too small and had very little storage space for suitcases/clothes. Note that the air-con only goes to 24 degrees in order to keep the carbon footprint of the hotel down, but it does offer a cooling system over the bed at night which is more than sufficient. The rooms had great tv and really good films on offer. The food was decent/average - I found it quite bland, the salads were probably the best. The a la carte restaurant/lunch menus were nice however could really benefit from changing the menu, it gets very repetitive especially if you're staying for 2 weeks. The gluten free options were minimal especially at lunch-time and the buffet signs were unreliabile. At one point I noticed that the fried chicken said "GF" and i double checked with the staff and they said that it wasn't and removed the sign. This made me very cautious to eat most things as I wasn't sure if it was really gluten free. I did get foot poisoning during my stay from some bad lobster - I wouldn't know if this was the fault of the hotel or not, could just be bad luck. One of the reasons I really fancied this hotel was because of the yoga options - but it turns out only 1 session is included in your "all-inclusive" and the class was at 330pm - not ideal. They were charging you $30 per session if you wanted to do the 830am class which I thought was very expensive, given the price of the hotel. I felt at least some of the morning yoga sessions should have been included. I'd really recommend doing the daily snorkelling trip to mnemba (extra charge) - you get your own private boat and the snorkelling is incredible. We saw dolphins too and were able to swim with them - amazing! The hotel offer a "sundowners" thing where you watch the sunset and have drinks - they try and charge you $35, but you can just go down there and order d

A huge thank you to the whole team of Zuri Zanzibar, one of the top 5 hotels we had the chance to stay in. To start with, we'd like to thank Peter and Benezeck, our great butlers, they did an incredible job, always smiling and anticipating all our requests. They did their best for our family to get the perfect experience and that's actually what we got. They paid attention to every single detail, nothing was a problem, always prompt in their replies, well there is usually always something to improve, but honestly we just don't know what to suggest. The people from the two restaurants we experienced were also very smiley and helpful and efficient. On the cook side, the staff we were able to meet was also smiley and friendly and obviously doing their best for the clients to get the best experience. Not to forget housekeeping staff, very kind and efficient as well. Besides that, the beach was amazing, no rock at all, just turquoise sea on your left side, right side, and far away as well, definitely deep enough to swim. The perfect spot for swimmers actually, and no jellyfish at all in 5 days, should it be at the hotel or next to Mnemba island (excursion that we recommend). If you swim a little further there are beautiful coral reefs with fishes and incredible sea stars. The only thing I did not enjoyed at Zuri's is not linked to Zuri itself, but more on the absence of any rules concerning boats and jet skis approaching to close from the beach. Last but not least, I did not mention the amazing and perfectly located beach front two bedrooms villa we stayed in, expensive but for a family of 5 it's worth it. In addition, the garden is beautiful, the hotel is not too big at all (56 rooms in my recollection), the restaurants are good (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Zofia the hotel Manager is sweet and close to the clients, obviously a talented manager, client care oriented and helpful - thank you Zofia. A last thank you to I guess one of her right hands, who offered a very much appreciated gift when we left, perfect memory of this magic experience at Zuri. The children and us just love it. Please note that there is not that much children so a couple experience would also be awesome for sure.