Family-friendly Hotels in Zanzibar

I have been to Hotel Verde several times, twice of which were business related. Unfortunately this time I was quite disappointed with the overall experience. While it wasn’t all bad, there is much more to be expected from such an establishment and I hope the management will take necessary actions to make this place wonderful again. Improvements needed: 1. Maintenance: The hotel seems to be suffering from poor maintenance. My bathroom ceiling had cracks, one of the wardrobe lights in the middle was broken/missing, the iron brought in to my room on request was broken and could not regulate heat therefore almost burning my shirt, the security hook on the iron made it difficult to take advantage of the iron cords length making it almost impossible to iron, the hangers in the wardrobe had a design fault such that you cannot remove them like other hotels to easily hang clothes like suits etc., the toilet left an odor in the whole bathroom after each flush despite closing the lid and the door. These are a few items I noted. 2. Staff Training: While the staff had an overall nice demeanor and very welcoming, they require some more training on providing an above and beyond experience to guests for a hotel of this caliber. A housekeeper promised to restock towels in my room in a short while which ended up being close to an hour and by then I had already used the in room bathrobe as an alternative to not miss an appointment I had. That was sloppy. The reception staff did not have a proper system of tracking what they held for guests especially during a time when multiple high level events are happening at the hotel causing a lot of anguish and confusion. items that were needed by noon 🕛 for a function were only later retrieved by 10pm resulting in a loss of productivity that those items were expected to have. Everyone seemed lost. 3. Slow WiFi: Not sure if it was just my room but the internet speed was on the slower side. These experiences made the stay this time a 2/5 for me. Hope the hotel will improve in the future.

The front desk provided a room that was already occupied. When we checked in at 23:00 late at night and opened the door, a middle-aged man was already sleeping on the bed. The man was frightened and very angry. Similarly, we were also very frightened and felt very embarrassed. For such a misunderstanding, the front desk only apologized to the man, but did not apologize to us. After changing rooms, our twin bed room was changed to a double bed room. The hotel did not explain this. Because it was late at night, we gave up changing beds and rested. There was a musty smell in the room, and a bottle of mineral water was empty, and it was not cleaned. There were many flies flying around in the restaurant during breakfast. I am very dissatisfied with this accommodation experience.

Again, for the fourth year in a raw, we spent a wonderful one-month vacation (my wife and I) in this beautiful hotel. Syed Ali the relation manager was all over the place, he ensured that our booking is arranged with all facilities to our likings as he knows very well what we exactly wanted and liked. The new general manager had transformed the place to even better and better than what was before. The staff at the restaurant and patio are exceptional. Keep up the good work. Hope to be there again next year.