Melia Zanzibar

The hotel was beautifully designed, the rooms were spacious, and the beds were incredibly comfortable. We had a great night’s sleep every night!The hotel was beautifully designed, the rooms were spacious, and the beds were incredibly comfortable. We had a great night’s sleep every night!

The pictures of this resort look amazing and for the most part the grounds are well maintained. That's where the good ends. The food is terrible with the only exception of the wood fired pizza at the beach restaurant. The service is slow and rude at times, the beach is very shallow and hot, the pool is ok, the rooms were nice but no hot water, the beach is about a mile away from the resort and you need to take a golf cart to get there, the Jetty restaurants food was terrible, the buffet was awful, the nightly entertainment shows were some of the worst I've ever seen, the resort is far from most things so you're stuck there, this resort caters to French and Russian tourists and if you're looking to have a conversation with anyone outside of your party, you won't. One of the worst resorts I've ever stayed at.

To put this review in context, we are a retired couple who have travelled extensively and are pretty fit for our ages. Enjoy sunny climes, long walks and decent food. We stayed in Zanzibar for a month in 4 different hotels - in Stone Town, Nungwi, Kiwengwa and Pwani Mchangani. If this is your first visit, I strongly advise you to stay in Stone Town in the south at the front (or back end) of your trip for a couple of days. In the case of the former, should you have gone North, it does not make sense to do a Stone Town trip from your hotel, taking 3 hours (minimal travel time to go South and back) out of your day. This is not a comparative review of the places in which we stayed. It is a review based on what we found at each specific location. This is a decent, large, security-focused, 5-star resort. It has extensive, well-kept grounds within some 40 acres. Good walking potential around the grounds (but not on the beach fronting the hotel). We were on half board so comments regarding payable restaurants relate this option. There was a very pleasant welcome service. Accommodation: well-appointed, spacious rooms, thoroughly cleaned every day. Very comfortable bed and pillows. I should point out that we had a 117 sq m suite with sitting room/bedroom/2 showers and free mini bar which we could not fault in any way. Beach: while there was a smallish beach in front of the hotel, the main (Gabi) Beach was a 25 min walk away or 5 mins by the free hotel transport. Gardens: extensive, well-kept grounds. Pools: 3 pools. One main (common) pool with ample recliners/umbrella and a smaller, infinity, pool by the gym/spa (adults only). There is also one for Level One guests only (the more premium option at the hotel) Gym: excellent, well-equipped gym. Spa: not used Other facilities: Entertainment: surprisingly good entertainment professionally delivered Food: Breakfast was good. There could have been more variety of dishes in the main restaurant at dinner. Each night presented a different focus (Indian, Swahili, Asian eg). What was presented was of good quality but not outstanding. Having said that, the Swahili dinner (with entertainment) at their restaurant on Gabi beach was well-arranged and very good. Wine was provided at dinner and was drinkable. Lunch was available at Gabi beach and at the small main pool restaurant . There were 2 other (payable) restaurants (The Jetty – seafood - and Tamu – swahili). WiFi: excellent reception TV reception: excellent reception with a good variety of channels Having said all that, the real hilite is the staff. Very friendly without getting in your face. Polite and courteous with a focus on excellent customer service.

My experience with this hotel was incredibly positive ( I've been here nine and still maintains the level) . The cleanliness and attention to every aspect at the highest level immediately caught the eye, from the lobby and the entire main building (shisha zone, shops, indoor pool, bar, games zone e.g. billiards, etc.), including SPICE MARKET, clean, comfortable, with the possibility of eating outside (two zones for non-smokers and smokers would be useful), full of various delicacies, but practically unchanged, but able to satisfy with their dishes everyone will find something for themselves. TAMU resturant ....SUPER food it's a pity that guests avoid it because it's worth eating here, maybe it should be promoted in some way life cooking ?? Happy hours? Through the gardens, which were raked and pampered daily, the sounds of frogs give a unique atmosphere. Further on, there is a beautiful, very large, irregularly shaped swimming pool with a cascade, numerous sun loungers with umbrellas, there is also a bar, in the evenings once a week a disco, everything is neat, clean, but the bar needs renovation, but as the hotel manager Mr. Vikram Cheekoory,( you can clearly see that he is very, very engaged) I met several times a day, explained to me, you can see that he pays attention to quality and guests at every step (thanks a lot for showing, some of the rooms after renovation are beautiful, comfortable and deserve 5 *) part of the facility will be renovated from May 2025. The beach, it is vast, clean, cleaned every day, fully functional sunbeds. Still, here a SMALL MINUS the sunbeds cover the entire area, because part of the beach is for LEVEL guests (I fully understand and respect that LEVEL guests must have their own area and there should definitely be no other guests there). Still, such a large number of sunbeds on the MELIA side does not provide comfortable rest, the sunbeds are too close to each other, a big plus is CHILI music in the background, but if there are sunbeds with guests talking loudly, the spell of rest is broken and this causes great discomfort, as well as smoking cigarettes or cigars next to it is not comfortable for others.L A larger zone should be created with a greater distance between the sunbeds. Plus there is a zone for games, e.g. volleyball, board games and cards. The rooms do not disappoint with their size or hygiene, as well as their general condition, which is at a decent level, cleaned really regularly and moreover carefully. An interesting solution, separate areas of houses/rooms with their own pools with plants and frogs, beautifully lit sidewalks pleasantly surprise and add to the atmosphere. What must be emphasized is the incredible work of the entire team! Incredibly full of energy evening performances, who try in many ways to make everyone's time more pleasant (big thanks to CX Ana María Walls Gómez). Waiters, cooks, gardeners, cleaners, service people, who despite being tired always with a smile on their faces also made the time spent as pleasant as they could. Many pluses, and thanks to FDM Tristan Larroque for fulfilling the request to adapt the room to our needs. Very helpful all management team. Many positives, small minus for a stay of more than 7 days the menu at Jetty should be more varied. Looking back and I've been here 9 times I miss a little the accents of Spain there was an excellent gazpacio and capracio fish soup and tapas for lunch. A little change would be useful here. Also the lack of items from the wine list even the paid is a small minus. Many thanks ad see you next year!!!

It's been the 6th time that we went to this hotel and I still have to admit that it was each and every time a wonderful and extraordinary time with wonderufl impressions in a wonderful hotel. We have booked "The Level" rooms and enjoyed this additional luxury each second. Apart from that we have really to point out and to mention the extraordinary service, kindness and friendlyness of the staff is outrageous. We cannot mention only one person but have to mention all of them. They are all so wonderful! The food and the changing evening buffets is very good! The different a la carte restaurants are also recommandable! Especially the "Jetty" due to his extraordinary position right on top of the water in the sea! Gabi beach is fantatic! Especially the fact that it is a private beach where nobody else can stay. In these times in Zanzibar with growing tourism a really important point if you want to enjoy a certain privacy! We enjoyed always the ride in the "Dala Dala" going from the "Level" or the beach area to the main building leading through a tropical garden with donkeys, local bees etc. I like as wellvery much that the Dala dala bus as a Zanzibari tradition finds its space int the hotel as a tribute to the local culture! We will come back for sure!