THE RESIDENCE ZANZIBAR Review

Best experience I ve had
The staff were all very nice and helpful
Loved the experience would go again
Special thank you to Sham, Dr David, and the chefs and the waiters

What a place ...
We spent 5 nights here.
- Lovely staff (far better than in some other 5***** hotels)
- Food is EXTRA (many many many choices)
- Peaceful atmosphere (take care of the monkeys )
- Private pool in each villa
We felt at home.
Thank you very much to all the staff !
See you very soon !

Simply amazing. The manager, receptionist and everyone was great. Loved the service and will definitely be going back

We are currently staying at the Residence Zanzibar, I am actually lost for words...
The Residence is a gem in paradise , with tranquil and serene surroundings. Attentive and caring staff and wonderful atmosphere.
Breakfast selection is fantastic.

Reminded me of a Sandals Resort. Not my style. Staff was excellent and the grounds were nice. Infinity pool was amazing. Very pricey. Would not recommend.

Best place with private swimming pool, also has the best scenery

A nice getaway for people on holiday or honeymooners

hotel super nice language problems with the employees understands only half of the word and I am generous I come to make me lift manu militari of my translate by itself that her embarrass me to see me while he cleaned the beach to 3000 dollars the villa and transate g the right to yell!? the food and great to present well but as the server understands nothing to French you eat it that he brings you in English c the same for a 5 star c too many problems his c tou just a star worthy of a stone and vacation I am very disappointed by this hotel

Super nice hotel, with very friendly staff, great pools, good food and very clean, very well equipped rooms

Nice place the kids enjoyed a lot, the service at the restaurant is great with friendly staff but the front desk, reservation management and villa service wasn t nice not value for many. I had to pay twice for my booking and felt not welcomed

Top class service, stayed full board, rooms beautiful, scenery amazing. Just smiling workers to top it all off. They may not have everything in the world, however always smiling. It really taught me to smile as well. This really bought the essence of the tanzanian people to the fore.

The view is so wonderful, green everywhere, it's the best place ever and the services are marvelous

I 100% recommend this hotel. The villas are beautiful and spacious. The private pool is a real plus. The cuisine in the restaurant is great, there is something for everyone: local or Mediterranean. As for the staff, they are all ADORABLE. Always smiling and taking care of us. Really no complaints.
You can go there with your eyes closed. The quality to price ratio is excellent.

the best five star hotel in Zanzibar!
I've tried the melia and zuri and nothing comes close. The staff here are so well trained and really cater to your every need. The rooms are massive the private pools is a lovely added bonus

Overall great hotel! Very friendly staff, good food, very spacious and beautiful bungalows with own small pool! Very green hotel area which is taken care of properly.
The infinity pool is amazing!
The only downside is the beach, because it is not so fine as expected, quite coarse and without shoes you cannot bathe in the sea, because of the sea urchins. Also a lot of algaes and stuff, so swimming in the ocean is not nice and nobody does it.
The property is huge and there are no other restaurants out there. So book all inclusive right away!
The new hotel management is super!

Luxurious, warm, great great team. Consistently good food.

Staff are super friendly, the beach villa is enormous and the pool on the terrace is great. The food is good and the entertainment is truly exceptional.

I am very happy for choosing The Residence for my Zanzibar s holidays.

Wonderful villas, very good service. Relaxing time.

We had a fantastic time at the residence last week. The attention to detail was exceptional, excellent food and delightful, charming staffs. We will visit again

Very friendly staff, good cuisine, spacious pool villas. Nothing to complain about

We were here October 2013. This hotel is located in the southern part of the island and is a bit remote. It is one of the highest quality hotels I have ever seen. The staff is great and the quality of the resort is extremely high. It was only opened when we were there. The fauna and flora around the resort must have grown enormously by now.

activities
In addition to the private and large pool, there are many other activities for young and old. You can go in the sea with a catamaran, kayaking and just paddle around in the sea. There is also a small zoo for children and a very good spa area.

eat
The food is like heaven on earth. In the morning there is a buffet breakfast with a beautiful sea view. You can easily gain 1-2 kg here
At dinner there are also different live bands that perform.
You can also discuss your diet plan with the chefs. The chefs are super flexible and always conjure up something delicious.

staff
The staff is always friendly and professional. All of them speak very good English and partly also other languages such as French. It's an international mix.

Resort
The resort itself is very large. It includes a private beach and you get bikes to get from A to B. Of course, you can also be picked up in a buggy. You can easily spend 3-4 days here and still have not seen everything.

sea
Depending on the season of the year, there are ebb and flow of tides. You should pay attention to that, but the pools are sufficient for swimming when the tide is out.

spa
The spa area is very large. There is from steam sauna, infrared sauna, sauna to very good massage. Soap, shampoos and other care products that are also in our own pavilion are made locally and are highly recommended.

recommendation
It is definitely worth taking a vacation here once in a lifetime.
However, if you want to explore the island as well, maybe this resort should be the last resort for just relaxing.
Many couples come here for their honeymoon. There are definitely many options for honeymooners that you should definitely take advantage of.

Honeymoon
If you book the honeymoon pack, you can have dinner in your room or, if you wish, go to the beach. In addition, you get a couple massage that you should definitely do.

Dream holidays in this high-end residence, with very spacious and very well-appointed villas (private swimming pool which allows you to forget the absence of the sea at certain times of the day during the tides), delicious and varied food, (many buffets on the beach ...), attentive staff, always attentive to the needs of holidaymakers, an enchanting environment with its 32 green and very well-maintained hectares, in short, faultless for this magnificent place that we recommend 100%. Thanks to the whole team.

In diesem Top-Hotel stimmt einfach alles an Service und Unterkunft.
Die Villen - bitte immer Beachfront buchen, der Preisaufschlag ist es wert-
sind ein Traum mit eigenem Privatpool.
Die Freundlichkeit des Personals ist vorbildlich.

Extremly nice place a little bit abroad from the usual tourist hotspots. Nice villas with own pool in a big, well groomed garden. The staff is very friendly and responsive, the food is good. The ideal place for us to relax after a week on safari. Recomendable.

I had a wonderful stay and memorable experience here at The Residence Zanzibar.. You'll amaze on how beautiful the resort is from the villa and any part of the resort, but most importantly the people.. I love the friendliness of the staff, their smiles are contagious and the way they greet you "Jambo!" will make your day more special. The villa are spacious enough to make you relax and comfortable with a huge toilet and private pool. To the Housekeeping team (Stadi/Iddi/Ronalda), thank you for the great service and making my villa clean and beautiful.. You can easily access the whole resort because they provide bicycles to each villas and you will enjoy the free non-motorised sports activities. Their infinity pool has perfect view facing the Indian ocean and powdery white sands.. The restaurant provides amazing food from breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You will enjoy their entertainment at night with different buffet style which gives variations of foods every day. The crew has excellent customer service and special mention to Rahul for his great service.. To the whole team of The Residence Zanzibar, Asante sana! Highly recommended to stay in this resort and hopefully I can visit again..

the place is nice...service is superb...especially Mr. Shams...he gave us good assistance at the resort...

Beautiful Paradise all round.Polite and Very Charming Staff,nice food and last but nit least Privacy.

Fantastic!!! Very warm welcome to luxurious villas with private pool and sea view, varied and abundant buffets for all personal meals with great care and very cheerful.
A dream week on this beautiful island

Great stay - highly recommend, we spend 2 weeks in there, resort meet highest standards and is a real 5 star. Staff was friendly, everyone from general manager ( hey Bruce) to the waiters, place is clean and very well maintained and organized.

Beautiful, charming staff, exquisite food, heavenly setting

Magnificent hotel. The rooms are gigantic villas with individual swimming pools. It is very well decorated. The breakfast buffet is plentiful with a lot of choice. The dinners are varied and take place in different places so as not to create monotony. The beach is not very beautiful with a lot of tide. The communal swimming pool and when to it magnificent.
There are also tennis courts, a spa, a yoga area.
The hotel is in a place isolated from everything. We are therefore certain to be calm without being disturbed. The downside is not being able to walk around.
Within the hotel, the hotel if requested, lend bikes (roses) to get around.

This is an amazing resorts, staff and food amazing beach and sunset as well! The atmosphere is sensational and unforgettable!! Perfect villas with private pool, silence and privacy are protected!

superb place, personal care, kind and cheerful. excellent food warm atmosphere, top pool, white sand beach, pier that can be privatized to witness the sunset sublime place

Very nice facility with very friendly staff and very good kitchen

Fun fact. Tanzania is the only country in sub-saharan Africa to never experience ethnic violence. Perhaps that's why they are so welcoming.

Serene place. Friendly and very accomodating staff. Lovely food. Great amenities. Indoor and outdoor play area.

Beautiful place, service excelent! Very good restoration; heart stroke!

It is the best place to visit and they have an amazing hospitality

Beautiful place to come down! Nothing is missing in the bungalows, private, not too small pool in front, an infinity pool for the general public! One disadvantage: the sea retreats so far at low tide that swimming is out of the question. In addition, you can see tons of sea creatures at the bottom of the moist mud floor, which you would rather never have seen (meter-long sea cucumbers! That's why people enjoy the pool!

Beautiful villas, large flowery area, delicious food

What an incredible experience! Rooms, facilities, the pool, the beach, the food - everything was exceptional. The very best part is the staff, who are without exception unbelievable. Nothing is too much trouble. Everything you might want available with ease. Waiting staff take the time to get to know you and share a chat. Cheerful hellos and big smiles from everyone you meet, from gardeners to security to housekeeping. A luxurious and joy-filled stay I would highly recommend.

Was here with friends at dinner. For Zanzibar is expensive. But very solid

The best holiday I had...stuff excellent location super...beautiful hotel...
I will definitely come back again and again
The chef made us whatever we wanted and more I will definitely not forget this place I can guarantee them I will be back...

TL;DR - DON'T GO!!!!! The place is not what it looks like on the website and the food is so terrible that you'd prefer to starve!

I stayed in The Residence in Zanzibar for a week, and I absolutely don't recommend to go. First of all, the Villa is definitely not a five-star room. Scraping paint, bugs and mousquitoes all over the place, electricity sometimes shuts off and water not always working properly. And honestly, the room is pretty ugly. Don't judge it by the website, it has only one picture of the inside and one picture of the outside, that happen to look good. Secondly and most important, the food. Everything served is disgusting, and made my entire family sick during the vacation (5 people!). Breakfast is not fresh and the meat is horrible and cooked on a dirty one-time use grill that you usually see in family picnics. Rice, mashed potatoes and all other carbons are always cold. The only thing that is fine is the fruit. Also, for some reason, water in the room is served free, but in the dining room a bottle costs 5 bucks (the place doesn't have any drinking water other than in bottles, what makes you think about the lack of infrastructure). There's no argue that the beach, the infinity pool and the private yard are beautiful. Seriously, if not the horrible food I'd have given this place a much higher rank. The privacy you get is wonderful. But I really STARVED for the entire vacation because of the terrible food, and that totally ruined the experience. My entire family was sick for a few days because of the food. Overall, the place has a huge potential to be a 5 star hotel. But right now, and as long as they serve the same food, JUST DON'T GO.

Unbelievably luxury and amazing. I'm here for my honeymoon and the quality of accommodation, to the effort the staff go to be polite and nice take this place from a 5 star to a 5 star deluxe

I appriciate that this is among the goodest resort at zanzibar

This is actually the wrong location. If you are driving yourself, please look for the correct location a little north of this.

Sadly, the beach is not good enough for swimming even at high tide. But that's why you have your own private personal pool, which is actually large enough to swim in! The suites are very nicely appointed, the bathrooms are as well. We enjoyed sailing the Hobie, and the concierge was helpful in arranging excursions. The food and wine selection was very good, with sufficient variety day to day.

The hotel is green and peaceful also nature friendly

This is a very nice place to spend your vacation in Zanzibar. Very good amenities.

This place is truly an incredible place away from the hustle and bustle on Zanzibar. From the welcome juice to the service at the villa and the incredibly attentive service during breakfast and dinner - the hotel staff couldn't have been better. There was security across the compound which meant no outside touts were allowed in. As others have said the beach is useless during low tide but high tide means lots of opportunity to float in the water and use the water equipment free of charge (catamarans, kayaks, paddle boats). To counter the lack of beach the pools are clean and incredible - either float in your private villa pool or in the large common pool. The meals, themes, and locations change daily - there is generally a buffet and sometimes a menu with choices. We were on half board so didn't need to dine out, not many options around for those looking to do so. Note that this resort is not in a popular place and therefore getting to and from activities can take some time. If you are interested in diving I'd suggest reaching out to Dive Time who operate in the region or checking with the local team. I was also told to avoid the dolphin tour because of concerns for dolphin welfare so please consider that before you book. Finally, beware of monkeys trying to steal your banana !!

Very good service and wonderful place to explore but limited food varities

16/20

Very good establishment.

Good points:

Extremely clean hotel.

Beautifully decorated, spacious and luxurious hotel.

The staff are extremely friendly, smiling and attentive, fully immersed in the Tanzanian culture.

Functional and clean tennis court, equipment available.

The flora and fauna of the hotel are lush, note the presence of many monkeys, a pleasure for the eyes ...

The suites are spacious, luxurious with a small private pool, very pleasant!

I recommend the garden view suites because the vegetation provides more privacy.

The food is decent, especially the breakfast buffet and lunch.

There are short shows every day during the evening meal, a true five star.

Very private and relatively quiet hotel.

Customer service is excellent, in the event of a problem, the manager is there to find the best solution, very attentive!

Finally, the infinity pool is beautiful, warm and clean.

The negative points:

1) the beach is beautiful but impossible to swim: too much seaweed, waste ...

2) the food is not very varied and only available as a buffet.

3) Finally, the treatments offered at the spa are not to be recommended, masseuses not qualified, spa not up to five stars.

Finally for excursions I highly recommend the visit of StoneTown and the spice tour!