The Residence Zanzibar

Paul Thomas

Beautiful hotel in amazing grounds. Rooms are amazing with large private pool and perfect sea views. Service top notch especially Ahmed in reception who was brilliant, perhaps We will see him in Syria one day! Food was good but breakfast could be better. Beach looks great but not good for swimming. Loved the bonfire and band at Sundown. This is a good solid 5 star resort in a remote but beautiful setting.

Anelisa Sardella Godrim

One of the best vacations we had. And to reinforce my perception, we had to change hotels in the middle due to availability and the second hotel in the north of the island was more expensive and very bad experience. The entire staff make sure you are enjoying and resting. Special kudos to Ko, that checked with us all the time how was everything and helped us check in earlier w our son sleeping because of the flight hours. We enjoyed the water sports ( they have a Hobie Cat, caiaques and stand up paddle available and inclusive); the food was delicious and well done; the yoga sessions inclusive also was the highlight and the pool in the room and the one I. The main area amazing! Again thanks for the amazing experience! I hope to come back one day!

Caity Curtis

After a rough first night in, the rest of our stay was lovely. Overall, this is a beautiful location and very friendly staff, but the customer service can be hit or miss depending on the person. The reviews about the room structural/electricity issues are accurate and we noticed spotty wifi service with the whole resort losing power at times. Apparently, this is common on the island so not sure the resort can control it but does seem that they don’t have generators. Also, be sure to note that alcohol, lunch, and water ordered outside your room are not included so estimate another $100/day per person. The resort was very accommodating to our late night arrival - offering us free room service. However, we had some issues with the electricity in our room the first night and after being unable to fix them, we were moved to a new room the next day. They originally tried to tell us there were no other beach-front rooms available so we’d have to downgrade to a regular resort rook if we wanted electricity but after we insisted on a beach-front room they were ultimately able to move us to one with working electricity. The resort offers honeymooners a candlelight dinner and couples massage however after telling us about the services, in midst of repacking to move rooms - they informed us that we could only get the services if we had a copy of our marriage license which we would have been happy to do if we had known before we left home to take a picture of it. They didn’t inform our travel agency or us so we were going to ask friends to go to our home to take a picture for us. Ultimately they accepted an email of our marriage license application. After we talked with our travel agency and they spoke with the hotel management team, the management team went out of their way to apologize and offered us a couples massage and complimentary water which was very kind. Overall, we had a positive experience and would go back. Just be prepared for power outages at times and up and down customer service (sometimes our beach towels were restocked, sometimes we just used our shower towels, sometimes the coffee pods were restocked, sometimes we had to call, etc.) The pool is amazing and the private room pools are so great for days when you want to have some private time just each other. We really loved the Pavillion dinner that you make reservations and the romantic beach dinner is very lovely. Our favorite part of the trip was watching the sunset at the beach bar every evening.

Olivia Pando

If you are looking to have a beach experience at Zanzibar this is just a no go. There is no beach. Rooms are ok for the price you are paying. The first day we had an incident with a animal inside our room, we got upgraded for that, so that was good (expected). Things to take into consideration that are not acceptable from my point of view: the taxis the hotel offer are from the hotel and prices are INSANE. They charged us $150USD por a ride to Paje and when we came with other taxi that was exactly the same the trip was $50USD. When leaving the hotel they didn't accept for us to pay in Tanzanian currency...and if you pay in USD your bank is going to charge you an insane fee. That's not acceptable at all. The sandbank trip was good, they offer that for free because of the issue we had but being honest if you pay for that, it's not worth the price...they charge insane prices and they don't even have good equipment. There is a buffet service every night or a Pavillion service with chef, that was good but you expect more for the kind for the prices you are paying. Overall, good resort because of the infrastructure but I we are not coming back.

Rasha Tyson

Spent a week here for my 45th birthday to Zanzibar. The locals are extremely friendly. JAMBO!!! and the staff is just as amazing. Had a beach front private pool villa and definitely worth it. Floating breakfast and dinners were great. Lots to choose from and wait staff is accommodating. Had a private dinner on the beach and hubby enjoyed a ton of water activities like paddle boarding, jet skiing and kayaking. Also close to the turtle Sanctuary. If I'd ever visit again. Would stay however Zanzibar in itself is just a one time go for me.