The Residence Zanzibar

Resort is beautiful. The. ViIlls was amazing. It would have been a great experience except….. The food is absolutely horrible. I mean terrible. Even the deserts were gross. By far the worst food I’ve ever had and you are trapped there. It’s an hour drive anywhere else so you are stuck with what they serve. I ate the same salad for every meal and it wasn’t great. It was just somewhat consumable. Even the pizza was bad. They offer no snacks. My husband will eat anything and even he struggled.

My sister and I spent an absolutely amazing week here! The quality of the Villa was first class, spotlessly clean and extremely well appointed. The private pool was beautiful and very clean, the patio had a perfect mixture of sun and shade. The ‘room ladies’ Margaret and Sofia were wonderful, friendly, helpful and efficient. The staff in general were absolutely fantastic, friendly and helpful, from the porters to the maintenance team. The evening buffet was varied and tasty, breakfasts were a delight, to sit in the open air looking at the sea! A special mention for Justina and Ibrahim who were so lovely to see every day at the buffet. Please remember to be nice to these people, they are working whilst we are living the dream! The hotel pool is huge, clean and in a wonderful environment. Safari Blue was a fabulous day excursion, as was a 1day safari to Mikumi National Park. The wildlife at this hotel is off the scale, Elephant Shrews, Hyrax, Pygmy deer, lots of different birds, colobus monkeys! I really can’t recommend this hotel enough! Power cuts are a small inconvenience when one is in paradise! We’ll be back. Thank you all at The Residence, Zanzibar.

CLIMATISATION

The best thing about The Residence is the staff. They are exceptional! They always greet you with a smile and “Jambo” . They are attentive and always greet you with a smile. Genuinely lovely people. We had a prestige beach front villa that was great. Very spacious, clean and comfortable. Bed linen so fresh. Our own 1.2m deep pool was great. Lovely views across the sand to the ocean. Power cuts and WiFi outages occur most days but are usually limited although one evening power cut lasted an hour. But you’re in Africa! There are 2 meal choices. The evening buffet is ok. Not 5 star food but acceptable. The Pavillion offers a more intimate dining experience for couples and the food is superior - that said we got symptoms suggestive of mild food poisoning after eating the lobster. If you love a beach holiday and spending time in the sea The Residence is not for you. The beach looks lovely but the sand is sharp and coarse and you can’t walk barefoot in it. The tide goes out by a mile rendering the sea unusable for much of the time. It feels sludgy underfoot with a lot of debris. However, having your own pool was enough for us but we would’ve liked to walk along the beach barefoot on occasion but that’s not really a possibility without footwear. I’ve heard Zanzibar described as The African Maldives. Seriously it is nowhere near that standard. Would I recommend The Residence. Yes! But not if the beach is a big attraction for you. The fact this one is deserted tells its own story. Would I go back to Zanzibar? Probably not! It is lovely in places but is strewn with plastic litter everywhere including the beaches. No tourists no Zanzibar they say - so they’d better get their act together as it’s difficult to see past plastic bottles to admire the beach.

A magic place in the middel of nowere, the resort is a lovely and relaxing place, we had a private bungalow with our private pool, we were two couples and the space of the bungalow was very nice. Big bedrooms and amazing bathrooms. Everything was very clean and the staff was so nice and helpful all the time. The bikes that comes along with the buingalows makes it easy to moove around the area. The pool are outside the restaurant is very big and nice, never overcrowded, and with a lovely view out to the sea. The food was exelent and varried.

We loved our stay. This place is insanely beautiful and perfect for a relaxing holiday. The pool area is amazing, our villa was even better we thought. Food = excellent & staff = super sweet! ❤️

Arrival was late night so there was no warm welcome waiting which is fine , the hotel grounds are green and lush very nice well kept our room was spacious and beautiful they well stocked the water every day which was nice and the staff were so friendly and service was excellent we had a great time there the negatives Main Pool was not very clean Charges for water at dinner was strange since same water is free in the room Beach was not very nice overall but the south of zanzibar is not known for there beaches Constant power outages and wifi outages was frustrating Overall a good stay and fairly priced the service is what stands out definitely

…for the second time we had a perfect house cleaner named Margareth ! Friendly, kind and always a wonderful room ! Ahsante sana Margreth! Keep smiling!

Unfortunately after the first day, 8 different families became very sick with a bacterial virus, the doctor on site was very responsive. They advertise art classes most days but out of the 5 days the teacher was there once. The worst part about the hotel is the constant power cuts, the issue we see is they serve a buffet so food constantly changing in temperature. Staff are very friendly, nice pool, overall a nice hotel just needs a good update and more attention to detail, this is definitely not a five star hotel

We spend our holiday here and came in a beautifull place, friendly staff, nice accomodation, the nature surrounding is splendid…. However we came in our room after the third day and found out there was a diamond ring missing in the jewellery box from my wife…. We know we should put our valuables in the safety box provided in the room, however it happened to us before that our money was stolen from it in Mauritius…. And considering this is a 5 star hotel we had no worries… So if you stay here keep your valuables with you or leave them at home because this place is not safe