Essque Zalu Zanzibar

Just go during the day for the views, but DO NOT STAY HERE. The hotel was built well and the service was good, however it was just so absurdly priced for any room service, bar or food. And I don’t mean vacation-margin priced within reason, I mean like they just threw out random ludacris numbers and decided to go with it. $20 for one glass of lowest quality wine, etc. Ended up paying more for food and drinks than the stay itself. The surcharges and “exchange rate” they use are a total scam.

I don’t even mind paying the highest price for the best experience, but paying Las Vegas prices in a relatively average estate without any degree of luxury was too far from reality to justify the cost, and I don’t like getting scammed. But subpar room and amenity was just not worth it. Breakfast and dinner were included but buffet style and comparable to holiday inn, with a slightly extra sprinkle of class. Also the WiFi was completely unusable, so slow, overloads from too many people using it most peak hours of the day, and you can’t even load instagram videos without it stopping to buffer. Also you can’t click 0 on the phone to go to an operator, you have to go to call log or recently dialed for it to work.

Also the night operator is running some scam and tried to charge for free water bottles and I asked for the bill then they retracted and said they’ll give it for “free.“

— I have also seen many reviews of this hotel scamming, first with surcharges, and there are at least 10 reviews I saw where money was stolen from the safe, and in very large amounts. Take your money with you everywhere you go, and don’t leave ANY valuables in the room. Looks like this hotel has some serious and dangerous issues.

Good:
-the views
-close to the turtles tour attraction
-great pool, enormous
-poolside service
-pool table although mini size so not really good
-darts, ping-pong (table tennis)
-pier and restaurant is really cool, lights up at night for good instagram pictures
-architecture is nice, gardens are done well and maintained
-staff has high level of service, trained well
-staff is also fun and creates a good vibe

Bad:
-Total scamming in every way they can
-Night manager scamming money for free items
-Too many reports of thousands of euro stolen money from safes
-be prepared to get a bill higher than your hotel cost in surcharges fees and utter nonsense
-cleaners came at 7pm during dinner time to clean??? Luckily we were there, I’m almost POSITIVE they just came to see if we were in the room so they can steal something! So suspicious and sketchy.