Beyt Al Salaam in Zanzibar

I’m not sure what exactly was renovated in this hotel — it still feels completely rundown. The furniture is old and outdated; while the style seems to aim for a rustic look, there are limits to how far that can go. I’ve stayed here several times, and not once has the air conditioning worked properly. There are huge gaps under every door, which makes every sound from the ground floor perfectly audible even on higher floors. The location is very noisy, and with the old windows, it feels like I’m sleeping right on the street — every car, motorcycle, and loud conversation can be heard clearly inside the room. Some rooms are full of mosquitoes, which suggests no measures were taken to address that problem. The staff, although present, tend to be quite noisy and inattentive, especially during breakfast, which is very limited in choice. The only positive aspect is the location, but unfortunately, it doesn’t make up for the poor comfort and lack of maintenance. I will not be staying here again.

AVOID THIS HOTEL We had a reservation for 2 rooms from our travel agent with confirmation from an online booking service with receipt and voucher. We arrived and they only had 1 room booked in their system. The room was unavailable as it was morning so we went on a tour. At our return they still said there was one room only but they could not give it to us as we were 4 people! A trainee was extremely difficult so we asked for the manager who was also not very accommodating but allowed us to move our luggage into one room while charging us for taxes for 4. The room had no towels, we asked for towels which they did not provide. We provided the confirmation of payment and voucher and went for a walk. At our return at 9pm, we still had no towels and no second room. They were very rude and unhelpful. The hotel was empty. The room we got was moldy and stuffy. We booked a second room in an hotel nearby called Maru Maru which which was a lot better and cheaper Avoid this hotel