Hotel Riu Palace Swahili - All Inclusive - Adults Only

My room was clean, tidy, and well looked after, so it was comfortable to come back to. I also want to thank the clinic team, especially Dr. Ishaq. I had a severe bout of gastroenteritis during my stay, and his fast, professional care and genuine concern saved my trip. The hotel clinic is well equipped and the medical service was outstanding. My experience was mixed, though. The food became repetitive because there wasn’t much variety, and management wasn’t very cooperative when we needed help.

The ocean views and pools are beautiful, and we had a really nice stay. There was construction nearby, so the area wasn’t completely peaceful at the time. Inside, the rooms were spacious, clean, and nicely decorated. The food had limited variety, but it was tasty and good quality. Staff were friendly and quick to help, always making sure we were having a good experience. It’s a pleasant hotel in a good location, and I’d recommend it for a stay in Zanzibar.

The booking mess at dinner sums up why I’m still here wishing the stay would end. We had a 19:30 reservation for the Mediterranean restaurant on our first restaurant night. After we came back from the beach, a letter in our room said Steakhouse at 8:30 instead, so we cancelled the earlier booking. At the steakhouse, staff couldn’t find us on the list. A manager called the assistant general manager, who kept saying we had booked a different restaurant online at 7:30. We had brought the letter because we expected some kind of mix-up after all the other mistakes. She dismissed it and spent about ten minutes defending what happened, without one apology. That kind of rudeness from someone so senior was not what we expected. Getting a specialty restaurant reservation is extremely difficult here. We spoke with four people at the beach who had stayed ten nights and never managed to book one. There have been so many inconvenient mistakes by staff and management that I can’t list them all. I filmed most of them, and they can be watched on most social media platforms @joah went. I have two more days left and expect more issues to be disregarded. I honestly want to leave, and I’m never coming back. The odd thing is that the hotel is brand new, the rooms are lovely, staff are very polite, the pools are beautiful, and the food is nice. The service, though, is really, really poor.

The beach is beautiful, clean, and stunning, and the staff are unusually friendly compared with anywhere else we’ve been. Our room is very clean and in the typical RIU style, though significant construction defects are already visible just weeks after opening. The hotel isn’t very busy, but the first beach loungers are reserved all day without anyone using them. Worse, beach security charges $20 to reserve them. That’s outrageous, and reserved loungers should be released right away. Food quality is excellent, but the variety is nothing like what we’re used to at other RIU hotels. After four days it’s repetitive and boring. During 14 days, only 1 restaurant booking is possible. Why can’t they handle more when the hotel is at 40% occupancy? The Masai boys on the beach are terrible. They walk alongside you for a long way just to sell something and don’t respect your private time. After two days, we stopped going to the beach. Drinks delivered to the loungers take a very long time too, so it’s faster to go get them directly at the beach. There are constant power cuts, even at night. When the emergency generators start, the noise is unbearable for hours, especially overnight. Something really needs to be done for the guests. I also had an issue with the doctors at Riu Jambo Hotel after losing my medication during the trip. In Germany, 10 blister packs of 10 tablets each cost €10. The doctor said the tablets cost €80 here, which I first thought was okay. But when I went to collect them, the doctor opened the package, gave me one blister pack, and said €80, then quoted €800 for the whole pack. Are you kidding me? If Riu has doctors on site, Riu should make sure guests aren’t ripped off like in a self-service store. It’s a new hotel, but in many ways the neighboring hotels are better. This Hotel actually are not a palace........