Manor House Zanzibar

The staff were really welcoming, and breakfast was excellent, probably the highlight of my stay. The Manor House is handy for the airport, so it works well for a short stopover. I wouldn’t personally stay more than one night, as I wanted a bit more luxury. There’s a separate path down to the sea, but it’s steep and in poor shape. Some tiles are broken and parts seem to be sinking, so it didn’t feel safe. The shower was awkward because you have to hold the shower head yourself, and there’s no rain shower or similar. We also had quite a few mosquitoes in the room. It’s a budget-friendly choice for a night near the airport, with great staff and breakfast.

It’s an okay, budget-friendly place, so don’t expect much. There’s no pool or beach, and the shower was really bad. Breakfast costs extra, even though Google Maps says it’s free. The staff were fairly kind, and the room was clean enough.

It’s a beautiful place, but a little off the tourist route. The airport is just a five-minute drive away, so I’d recommend it for an early or late flight. For a holiday stay, though, the rooms are basic and the beach is too far to walk to.

I stayed for three days in March 2025. At first, the location seemed great, the rooms were nice, and the staff were friendly and very helpful. On my last day, I had two tours booked before moving to another hotel. Staff agreed to keep my bags somewhere secure. When I came back from the second tour, one bag was missing. It had money, my itinerary, and other things in it. My bags had been left out in reception where anyone could take them. For nearly two hours I tried to ask why they hadn’t been stored securely and whether they could call the police. The staff who had been friendly before stopped speaking English and mostly ignored me. I eventually went to the police station to file a report. Within five minutes of getting there, the manager called to say they’d found my bag. I can’t know whether they were being honest or whether the mention of Zanzibar police made it reappear. The incident caused a lot of stress and ruined my experience. In response to the hotel’s reply: your staff said I could leave the bags with them, promised to look after them, and said they’d put them somewhere safe. They left them in open reception, where someone apparently was able to take one. Then they more or less ignored me until I went to the police. Once I was at the station, they suddenly found it. I haven’t accused anyone of dishonesty. I said I’ll never know whether they were honest or not. If you think the facts I’ve given are wrong and defamatory, I’m happy for you to take legal action. Your staff also promised a full refund for the distress, which I know I’ll never see. There was a mix-up with my original booking, which was for Feb 6-8 instead of March 6-8. I emailed your staff several times to sort it out and got no reply, so I had to rebook and ended up paying for two bookings. Update from March 14th: After messaging the manager, I was told he wouldn’t give me the full refund he’d promised unless I changed my negative review. To me, that adds pressuring guests to change reviews to the customer service problems. When I said I’d taken screenshots of our messages and would inform the booking site, he deleted all his messages. You can decide whether you trust this hotel with your belongings, your holiday, and the welfare of you and your loved ones.