Rumaisa Hotel

There’s a room for families with our “kittens.” Breakfast is included, but you’ll need to find lunch and dinner elsewhere, with plenty of options in Stone Town. The staff are friendly, and Stone Town is walkable from here.

The owners are great, hands-on and always ready to help. My room was clean and tidy, and the air conditioning worked. I’d have no hesitation recommending this hotel to others.

It’s cheap, and the location works well for the port, but the service wasn’t great compared with other places. The only facility is a small outdoor breakfast area. Wi-Fi was really annoying because I needed a voucher from reception every time I came back into the hotel. The hot water was turned off by housekeeping, so I had none for my whole stay. The air con also didn’t work the first night because its control was broken. They noticed when showing us the room but didn’t say anything, leaving us uncomfortable that night.

There was no restaurant or bar, and I wouldn’t recommend staying here. The service was well below standard and not worth the money. I was charged for a full service that included a TV, but the room I got had no TV. The receptionist gave me unhelpful answers when I asked about it. They also told me breakfast would be provided on checkout day, something they hadn’t mentioned before I paid. Getting the Wi-Fi password took a long time. I asked the evening I checked in and again in the morning, when they told me they didn’t have any passwords to give me.