Tembo House Hotel & Apartments

My first floor room overlooked the main ground level pool, and it was clean, quiet at night and serviced daily. The staff were excellent throughout my six nights, and the food seemed generally good. I especially liked having three pools and different spots to sit in the sun or shade. Tembo House was also central to the places I wanted to see in Stonehouse, close to bars and restaurants, and easy to reach from Zanzibar airport.

After our flight was delayed, we asked to add one more night, but the request was turned down even though we could see several empty rooms. There didn’t seem to be much flexibility or understanding, so we had to move to a nearby hotel. The staff there were much more welcoming and accommodating. For the service we received, the price felt high. The front desk staff weren’t very welcoming or helpful, and nothing about this hotel experience felt special. There are several small hotels nearby that might offer a more authentic Stone Town experience.

The location is right on the beach, about a five minute walk from the night market and old fort, and one minute from the Freddie Mercury museum. Security was there day and night. The hotel is one of the only Zanzibaris owned hotels in stone town. There’s 24hr food service and a good selection of teas, but no alcohol is sold or allowed on the premises. You can use one pool downstairs and two smaller ones on the roof. The roof is quieter if you want to avoid the sales pitches leaning over the rope. By the ocean, the evening entertainment is fun, with locals coming out to do high flying gymnastics. Breakfast was a little disappointing and confusing, though I think it works for the right clientele.

We had a lovely stay, with friendly and polite staff who were always willing to help. Rahiem has such a welcoming manner that we visited the property and then decided to stay. The Food and Beverage servers deserve a special mention, especially Denys and Hasnuu Ishak. They really understand customer service and went above and beyond whenever they served us. Keep up the great service, Tembo Hotel!