Hotel Riu Palace Zanzibar

Beautiful resort, but reception let it down We are still currently staying at Riu Palace Zanzibar and fly home tomorrow, so this review is based on our experience during the holiday so far. Overall, we have had a lovely holiday. The resort itself is beautiful, the grounds are stunning, the food has been excellent and the majority of the staff we have encountered have been friendly, welcoming and hardworking. We have really enjoyed our stay. However, I do feel the reception experience needs mentioning because, for a five-star hotel, this has been disappointing. Even at check-in, I felt that the manner of the receptionist dealing with us was quite cold and unwelcoming. At the time I actually wondered whether I was imagining it or being overly sensitive, so I didn’t think much more about it. Unfortunately, as the holiday has gone on, we have had a few further experiences with reception which have left us feeling the same way. On occasions when we have contacted reception with requests, we have been told that someone would call us back, but the call hasn’t always happened. This has left us feeling that our requests haven’t been followed up properly. The biggest disappointment has been trying to arrange a late checkout for tomorrow. We have a late flight and would be more than happy to pay for a late checkout if a room is available. However, we have been unable to get a clear answer and have repeatedly been told we need to wait until the evening before we fly home to find out. At this point, it feels as though we are being fobbed off rather than given a straightforward answer. We completely understand that late checkout depends on availability and that the hotel cannot guarantee a room. What we find frustrating is the lack of clear communication and the feeling that we are having to keep asking rather than someone taking ownership of the request and explaining the situation properly. For a five-star hotel, we would expect a more professional and helpful approach, even if the answer ultimately has to be no. What makes this particularly frustrating is that the rest of the hotel has been so good. We have had some lovely interactions with staff in the restaurants, bars and around the resort, and we certainly don’t want our comments about reception to take away from their hard work. We would happily recommend Riu Palace Zanzibar because we have had a wonderful holiday overall. However, the reception experience has unfortunately taken some of the shine off what could otherwise have been an exceptional stay. Hopefully, our experience tomorrow will end on a positive note, but I do feel the reception team could improve considerably in terms of warmth, communication, following up on requests and, most importantly, making guests feel that they are actually being listened to.

Lovely time staying here. The staff were so good and friendly, never waited long for drinks to be made. The pools are lovely and clean, the main pool has a lovely view out to sea, the top pool is nice a peaceful. The room was lovely and clean. If you have mobility issues this may not be the best as its on a hill, using a mobility scooter would be fine. They do have a buggy service but we have to wait a very long time for it and sometimes just ended up walking.