Arusha Coffee Lodge by Elewana — Hotel in Arusha

After just arriving in Tanzania we Stopped in today with our group of 25 for our safari group lunch booking There was no drink menu provided and all of us ordered both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks On payment time I was told that they do not accept credit card only local currency or US dollars, majority paid in US dollars After making google search on local currency rate to US dollars doing that everyone paid up to 40% more in US dollars It was later advised they do accept credit card payment once caught out Once I Brought it to the female workers attention she looked panicked as she was caught out After receiving the overpaid refund I asked to speak to the main boss and was told by the 2 males they are lower managers as he was not available, he advised that should not have occurred and proceeded to correct everyone's payment It did appear that this was a group scam to overcharge western tourists who are on holidays In saying all that the atmosphere was amazing but a very dishonest management **10/24 tried downplaying it once I lodged complain with Africa Safari Co tried to make it that I am a liar "• For the other individual bills that were recalculated, it was found that the overcharges were less than a dollar (just a few cents) due to the initial rounding up while converting from TZS to USD. The guests declined to receive the change for these minor differences." What a bunch of grubs...

2 principal observations: 1. shameless profiteering. 2. Far more interested in getting good reviews than in delivering customer service. Details follow.||The Arusha lodge brought us a bill equal to $360 usd for lunch. When we showed them our booking included full board, they seemed perplexed. Instead of clarifying the matter directly with their office, they directed us to take time out of stay to do this. Once the office identified its mistake, no apology was tendered. ||Second, it is extraordinary to me that the lodge charges for bottled water at lunch, when the tap water is unsafe to consume.. It leaves the impression that they are dedicated to extracting every possible dollar from guests.||Third, the lodge had charges of $240 usd for a 6 person family for a short 1 hour walking tour on the plantation. Would it not have been possible to include a complementary tour of the plantation, especially considering that their ultimate goal is to sell you more bags of coffee? It is crystal clear their goal is to extract as much money from guests as possible. ||As for reviews, they approached us at breakfast to ask about our stay; if favourable they put a tablet in front of you to get an instant review, before you go through the checkout process where you encounter the array of supplementary charges. ||As long as you are prepared for a business dedicated to extracting every dollar from you, you will probably...

We spent 2 nights here at the start of a 2 week safari tour of Northern Tanzania. Overall the Arusha Coffee Lodge was an amazing experience. We were upgraded to a Plantation Suite for our first night, but moved to a standard room for the second. The staff said they had overbooked the suites. Although it was somewhat an inconvenience to have to pack and unpack in the middle of our stay, we found both rooms to be equally good.

The rooms are individual lodges spaced well within a coffee plantation. There was a little toad noise, but no issues really. The suite had an outdoor sitting area with a fireplace while the standard room had the fireplace inside. Other than that difference both types of accommodations were equally suited to our tastes.

We ate dinner and breakfast at the Lodge restaurant and all meals were very well prepared and served. For the quality, I thought the prices were reasonable.

We took the coffee tour ($35USD pp) and thought it was well worth the time (1.5 hours) and the cost. At the end of the tour we got to see how the beans are roasted and ground.

We also walked through the Shanga exhibit which is a workshop program for disabled people. They showed us their skills in weaving, jewelry, and glass blowing. Great experience and we bought several items.

This is a great property and highly recommended...