Arusha Serena Hotel — Hotel in Arusha

The hotel is located a few km outside of busy downtown Arusha. Over the past 2 weeks we have stayed in 3 Serena Hotels…one in the Serengeti, one at Lake Maynara, and now here in Arusha. Overall I found this hotel to be the most disappointing of the 3. While the structure and history of the hotel are significant, the hotel lacks a pool, the buffet has limited options compared to the other 2 hotels, and the overall helpfulness of the front desk staff was less than stellar. Upon arrival, we were created with a cool towel which was appreciated but the interaction with the front desk was rather frustrating. We had 3 separate bags delivered to the hotel earlier in the week from a mountain guide (bags from Kili climb that were dropped while we were on Safari). When we mentioned this to the desk staff, they literally went back to what they were doing, seemingly not to care and it was our current Safari guide (native Tanzanian) who searched and found the appropriate staff to locate our bags. The other issue was on the back end of the stay. After checking out, I was sitting in the lobby with my two friends awaiting transfer to JRO. Our plans for lunch were undecided as we had already checked out. We had several staff stop and encourage us to eat at the buffet lunch. After the 3rd ask we decided to do so. We sat, ate and ordered some water and drinks. Near the end of the meal, the waiter alerted us that lunch was not included and we were to pay $13/e plus drinks. This would have come to roughly $63 USD. Upon following server to the front desk, the presented bill was for approx 270,000 Tanzanian shillings (approx $112 USD). I questioned to bill and the front desk stated that I was misunderstanding and to bill is what it was. I again questioned it. She said the waited would speak with the manager. While this occurred to ran and charged by credit card. Seemingly no compensation was to be made. This miscommunication on their part and overcharging and lack of righting the situation is disappointing esp considering what was told to us and it being a buffet meal. On top of this, the front desk attendant smiled and chuckled during the exchange as if it were funny. This was off-putting and as mentioned disappointing when a service industry...

The staff are very welcoming, and the grounds are beautiful. There's a small store onsite with jewelry, souvenirs and a very small selection of toiletries. I had a massage and it was very good. You can use USD here as well as credit cards. If you don't want to/can't walk long distances ask for a room with a lower number. In the room there were some universal outlets, but no outlet in the bathroom on next to the bed. There wasn't a sheet, only a comforter, and there wasn't any hair conditioner. There was a ceiling a/c unit but it didn't work. Lunch is supposed to open at noon but didn't open until 12:30pm so allow for some flexability in meal planning. The website said there's a lunch buffet but it was actually a prefix menu. I sat at the same table again for dinner and the butter hadn't been changed. Speaking of dining, make sure you aren't being double charged, as that happened to me. On their website they advertise "sundowners by the lake" where you walk down to the lake to watch the sunset, but that didn't apear to happen. Instead, there's an option to sit on the lawn outside of the restaurant and order drinks from the indoor bar. While the staff were great and the grounds were beautiful, there are some areas of...

The staff are very welcoming, and the grounds are beautiful. There's a small store onsite with jewelry, souvenirs and a very small selection of toiletries. I had a massage and it was very good. You can use USD here as well as credit cards. If you don't want to/can't walk long distances ask for a room with a lower number. In the room there were some universal outlets, but no outlet in the bathroom on next to the bed. There wasn't a sheet, only a comforter, and there wasn't any hair conditioner. There was a ceiling a/c unit but it didn't work. Lunch is supposed to open at noon but didn't open until 12:30pm so allow for some flexability in meal planning. The website said there's a lunch buffet but it was actually a prefix menu. I sat at the same table again for dinner and the butter hadn't been changed. Speaking of dining, make sure you aren't being double charged, as that happened to me. On their website they advertise "sundowners by the lake" where you walk down to the lake to watch the sunset, but that didn't apear to happen. Instead, there's an option to sit on the lawn outside of the restaurant and order drinks from the indoor bar. While the staff were great and the grounds were beautiful, there are some areas of...