Chelsea Hotel — Hotel in Dar es-Salaam

I spent one night in the Chelsea Hotel to do some sightseeing in Dar and it was very good for that purpose. The hotel was a little bit dated, but otherwise completely up to the standards which I expect from a hotel. ||||It's located not far from the clock tower, which to my understanding pinpoints the centerpoint of the city. The actual sights I went to see started further away, about 20 minutes by foot. ||||The room was adequate in size and had good aircon. I had a twin room. I first tried sleeping in the bed further away from the aircon, but the air blew directly there, so I had to move to the bed right under the aircon unit. ||||The hotel was located close to a busy road and the honking of the cars could be heard up to the sixth floor. However it wasn't bad. ||||The breakfast was ok. It didn't have a very wide selection, but the items I tried were tasty and of good quality. Also the setting in the restaurant was pleasant. ||||The only negative I have to say is the extraorbitant exchange rate. I had paid my room rate in advance, but I had to pay the city tax (1.50 USD) at the hotel. I asked to pay in Tsh and had to pay 7000 Tsh, equivalent to about 3$. My loss was only 1.50$, so it wasn't a big deal in my case, but the principle left a bad taste in my mouth. If the room rate would have been 1.50$ higher but the city tax 3500 Tsh, I would have left as a happy customer. ||||The hotel offered airport transfer for 42000 Tsh. It was quite pricy. The fixed price at the official taxi stand at the airport was 30000 Tsh. On the way back to the airport I used a rideshare app to get my transfer, it...

Hotel it self is nice and clean for it's price.

The problem became when we wanted some personal approach. It started when we arrived at 5am and asked for early check-in. First we had to wait until 6 or the price for the whole day. It should be for a half of the price after 6 o'clock. But when I came to ask for a room at 6 receptionist said that the room is not ready and that it will take 2-3 hours to clean it. So when I tried to come after a while receptionist said that the room will be ready at 9am. Sir... I don't want to pay half of the day for two hours. Especially when you let me wait 4 hours for it! So when you offered me deluxe room for extra charge + half of the price I was not satisfied at all. At 8 receptionist changed and nice young lady just called manager and offered us no extra charge for early check-in just to pay for deluxe room. There was still not one large bed but hey... We had a room finally.

Second thing was when we tried to order breakfast because we had to take a bus to Arusha early in the morning (last bus to Arusha by Kilimanjaro express btw) and they said that they can't offer us package that early and even refund money for it. So just count with it.

So when I summarize it. Nice hotel for a nice price. Just do not expect some extra personal...

Very bad experience. I got dust allergic reaction and had to go hospital afterwards ! My partner and I are very disappointed about the hotel. The lady at the reception was very unfriendly, not smiling asking for both my partner and myself our passports without any please. I am the one that have booked so I should be able to book only by myself without having to show my partner ID, I can invited anyone I want at the hotel as I pay my room. The traffic was incredible opposite the hotel and the parking was locked when we arrived, they didn’t want me to park my car inside until we check in to the reception, in any other hotel you could only show your booking and park your car, but not this one, that left me with a very uncomfortable situation in the middle of the street affecting the car circulation and almost creating accidents! The room was not clean or had been cleaned from a very long time ago, dust was everywhere and we also smell it even on the bed sheets, I woke up with a very sore throat as I am allergic to dust and had to leave early to the hospital for treatments! I have been staying in many hotels in DAR and I can tell you that was the Worse experience ever, I would not recommend...