Landmark Hotel Matema Beach — Hotel in Mbeya Region

Terrible: We booked through Expedia 4 weeks in advance but on arrival they did not expect us. Later we found out their office had received a mail from Expedia announcing our arrival 4 weeks in advance but the management never had acted on it. For receiving the money from Expedia the manager had to enter his account of Expedia but he had forgotten his password. He then blamed us for not being able to receive his payment through Expedia. He urged us to pay cash although we already had fully prepayed to Expedia. Also he threatened to call the police to arrest us. This should mean we should miss our next flight. So after hours of explaining him and waiting in his office we payed him once more cash, to prevent to be arrested. Our stay with Landmark was degraded to a fight with failing managers. |Very negative: |Although the aria is full of malaria mosquitos there were no mosquitonets. Because the ceiling was about 4 m high we had a problem in mounting our own nets. The manager replied they sprayed the room before a guest came in. But the room was full of insects. |Negative: |The hotel has no Wifi. |Mattrasses were very hard and still packed in the transport-plastic, the sheets over the plastic. Even after removal of the plastic foil the mattras remained as hard as a wooden shelf. |During our 4 days stay nobody came to clean the room, sweep the sandy floor or to change towels etc. When we asked for towels or bottled water or toiletpaper they looked suspicious at us. |Waste is regularly burned in the sand at the resort, the smoke of which comes over the beach houses. |There are no road signs leading to the hotel.|Positive: the hotel is well situated on the beach and the rooms are spacious. The airco worked well and the regularly failing electricity was backed up within twenty minutes by a generator. The restaurant servants were friendly and the available food was good, although regularly there was a lack of coffee and eggs. ||Conclusion|Having lived in Tanzania for 3 years and as experienced Africa travellers we never have met such inhospitability. There were almost no guests in this “luxurious” residence and this could be an indication: We will never come back again to this Landmark Matema...

I was traveling for USAid. This is the best hotel in the Kyela District for foreign visitors. It is still a hotel built for African guests, but they are working to make it more acceptable to the foreigner as well. Their occupancy is low during the week which is nice as you have the place to yourself. That said, they are striving to increase their occupancy. They are building a new in-ground pool. They have attractive beach huts, and the large dining pavilion is being reroofed as I write. ||||Yes the beds are hard. He believed that it was healthier and would be acceptable to people. For nationals, it probably is. Power is extremely expensive and relatively unreliable. But they have a generator so it comes back on quickly when it goes out. They do conserve electricity but at the rates they pay who can blame them. ||||The kitchen does have a limited menu -- it is an African menu. Beef, chicken and because you are on the lake -- fish. If you come to Africa, be prepared to eat what the locals eat. There is not a McDonalds for many many miles. If you are here more than a day or so, the cooks will try to cook to your tastes. For instance, I love Chipati. They made me breakfast chipati almost every morning, once it was mentioned. I don't like spice -- they did not add spicy seasoning to my meals.||||They are growing, they are learning. If you have a concern, mention it to them. We found it to be very easy to be accommodated. There are no master keys. In order to have your room cleaned, you need to leave a key at the front desk or the restaurant and pick it up when you return. ||||My room was clean when I entered and cleaned every day. There are flush toilets -- something that is a novelty around here and I so appreciated it. They worked better than the toilets in Dar Es Salaam. ||||I hope I get the chance to return to see what they have done with the place. It is...

This was booked by my office - clearly not having checked the reviews! Unlike others we were expected, not least because it was paid in advance. Like others, we appeared to be the only guests. Main problems with it:||- the food: very limited menu (only 3 items to choose from in the evening) and taking a long time||- no wifi||- management not wanting to use the generator to provide electricity - I was actually asked whether I would like the generator on! ||- poor lighting once the sun had gone down (possibly due to not wanting to spend money on running the generator?||- horrible hard mattresses||- poor finishing and fittings||||Other than that the location is beautiful, the eating area is nicely designed and the rooms could be made comfortable.||||Rather than continue building more rooms as they are, surely it would be better to use what there is already and make guests comfortable.? In the meantime there is a well-established hotel next-door which is probably...