The Neela Boutique Hotel Stone Town — Hotel in Shangani

I had a terrible accident as soon as my friend and I checked in at the Neela.||||While the hotel porter was carrying my luggage on the stairs, it slipped from his shoulder and fell on my hand. The luggage being an 18kg piece, the consequences on my hand have been dramatic. ||||I am writing this 1.5 month after the accident. I had to go through emergency surgery, wear a cast for one month and now going through an intensive 2-month physiotherapy, hoping that I will eventually get back partially my hand’s mobility. Since it is the right hand and I am hand written, needless to elaborate on the damages I have been suffering on my daily actions. Everything stopped or changed.||||While an accident may happen anywhere anytime, I do have a couple of comments on the way it has been handled by the hotel:||||-It took almost an hour to get a doctor while I was crying my eyes out in pain. The staff were definitely untrained to deal with such emergencies and most of them seemed to be actually trained not to let such incidents distract them from work!||||-While the manager in duty (Mrs. Khadija) took me to the hospital when the doctor asked for it to do an x-ray and get pain killers and insisted on putting on the house our airport transfer and our 2 meals, she did not seem unfortunately to have any empathy for the great pain I was experiencing. ||||-When we got back home to get treatment (as the local hospital couldn’t do much and we were flying out the following day), the manager sent one single message to follow-up and, when told that I was getting emergency surgery and that my condition was very bad, never replied back. This tells how the manager did not actually care about the consequences of an accident that happened in the hotel she is managing, and all she was worried about was whether I would sue them legally. I chose not to because I did not want the porter to get hurt. ||However, I do believe that the hotel management owes me a lot as my whole life has turned into a nightmare because of what happened at the Neela. ||||On the hotel itself, while my friend and I both paid almost 400$ for one night, our rooms were completely different in size (hers was twice as big). A room definitely not worth 400$ anyway.||||Because of the Neela, I would remember Stone Town as a dark spot for a...

The Neela is a newly opened hotel in Stone Town and WOW!

It’s rare to find such hospitality and high service and cleanliness standards in Stone Town, but at The Neela everything was on point. From Ayub’s smile and friendly energy as we checked in, to special touches like taking our coffee/tea order the night before to have sent to our room at our preferred time the next morning, my entire experience at The Neela was amazing.

The architecture and design is just absolutely stunning. They have kept original Stone Town architecture and vibes, but have given it a modern and clean aesthetic twist. The details are noticeable and the artwork so unique and thought provoking.

For guests there is an area called The Parlour, where you can sit and work with high-speed wifi and enjoy a coffee or drink. Another point is it can be hard to find good wi-fi at some Stone Town spots, but it was super fast and strong at The Neela.

The other two restaurants at the property are Views on the rooftop, with views of the magical Stone Town sunsets and craft cocktails. Another restaurant on the street level is Breadfruit - and I think it may be the BEST food in Stone Town. Quality ingredients, unique recipes and big portions. A different level of any restaurant in town. I tried the eggs Benedict with pulled goat for breakfast and I can’t even describe how good it was.

Anybody can visit Breadfruit whether you’re staying our not, so if you’re looking for a quality meal in Stone Town and already have accommodation figured out, definitely come to The Neela (and then take a peek at the gorgeous interior of the lobby!).

One example of how the service is different here is that both the baristas and bartenders have had specialty training, and you can tell with the quality of the drinks and the hospitality. Elizabeth was super attentive and friendly at every meal and kept us smiling and satisfied.

You can find the Neela straight across from Tembo Hotel, down the alleyway beside the “Design Africa Boutique” sign.

Highly recommend checking out this new spot, I will definitely be back for not only a stay but many delicious meals in...

This hotel is absolutely wonderful. The rooms are gorgeous, air conditioned and comfortable. We had a very relaxing stay. It doesn't get much better than this in Zanzibar.

We loved the small touches such as the coconut lime bath products, the cookies served to our room during bed turndown, and Zanzibar tea stocked in the room. The bed, sheets and pillows were luxurious and perfect.

To note: the designated parking is a 5 min walk through back alleys, we got absolutely soaked in the rain taking our luggage to our car at checkout. They were nice enough to send a security guard with us to carry one suitcase, but just be prepared.

The restaurant at the hotel is small and cute with a nice selection. They offer non-dairy milk, great for vegans. Despite this offering, restaurant staff don't understand the concept of veganism or dairy-free. We asked for dairy free drinks only then to be served dairy yogurt. I also requested no eggs on my avocado toast, it was served with eggs and then they returned it to the kitchen to have the eggs scraped off and re-served. They did have a vegan overnight oats option on the breakfast menu. Breakfast was included with our room, drinks and all, which was really nice.

In all, I highly recommend this hotel. It was perfect for a romantic getaway for us. It's so cute inside and a great escape from the Stone Town heat in the air...