Golden Hotel — Hotel in Unguja

RUN, DON’T WALK—STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL!||||This place is an absolute scam. I booked this hotel two months in advance, and upon arrival, they claimed they couldn’t find my reservation. I provided my reservation number, yet they still “couldn’t see it in their system” and told me to wait while they contacted their reservation team. Nearly an hour later, a manager finally appeared and miraculously “found” my reservation. However, I was told I had to pay an additional $150 per night for my stay from December 25 to January 1, plus $100 per person for a mandatory New Year’s Eve gala dinner.||||These “holiday fees” were never disclosed on their website or at the time of booking. They clearly count on guests having no choice but to pay because finding another hotel during this busy holiday season is nearly impossible. When you book a hotel months in advance, all fees should be included upfront—this is nothing short of extortion.||||The nightmare didn’t end there. The room service was atrocious. Towels were taken but never replaced, trash wasn’t emptied, and toilet paper wasn’t restocked unless we explicitly asked. Beach towels were always unavailable, and when they were, they were horribly stained and should’ve been replaced ages ago. The pictures on their website are incredibly deceiving—it only looks nice from the outside. In reality, this hotel is barely worth 2 stars, let alone the 4-star rating they claim to have.||||On New Year’s Eve, while I was asking about the gala, I saw multiple other guests at the front desk being told the same thing: “We can’t find your reservation.” It’s a clear pattern. While standing there, I checked Google reviews and saw a similar complaint posted just five hours earlier. However, when I went back later that evening, that review had mysteriously disappeared. I’m convinced they flag negative reviews to have them removed because no one in their right mind would book this hotel if they saw the truth.||||The gala dinner, by the way, was a complete rip-off. For $100 per person, the food was mediocre at best, and the strawberry shortcake had MOLD on it. (See attached photo for proof.) Other nearby places offered much better buffets for a fraction of the cost.||||This place needs to be reported, and I urge anyone else who was scammed during the Christmas/New Year holiday to come forward with their experiences.||||STAY FAR AWAY...

RUN, DON’T WALK—STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL!

This place is an absolute scam. I booked this hotel two months in advance, and upon arrival, they claimed they couldn’t find my reservation. I provided my reservation number, yet they still “couldn’t see it in their system” and told me to wait while they contacted their reservation team. Nearly an hour later, a manager finally appeared and miraculously “found” my reservation. However, I was told I had to pay an additional $150 per night for my stay from December 25 to January 1, plus $100 per person for a mandatory New Year’s Eve gala dinner.

These “holiday fees” were never disclosed on their website or at the time of booking. They clearly count on guests having no choice but to pay because finding another hotel during this busy holiday season is nearly impossible. When you book a hotel months in advance, all fees should be included upfront—this is nothing short of extortion.

The nightmare didn’t end there. The room service was atrocious. Towels were taken but never replaced, trash wasn’t emptied, and toilet paper wasn’t restocked unless we explicitly asked. Beach towels were always unavailable, and when they were, they were horribly stained and should’ve been replaced ages ago. The pictures on their website are incredibly deceiving—it only looks nice from the outside. In reality, this hotel is barely worth 2 stars, let alone the 4-star rating they claim to have.

On New Year’s Eve, while I was asking about the gala, I saw multiple other guests at the front desk being told the same thing: “We can’t find your reservation.” It’s a clear pattern. While standing there, I checked Google reviews and saw a similar complaint posted just five hours earlier. However, when I went back later that evening, that review had mysteriously disappeared. I’m convinced they flag negative reviews to have them removed because no one in their right mind would book this hotel if they saw the truth.

The gala dinner, by the way, was a complete rip-off. For $100 per person, the food was mediocre at best, and the strawberry shortcake had MOLD on it. (See attached photo for proof.) Other nearby places offered much better buffets for a fraction of the cost.

This place needs to be reported, and I urge anyone else who was scammed during the Christmas/New Year holiday to come forward with their experiences.

STAY FAR AWAY...

The hotel was ok, but it was nowhere what I expected from a 4 star hotel.

I stayed here for a week and I think there were only 2 days where it didn’t reek of sewer. Everyday I would open the door to my balcony and a foul, horrible stench of sewer would hit me in the face like a semi truck. I suspect the smell came from the pool, which probably means they don’t clean it good enough.

The workout room they had was super small and disappointing. You could probably only fit 3-4 people at a time (and that’s being optimistic). The workout room also smelled bad because of zero ventilation.

The people behind the reception were WAY too pushy when it came to us writing a good review. Some of them were even seen walking into a room with a woman, and then unholy sounds were heard from the room. That’s kind of inappropriate to do on your workplace.

They were also frequently lying to us. The power went out and we asked when it would return. They kept on saying “it will be back in just one hour” over and over again. It didn’t return for the rest of our stay. Almost two days went without power and AC…I understand that they can’t control the electricity, but we would rather have them be honest with us and tell us “we don’t know when it will return” instead of lying to our faces.

We also asked if they could order a bus for us on the day we were leaving. We asked if the bus would arrive on time because we tried to fetch a ferry in time. The people behind the reception said yes multiple times and told us it would even be there before the promised time. 35 minutes goes by after the promised meeting time before the bus finally arrived. In this situation they should’ve just told us that the bus wouldn’t make it in time so we could order two taxis instead (which would be a lot faster). The people behind the reception were on the phone with the bus driver while we were waiting so it’s not like they couldn’t ask the driver where he was.

Another problem was the internet. If you are gonna label your hotel as a 4 star hotel then at least have decent internet. I’ve had better internet connection while being on safari far out on the savanna.

Other than that the hotel was ok I guess. The other staff were friendly and the hotel had a good location. It was just a few minutes away from the beach and other...