Hotel Verde Zanzibar - Azam Luxury Resort & Spa — Hotel in Unguja

The Hotel Verde restaurant was quite displeasing we enter the restaurant and as we go down to get a table the lady at the first reception stops us and ask us where we are going. We tell her we are going to go downstairs and get seated and get a menu. The lady says to us their is no menu right now we have a buffet so that wasn’t what we had gone for but none the less we sat down for it still since we were already there. The lady than gives us a voucher for a table and we go down to the 2nd reception and give the lady the voucher and the lady tells us just find a waiter and tell them to find you a table ( Which is interesting I have never been to a restaurant where the reception tells you to go inside and find a waiter to set you up shouldn’t that be their job to accommodate the guest) so we go into the buffet and find the waiter and tell him to set us up a table he finds us a table so than we sit down at the table that hasn’t even been set up yet and wait as they set up the table and another waitress comes and the first thing she ask us if we had payed ( take in mind this is the rudest thing you can ask a customer adding to the fact that they already failed to even accommodate us properly) but since we were not there to deal with peoples foolishness we tell her that the lady at the 2nd reception took the voucher as per the instruction of the first reception to give it to the lady downstairs at the desk. The waitress continues to ask us questions as she seemed hesitant on weather or not we were telling the truth.( So we then brush off the lady by giving her the name of the person that booked the table and told her to go ask the lady at the reception since she was becoming quite annoying) The lady than starts us off with water but doesn’t even fill the tables properly as there was 5 of us but she only put down 4 glasses and she seen that one person was missing a glass but didn’t bother to even ask if she would like water or anything. So than we start off the buffet and go get plates to put food and a good portion of the food was finished and was either refilled after a good portion of time or was not refilled at all. Overall as for my harsh ratings it’s comes down mostly to A) the service being very poor B) when hosting a buffet their should be options and replenishable ones not one round options C) Have a more organized setting, it looked very disorganized in there and that was very visible from the way the workers were and the way the manager was running around, he wasn’t even able to finish the food on his plate and he had to run around trying to get...

Overall this hotel is OK, its fine...if you are male or of the Muslim faith apparently. To be frank I have never seen such prejudice behaviors as I witnessed from most of the female and some of the male staff at this hotel. My wife, our friend and daughter could not believe how they were treated by the some, most of the employees. When she reported to me of the actions she had witnessed I was in disbelief...so we started to test to see if it were the case or just coincidence. First I, a well mannered height weight proportionate adult white male in my 50's would ask someone for something, or some information or just speak to them; both male and female employees on staff at the hotel. The responses I got were typically kind, supportive and genuine and as expected...but not overboard by any means. When my wife or daughter would act the same scenario they were all but shunned with cold, curt remarks that were not only unsavory but downright off-putting. There were no warm smiles, friendly gestures or helpful assistance...they clearly did not favor them nor what them there. Now all three women, my wife, friend and daughter are tall, blond, fit and highly educated professional women back in the US. They are all very well traveled and always take great care to respect foreign customs of etiquette, dress and manners and in no way would deliberately try to offend anyone...their guilt is simply being an American woman apparently. Nonetheless, it was obvious and we were happy to leave when our time had come. Broad strokes, the hotel is fine, and we knew the situation before be booked it but thought it would not be too much to deal with. Now, in hind site I wish we would have chosen a different hotel that was hosted by people that genuinely wanted us there. Its just my two cents but that is how I would describe Hotel Verde to anyone that...

The hotel property itself is nice. However, the attitude and the service by the staff is terrible.

Property: The hotel is modern and large. The rooms are large too. However, the architecture is similar to Mosque (doesn't bother me.)

As soon as you check into the hotel, you will see two photos at the reception hanging on the wall: One of the owner of the hotel and the second one of the president of the country. Such photos are generally put up by very low budget family run hotels, not appropriate for 5-star hotel.

All the staff has Muslim dressing. I understand the Zanzibar is predominately Muslim, but in a 5-star hotel, the staff dressing should be more neutral and cosmopolitan, as experienced by us in another resort in Zanzibar.

The restaurant has a very few guests. However, it still takes them forever to bring any food. A simple pizza or sandwich takes over an hour. Even getting water takes half an hour. This was experienced not only by us but other guests as well.

No alcohol is served. Only the mocktails. Even though it is not a big deal for me, it could be for many others, who would like to have wine with the dinner or have mocktails by the pool.

Most of the guests in this hotel are either airline staff or business travelers. This hotel is not best suited for tourists.

When I talked to our tour guide about the lack of service and attitude of the staff, he told me that the owner of this hotel owns many businesses in Tanzania and working in one of his companies like a Government job where there is ample job security and the staff does not have to worry about providing good service.

Overall, I would not recommend any tourist...