Kilindi Zanzibar — Hotel in Unguja

Stayed here for 5 days. Overall, a wonderful hotel, especially for a romantic getaway. Secluded, private and spacious. The rooms (villas!) are impressive and it makes you feel you have an entire boutique hotel to yourself. The design is beautiful. The staff and the service was fantastic and the facilitates (bar, pool and beach area) are all top notch. The only drawback was the restaurant which I explain in detail below.

Restaurant

1. Significant waiting times from when you order until you get the food (typically 30-40 mins to get your starter) and sometimes 25 min in between courses. You have to allow a minimum of 1.5 hrs just for breakfast. Lunch was always a 2-hr affair. Less critical for dinner because you want to relax, enjoy and chat but not for lunch or breakfast when you want to be by the pool. 2) The other issue in the restaurant was consistency and this goes two ways A) Same dishes were served differently everyday and that was a bit frustrating (ie. one day with Nutella another day with not-so-good chocolate sauce, Eggs benedict one day with proper muffins another day with a cracker substitute) so you order something again because you enjoyed it and then you get something different. Happened many times. B) The other consistency issue was the quality of each meal as a whole. Sometimes mains were amazing but starters terrible, or the other way around. Or sometimes the meat was amazing but the veg totally uncooked. It was a bit frustrating because the meal could have been perfect but a little things spoiled the whole thing. It seemed to us that the design from the head chef was great but maybe the execution was lacking some skill.

Now, credit where credit is due. The last night they took us for a surprise dinner on the beach and it was fantastic. They set up the table beautiful with candles a bonfire. We chose starters and desserts and the main was a surprise and it was a huge platter of fresh lobster and king prawns cooked to perfection. Great job!

The Rooms

These are great, essentially three parts to your villa. A huge bedroom, a separate lounge, bathroom and a small private pool. All secluded and away from view of other guests and staff. You also get espectacular views. The bathroom is huge and comfortable and all open into nature, you feel like you are showering naked in the jungle! The housekeeping procedures are synchronised to perfection, and the turn down service is also fantastic. The only thing you need to bear in mind is that the bathroom is not in the bedroom, it’s technically a separate building (pavilion) across a 10-step staircase, a bit strange when you want to go in the middle of the night. No TV in the rooms (which makes sense if you want to be in touch with nature), but a speaker for music could have been nice. Good Wi-fi in the bedroom.

Staff and Service Overall, fantastic! You get a dedicated ‘ambassador’ who will look after you 24/7. He/she will prepare your excursions, take your food orders, deliver the food, assist you in the pool or beach area and look after any requests or concerns you may have. All other staff were courteous and friendly at all times. The manager introduced himself when we arrived but we only saw him once during our five days. It could have been great if we could have seen more of him (i.e. we could’ve told him about the food).

The facilities Overall, amazing. You will definitely enjoy your stay. The almost-private beach is great, you get a dedicated waiter and bar, kayaks and paddle boards, beautiful and very comfortable cabanas. The pool is gorgeous with great views, cabanas and sun loungers. The bar is open and cute and they also have a spa that looks great but we didn’t use.

You will certainly enjoy your stay here and it ticks all the boxes of a great 5-star luxury getaway. The only drawback was the food but hopefully that’s something they will...

We booked Kilindi last minute kind of on a whim, so either I missed something on their website, or really, their website does NOT do Kilindi any sort of justice. We arrived to the 50 acres oasis tired and hungry. We were greeted with the most enthusiastic JAUMBO and a fresh juice. We were introduced to our incredible ambassador Julius and whisked away to Pavillion 14 up on the hillside overlooking the mini bay. To our surprise and delight, we realized we had an amazing outdoor bathroom with a 360 shower, a fantastic lounge area, and our huge bedroom with the comfiest bed we've slept on in forever. To be clear, the 3 spaces are separated with a few steps, so getting up a night to use the restroom was the biggest issue I had the entire trip.

After unpacking, we headed back to the main pavillion for a drink and a bite to eat. The waterfall bar is a nice place to relax, but one can hardly turn your eyes away from the massive infinity edge pool that overlooks the sea. The entire place was kept immaculate, with lush greenery and little details.

Now on to the BEST part of our stay....the food! We've stayed at previous all inclusives with buffet options for breakfast and dinner. This is NOT THAT! I am a fairly picky eater, vegetarian and then some. We never once had a bad meal and I always was presented with a modified vegetarian menu while my husband enjoyed a nice mix of meat and seafood options. Most nights for dinner I had a hard time deciding on which of the 3 mains I would select. Our ambassador Julius got to know our preferences and after the first time of swapping feta for parmesan, I never had to ask again. We also really enjoyed their dine anywhere anytime policy. It was nice not to have to be on a time/place schedule. Julius helped us celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary with the most amazing private/romantic beach dinner for two. We also opted to have dinner in our lounge at the pavillion, but this was usually interrupted by some cute but persistent bush babies. They weren't as scared of us as they should have been and got into our bread basket one night. We never felt the need to pay extra for the high end wines or spirits, as the wine list and alcohol included in our package was great. Ask Julius to make you an espresso martini, it was always the best afternoon pick-me up!

Our room was always cleaned well and I looked forward to what Floria would leave us for a bed note/decoration. Again, the warmth and little details made us feel so welcomed. The only other minor issue was that my husband would leave his cigar out in the ashtray and they would toss it before he finished it.

Kudos to Kim and Adam for managing such a beautiful resort with charm, warmth, efficiency, and fun. We hope to stay...

BE WARNED: THIS IS NOT FIVE STAR.

I have actually signed up for google just so I could leave a review for this hotel in the hopes that others would not be deceived to spend money on this hotel.

My partner and I frequently stay at five star hotels and this definitely is terrible value for money. I had booked this for my 30th birthday with high hopes and was thoroughly disappointed.

Location: The beach photos are extremely deceiving as most of the photos are taken when the tide is in (before 10am or after 5pm). When the tide goes out which is pretty much for the entire day, the beach becomes unusable. Not to mention all the fisherman’s boats sat outside the hotel which stinks of fish creating a horrible smell throughout the entire hotel. In order to use the beach, you would have to walk to where the other hotels are which is around 15-20 minutes.

The rooms: They are large and uniquely designed, however in desperate need for restoration. The paint is all wearing away and the decor is at the level of a 2 star at best. The outdoor furniture was filthy and falling apart. Seriously shocked at the furniture in this property. The dip pools were absolutely freezing and in the shade for majority of the day so not enticing to actually even use them.

Main Pool: Considering the “private” beach this hotel features is actually unusable for majority of the day, you would think the pool would be the main attraction. The pool was absolutely filthy and had dozens of crows using it as a bird bath. This is highly unsanitary and can actually spread infections.

Service: The staff were very friendly however did not provide 5 star service which I would hold the hotel to blame as they are the ones providing training. The staff were trying there best and unfortunately I think the hotel needs to have a better training program.

The most disappointing part of the entire stay was being woken up to Instagram influencers flying drones over our “private” suite at 6am in the morning on two consecutive days. We had not been informed by the hotel that this was happening and that our private space was going to be invaded. The bathrooms are actually located separate to the bedrooms and my partner was caught outside walking to the bathroom when we had the drone fly above our suite.

The lesson of the day. Never book hotels based on things you’ve seen on Instagram which is exactly what I had done in this case. I have never been disappointed by a four seasons, park Hyatt, mandarin oriental and the level of service they provide. I decided to try something different this holiday and was left extremely disappointed. Don’t make the...