Malika Hotel — Hotel in Unguja

Let’s start with the fact that all the star ratings I have just put on I put for very average tourist who is looking for a comfortable European/American - like beach vacation. This is the most contradictory hotel I have ever stayed and it cannot be valued using regular beach vacation standards we all are used to. We are mother & 2 teenager boys family. We went to Zanzibar with a clear idea that we are going to Africa! and we were able to accept some particularities and the local reality. So our experience with Malika Nungwi was mostly very positive, but mostly because our way of thinking. Let’s start from the beginning. The arrival and check in very good, quick and smooth. We were were offered a fresh mango juice as a welcome drink which was so nice of them. I will repeat thousand times - THE STAFF IS THE ABSOLUTE TREASURE OF THIS PLACE. 10 out of 10 to everyone. The room was big enough to fit us all. There is a fridge in the room that we were using constantly. AC worked great 👍🏻 Mattresses were BAD, very bad and crooked. The outlets didn’t worked well with our English adapters but the staff has their own way to manage the situation:))) (thank you for that). Be aware of electricity black outs on the island. They happen very often, sometimes they are short sometimes they last longer. The hotel has it’s own generator which switches on as soon as the main sours of electricity is off, but it doesn’t cover the AC. Bathroom. Before entering it repeat to yourself: we are in Africa. It’s bad. Clean but bad. Rust and limestone everywhere. We didn’t have problems with hot or cold water though, just with the water pressure ones or twice. There are no amenities but soap and shower gel in a dispenser (very diluted). Mosquito net is covering the whole balcony window and we never had problems with the insects in the room, except for tiny ants 🐜. We didn’t use the pool, but we saw it was kept really well, poll area was nice and clean, people were hanging out around the pool a lot, especially in the evenings. The evenings were very cosy at the hotel. Breakfast - tasty, not very wide choice of food, but everything they had was good and always enough for everyone. We really appreciated a nice relaxing music in the breakfast area. Again - the staff was really exceptionally kind and welcoming. All of them. We were there in March which was a Ramadan month on the island. 90% of the places were open, but you cannot buy alcohol in the grocery stores (even beer) and women swimming suits (seriously, non of them, nowhere). At the hotel they had local beer that was good. We were going around to the village for lunch and dinner, but my son had a beef burger 🍔 for lunch at the hotel ones. It wasn’t good. Summary - our stay at Malika Hotel was really pleasant and with couple of position improved this is a nice cosy place to stay without losing the feeling of Zanzibar (which may happen in bigger chain hotels on the first line) Thank you guys, that was an amazing vacation and you were a big...

I am giving this hotel 3 stars, primarily due to issues with cleanliness and the overall experience.

From the moment my husband and I entered the room, we were disappointed to find several cleanliness concerns, including a noticeable amount of hair left in the bathroom. Furthermore, the bathroom drain was clogged, and the showerhead holder was broken. While the staff addressed these issues after we reported them, such problems should not arise in the first place, especially given that we had booked the room well in advance. Cleanliness is a fundamental expectation in hospitality and should never be compromised.

Additionally, I usually make a habit of tidying up the room and bathroom before heading to breakfast. However, on one occasion, I left the bed unmade, expecting it to be properly arranged by housekeeping. To my disappointment, when I returned later in the day, I found the bed exactly as I had left it. This lack of attention to detail was disheartening.

Another significant drawback was the constant noise. The hotel is located next to a construction site, and the persistent sounds of building work made it incredibly challenging to relax during the day.

On a brighter note, the restaurant staff were friendly, attentive, and provided excellent service, which added a touch of positivity to our stay.

Unfortunately, the massage experience was a major letdown. The massage room was poorly equipped and lacked even the most basic amenities for comfort. The massage oil had an overpowering, unpleasant scent, and the massage itself was far too rough, leaving me feeling sore rather than relaxed. I even asked the masseuse to play soothing music from my phone to drown out the noise from the construction outside, but the peace lasted less than five minutes before the electricity and internet went out. This completely ruined the experience, and instead of leaving rejuvenated, I felt physically strained and disappointed.

In summary, while there were some positive aspects, such as the friendly restaurant staff, the overall experience did not meet expectations due to cleanliness issues, noise disturbances, and subpar...

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! THEY STEAL YOUR MONEY!

During my stay at this place, I was robbed among 5 other rooms for more than 5300$ in total. And that's only the cases we know, maybe there's more other. We all have the same story: all of us put our money in the safe box and one day we couldn't open it. But the hotel's owner had master keys for all the boxes so he opened the box and then we saw there was no money. When the first three robberies happened they tried to blame this on the cleaning ladies and put them in the police station, but even after that, the other robberies happened. So we assume the owners are the ones who have stolen our money. When we tried to warn other guests in the hotel, the owners got mad and angry, scaring us they literally were yelling and said we were not allowed to spread this information and threatened to kick us from the hotel.

We reported everything to the police but after a few days they gave us "copies" of our reports and it was said "we lost our money on the beach", which is obviously a lie. But we are sure owners and the police are in cahoots. So we went to the police station again and they couldn't explain why our reports were falsified

Oh and also the hotel has some other issues, like constant power outages and they don't have a generator to compensate for this. The internet quality is extremely poor. The breakfasts are almost the same every day, only a few dishes change. The pool is big but always dirty. Daily constructions from the morning to the night expand the building that you're staying in. The staff are really nice but they also look like they're bullied and scared, we saw a few times how rude the owners are...