Marea Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Unguja

We spent in this hotel first week of our vacation in Zanzibar. Before the choosing of hotels I was very surprised because this hotel had the average rate 5,0 what is very unusual. ||The first experience was positive, we had conversation by e-mails. If I understood correctly there are 2 owners, ladies from Italy and Romania and they were very kind, they even promised to equip our big family room with fridge and offered transfer from airport.||After arriving to airport we met with Suleiman and driver, they transport us to hotel. It takes appr. 1 hour and costs $40. From Suleiman you can ask everything, his English is good and you can order different trips from him.||In hotel we had to wait a little bit, but at 12 our room was ready. We were quit surprised, because this family room on the 4th floor was very large, 80 m2 with 2 bath rooms. There was 4 king-size beds, coach, little table, shelf and 2 air cons. No TV (only in restaurant), no fridge, no wall adapters, no safe, no balcony to the seaside (only on the floors 2 and 3), no chairs. We asked from Suleiman, where is promised fridge and also asked adapters and chairs. We got it, but only in evening. ||When we visited restaurant (Italian), we have got appologises from owner due to issues with fridge and for compensation they offered us a free pizza. We have chosed the most expensive one (Primavera, $14), but unfortunately it was hard as a plate, on which it was served. At least the local beer was cold and tasty. ||We had BB option so breakfast was included. They bring to the table kettle with hot water and you have to choose: teabags on instant coffee. In Italian restaurant instant coffee!!! Bella donna, mamma mia! I want cappuccino! Yes, they have it in bar, but it costs €3... Each morning they bring to your table plate with bananas, the slices of watermelon and pineapple, 1 small glass with fresh juice (mango or pineapple), omlet or pancakes and cereals. Some people purchased the fruits from local shops to have more varied breakfast. ||Due to negative experience with pizza we had only one time dinner in our restaurant. Let's say: more-less. And more expensive then neighbor restaurants. There were 2 young Italian guys working, but in this Italian restaurant I saw only local people working.||What about the hospitality? All hotel workers were very polite, positive and helpful. Room was cleaned up each day.||But buildings were totally outdated and need refreshing. There is also outside pool, which you have to share with divers. Silent Jambiani beach is in 50 m from main building and there are some hotel's sunbeds. Also a little shop for paintings and souvenirs. The best thing is walking by the beach: to north to Paje beach or to south by Jambiani beach. I recomment to visit neighbor hotels, there you can find lot of nice...

The hotel staff was absolutely fantastic. Always there for you, always smiling, very kind! The rooms were really nice although there was no wardrobe. Food was more than delicious. Everything was fresh and tasty. The beach was wonderful and the ocean was very warm - it is in great location. The pool was also great and the whole place was very clean. Two stars I am taking however for a situation that happened one day. And from what I read in the reviews - it was NOT the first time. The hotel owner has a huge cane corso named Ares. The dog is friendly towards the guests and always begs for food in the restaurant (not in a very intrusive way - he just sits next to the table). But he walks there freely, he doesn't even have a collar. And one day I witnessed how a man with his two leashed dogs was passing by on the beach (not on the hotel's territory - he was close to the ocean). Ares ran towards them barking and growling and attacked. He bit both dogs... The man tried to run with them to the water in attempt to rescue them but the hotel's dog was still holding his dog by its neck. Both of his dogs were screaming in pain. It was absolutely horrible thing to witness... Italian owner was there and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. He just stood on the beach (not even in the ocean) and repeatedly screamed Ares name. His dog did not react in any way. Thanks God for one man from the hotel staff who ran to the water and grabbed Ares trying to pull him away from the two smaller dogs. Someone finally brought a leash and they managed to take hotel's dog away after some struggling. The owner than hit him with a wooden chair and kicked him several times..... It is NOT how you train your dog. The whole situation was very scary and could have ended much worse if it wasn't for the guy from the staff because he was the only person who did something. In the evening the hotel's dog was once again without any leash or collar, just walking freely. Absolutely shocking situation that should never happen and the lack of owner reaction (beside repeatedly screaming his dogs name and then hitting and kicking him) was appalling. A big dog like Ares requires training. I feel very sad for giving this wonderful place only 3 stars but the dog attack was very traumatising and affected my vacations in a...

On the plus side, certainly the sea view. Unfortunately, for the first time in my life I had a very stressful situation during a holiday in the hotel. The hotel is not fenced and the owners' dog - a giant cane corso type - walks freely there. No one told us what the dog was or whose dog it was, and it walks completely loose. It seems that it is not dangerous for people (although if you are afraid of big dogs, the presence of such a dog may be stressful). I have had to deal with large, demanding dogs and thats why I feel even worse about the fact that the owners are not responsible dog owners. I have witnessed this dog running towards the other dog and attacking. As someone who owns dogs, I know that different things can happen, but the behaviour of the owners was unacceptable. Instead of giving their phone number to the owner of that dog straight away (no one knew if her dog was fine or not), they started calling her names and put all the blame on her, claiming that her dog had trespassed on their property. Sadly, however, with no fence at a public beach where dogs, people and children walk, it is difficult to say that someone is trespassing on ‘their land’ and that dog did not enter the restaurant. The owners were also unable to talk to me normally, they just shouted that it was a private matter. I hoped that the next day the owner's son, who claimed the dog was his, would come up and talk to me and other people who saw the incident, but this did not happen. Anyway, the next morning the dog was running on the beach without any supervision. I managed to take pictures as he went to the hotel next door, he was also in the sea. Also in the morning there was a guy running with a husky on a leash right next to the sea - this hotel dog bit ran up to them and growled at the husky. 5 minutes later there was the same situation with another dog who was also on a leash. Owner! You absolutely have to teach your dog to recall - the fact that your dog is friendly to people is not enough for him to walk freely all over the beach if he is so dominant towards other dogs. I myself know very well that such dogs require constant training. Hotel owners and dog owners at the same time - please be responsible! I would add that the police...