Paradise Beach Resort — Hotel in Unguja

During my stay from July 15 to 25, 2025, I had a very pleasant experience. I'll explain that further here:||1. The room: it looks reasonable. They make your bed in the morning and spray insect repellent, and early in the evening they prepare the bed for bedtime (by unfolding the mosquito net) and spraying insect repellent again. The spray helps a lot. The bed is firm, but it's also comfortable to sleep on. The balcony is small, but nice, only a drawback is that the air conditioning unit is in plain sight on the balcony. The bathroom is reasonable and designed in a casual, African-chic style, but you still see a lot of residue on the sink faucet, in the corners of the bathroom, and on the bidet faucet. Fortunately, the showerhead itself was free of residue and new. That made showering pleasant, but the residue doesn't make the bathroom look its best. I consider that an important factor for the room, because that's where you take care of yourself. Sometimes when flushing the toilet, some of the waste comes back. Only on the second flush is the entire waste removed. The shower initially had partially warm water, but thankfully it did get hot. The bath towels leave a lot of lint on your body, which I find a bit annoying. You enter the room with a key by turning the keyhole, and you lock the door by turning it closed. The cleaners once forgot to close the door again, allowing anyone to enter your room. I discussed this with the manager, and he addressed it and reassured me that there was adequate security, which is partly debatable. The walls are not thick, and you can hear a lot of what's happening outside, which can be irritating at times. The air conditioning worked very well, but sometimes the power goes out for about 30 seconds (also for the entire resort), but then comes back on. Despite its imperfections, I rate the room 4 stars. I am satisfied with the entire room.||2. The resort: I find the resort very relaxing, warm, and cozy. There are several areas in the resort where you can choose to retreat, partially retreat, or simply enjoy the hustle and bustle. The resort is beautifully laid out with palm trees, shrubs, and a pier with loungers where you can enjoy the wind, sun, and water, which is partly what creates the wonderful atmosphere. There are also three swimming pools, two of which have music and a bar. The pool facing the beach is a lively area, with a playground on the beach and a volleyball net, where it's lively and active. The pool overlooking the rooms and slightly overlooking the sea is less crowded, offering a mix of hustle and bustle and tranquility. You can chat with the bartenders, listen to music, people-watch, watch the sea, and enjoy nature in relative peace. The last pool has no bar and is located upstairs, which you have to access via stairs. This pool is perfect for experiencing true tranquility, for example, to work in the beautiful surroundings. The resort itself has limited facilities for games, except for foosball, ping-pong, pool table, and volleyball net. The resort has several shops, including an excursion shop where you can book excursions with friendly guides for a reasonable price. However, they currently only offer three excursions. I booked two excursions with them, one of which didn't go quite as planned. After I complained about this, they told me that the customer is important and that they would compensate me for the inconvenience. The initial problem was resolved efficiently and effectively. They also have a scuba diving shop, a mini-market with a small café, a clothing store, and two more. They also have a gym, but the machines are in need of replacement. A drawback of the resort is that when you want to enter the pier, you constantly walk past people trying to sell you things. Guests also smoke everywhere on the resort. It would be better to designate one area where this is permitted, because there are children running around; you don't want to jeopardize health and the climate. The wooden loungers are teeming with insects (ants, spiders), which is very annoying, but fortunately, the metal loungers at the other two pools are less bothersome than the loungers on the pier. There are two separate bars, with the pier bar open 24/7 and a nice, spacious area with some music, making it very cozy. The other bar is a great place to dance, chat, and drink. I really like the coconut bar! It's not a very large resort, making it easy to connect with others. Taxi fares through the resort are a bit more expensive (50 to 70 dollars). They mainly use dollars. The staff are friendly, pleasant, alert, and helpful. The resort doesn't have white beaches and turquoise water, which is a shame. The area surrounding the resort is surrounded by poverty, but that's also charming, because you can experience what life is really like here. Despite the imperfections, I rate the entire resort 4 stars.||3. Food and drinks: The mocktails at the bars taste decent. I do hope they're improved, though, because sometimes they taste unpleasant and are undrinkable. Because they put the whole lemon in the drink, there are plenty of lemon seeds in the drink instead of just the juice, which is annoying. The cutlery should be rinsed thoroughly first and then washed, otherwise, dried food particles will form on the cutlery. It would be nice if they polished the glasses as well as the cutlery, because sometimes you can see lint from the cloth in the glasses. The food could be a bit more varied than the standard live cooking pasta/spaghetti. The chicken and sauce should be cooked together, rather than just adding the chicken and sauce later, which is why not many guests chose the chicken, among other things. The food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) was mostly open, which meant there were a lot of wasps and flies on the food, sometimes disturbing you while eating. Maintaining food hygiene is crucial, as it prevented me from choosing certain dishes over others. Covering the food would be a first step, and closing off the space to prevent wasps and flies from entering while eating and drinking. The food tasted quite good for the most part, but it was often cold. The undersides of the dining tables should be cleaned to prevent spiders from nesting there and disturbing us while eating and drinking. At the same time, the restaurant staff are very alert and responsive. They monitor guests' behavior, so if something unpleasant occurred, they were quickly on the spot and resolved the problem without you having to contact them yourself. They genuinely care about their guests. Few teams at other resorts and hotels have that! D’nell (if I spelled it correctly) did something remarkable. She's a cleaner for the restaurant. She saw guests leave after dinner and then another group sit down. The dining table itself wasn't necessarily dirty, but she still cleaned it out of principle (I assume). There are plenty of employees who, among other things, look the other way, but she acknowledged it and took action. This demonstrates the team's discipline and attention to the guests. This is very effective! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are sometimes monotonous and could be more varied, but ultimately the food tasted reasonably good. Despite the imperfections, I rate the food and drinks 4 stars.||4. Entertainment: They provide a good daily entertainment program, which they write down on a board every day. The entertainment often consists of four activities per day: two in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. I like the entertainment because if you stay at the resort all day, you can easily fill your day with activities and some rest. They organize activities such as dance lessons, a cooking class for children, a pool gym, a music evening, a silent disco, a movie night, a party outside the resort, a tour of the surrounding area, etc. A dedicated and fun entertainment team. Their downside is that they don't respond well to the guests. If the entertainment team has something planned for the evening, but sees that guests enjoy it more with, for example, such music, they tend to focus on that rather than switching to something else entirely. This gradually leads to losing more guests who leave the evening activity. The music box they use often malfunctions, which is very annoying. Despite these imperfections, I still rate the entertainment 4 stars.||I believe this resort is indeed worthy of a 4-star rating, but could do with some improvement in certain areas. As a guest, I had a truly fantastic experience here, where I was able to work on my own well-being, enjoy myself, and truly be myself. I enjoyed the interesting conversations I had with the guest manager (Chris), who recently started at this resort. He ensures that guests are heard, seeks solutions, and works hard to optimize his team's performance, among other things. The resort should appreciate the valuable team they have. If you're looking for peace and quiet, fond memories, occasional pleasant conversations with guests and staff, and beautiful surroundings, I believe Paradise Beach Resort is a...

I would not recommend this resort to any fellow traveller

Here is my reasoning and complaint in full:

1. as mentioned in my first complaint with booking.com directly- upon arriving our room had no water- at all.

We checked in at 02:30 in the morning and complained as soon as we got the room key. The receptionist name was Jamu, and a complaint was laid directly with him.

At the time that the complaint was made, there were about 30 guest checking out- i apologised for cutting the line and went straight up to him to complain. He ignored my complaint and continued checking out guests. I patiently waited in eye view from his desk and waited for more than a hour in the reception- and when he finished with the last tourist- i went back to him and reminded him that we travelled for more than 16 hours to get there and took two flights as well. Only when I threatened for a full refund he picked up the phone and called the maintenance team.

He could not contact the maintenance person as it was now 4:00 am and the guy went home and was sleeping.

He could not give us another room - even a temporary room - as according to him the resort was fully booked.

He could not call the manager as he did not want to disturb the manager as he was also asleep and we had to wait till 10:00 am for him to arrive.

I complained numerous times on booking.com and all I wanted was to move to another resort- even if it costed more.

At 06:00 we finally had a bath and the water was ice cold.

Here is a list of all the other things we found wrong with the resort

1. we did not have water - on more than 5 occasions. Pictures and videos were taken.

2. we did not have hot water from day one of our stay- and this was only resolved on the last day when we were checking out- the geyser guy came in on the last day and said that the wires for the geyser were out. The Luke warm water we were having a bath everyday was from the sun hitting the geyser directly and not from the electricity as the wires were stripped as mentioned above.

3. there was no water pressure- the water in the shower came in drips- we were lucky to have a bath in 2 minutes flat- as it was not enjoyable- purely to wet, scrub and rinse off with the least amount of water.

This is a huge resort and they have not invested in pumps to secure a proper water pressure. The managers name is chris and when actually bringing him to our room and showing him the water pressure- his response was that it is acceptable.

4. the bed has no actual bed base. It is a top mattress which is placed on top of a block brick base that is plastered and the actual matress- being a single layer- was sunken in.

We booked a family room, and my wife and kids slept on this bed while I slept on the couch. Everyday. Being 1.9 m tall i slept half way down the couch and used the side rest of the L-shaped couch to rest and stretch my legs.

4. The rooms are swept daily and not vacuumed. After sweeping the dust on the floors pick up and travels to the beds and counter tops. This is a hygiene problem.

5. there are 4 water bottles provided daily in glass bottles as a complimentary drink- and it is undrinkable. I have seen the bar and the staff using a hosepipe to fill the water bottles. It has to be filtered water!

We used the sink to wash our kids swimming clothes with washing powder brought from home and noticed a bad stench from the water. We were forced to brush our teeth and drink that water! There are no filtered water available in the resort and when you request for water it is filled in a cup.

6. there is not a single fly trap/ infrared trap on the resort. There are constantly flies travelling around the bar and restaurants- and while eating with your right hand you have to use your left hand to swat flies away. This is another hygiene problem that needs to be addressed.

When I think of zanzibar- i think about our unfortunate stay at this overpriced, over rated and miserable resort. I would never recommend this...

We had originally booked to stay in the sister resort in Jambiani, the Beach and Reef resort. However , the bungalow we booked was damaged by weather so we were accommodated to this location instead , and in the end we were Extremely happy that it worked out that way. Our stay at Paradise Beach was amazing. Upon arrival, Mwinyi checked us in and gave us his WhatsApp so we could contact him if we needed anything since the resort is rather large. He even messaged us the next day to check and make sure our stay was going perfect. He was very attentive and helpful to us for our whole stay! We winded up doing the all inclusive package and we highly recommend it to anyone thinking about it because it was worth it. The staff behind the bars were all amazing and kind. We will always remember Jane, Mariam , Mahir and Emmanuel as we spent many days chatting with them while they gave us the best service at the bars! We consider all of them friends now and would come back just to visit them!

While we were there, Ihab consulted us about possibly getting a massage or treatment at the spa. Most of the people we encountered on our travels in Zanzibar who were trying to sell us a massage, were quite pushy and almost wouldn’t leave you alone unless you bought something from them. which , if you’re anything like me , makes you completely not want to buy anything at all. When Ihab approached us he was the opposite! He gave us some options and was not pushy at all and he helped us work something out within our price range. Massages were done by Amina and Mariam3 who were really great and professional! He was sure to find us after the massage and make sure it was exactly what we wanted! Ihab was great and if you’re going to get a massage definitely see him as some of the other guys were extremely pushy.

The buffet food was great and the staff in the kitchen were very kind to us. Sandra is the buffet manager and she was very sweet and helpful to us as well! We looked forward to seeing her in the mornings for breakfast and at dinner time. She also became like a friend to us throughout our stay. We were also fortunate enough to meet Stanly , one of the owners , who was very kind to us as well! Whenever we saw him he gave us a friendly wave and made sure our stay was perfect.

Overall, our stay at Paradise Beach was over the top. We really enjoyed everything about it and the hospitality was great. The bungalow we stayed in was absolutely beautiful, had a patio right on the beach facing the water. It was a dream! We hope to definitely come back and visit our friends at Paradise Beach Resort in...