Overall Ratings & Reviews Hotel Riu Palace Zanzibar - All Inclusive

Highlights: - the food!!! Best all inclusive food I’ve had - the staff!! They are SO friendly, polite and want to make sure you’re having a great time - location. Stunning location on the beach. The grounds are lovely and you get to use Jambo next door also. - House keeping! Amazing room decor every day. Opportunities: - entertainment is lacking, especially if it’s raining. So bring some cards with you. - our room door batteries had to be changed 3 times across 12 days, which seemed a lot. Perhaps we were just unlucky. We loved staying here and had the best time. Sadly I got acute tonsillitis but the onsite doctors sorted me out (though I’ll neee to claim that back) I, naively, didn’t realise there was such a tip culture so didn’t come with enough cash, so would recommend to others to have plenty of small notes in USD. -

We will be back.

The property is excellent, it’s worth every penny

Very impressed with the quality of the food at this hotel. The staff were also very helpful, we would be happy to return there again.

a perfect place in every way

Emplacement et plages magnifiques. Le personnel est abondant, présent et le service est généralement excellent. La nourriture est variée et délicieuse. Je recommande la suite junior « 134 » qui est confortable, spacieuse et parfaitement située près de la piscine principale, du gym et des restaurants. Cette suite possède une vue sur les jardins luxuriants, une vue partielle sur l’océan et sur les couchers de soleil magnifiques. L’entretien ménager est irréprochable. Dans les petites choses à améliorer, outre la décoration des chambres qui selon moi manque un peu de sobriété, le séchoir à cheveux est de qualité médiocre et les équipements de musculation à la salle de sport sont désuets et incomplets. Également, le contenu du mini bar était sans intérêt pour moi (Coke-Sprite-Fanta-bière). J’ai demandé de l’eau pétillante et on ne me l’a jamais apporté. Bref, pas grand chose à redire et aucun irritant majeur vécu à l’hôtel. Dans un autre ordre d’idée, mon seul regret dans ce voyage est d’avoir loué un véhicule pour 10 jours en pensant explorer l’île par moi-même. Les routes et les véhicules de location sont en mauvais état, la police arrête les touristes pour obtenir de l’argent et la circulation sur l’île est chaotique. En outre, il faut obtenir un permis de conduire tanzanien ce qui s’est avéré compliqué pour moi lors de la prise en charge du véhicule à l’aéroport. À éviter.

There was a lot of bugs in my room from the rain , i found a small roach in bed which’s made me very uncomfortable after , then it took very long for the carts to come get me one morning i even Missed breakfast because i waited 30mins the staff was very nice and welcoming

Great hotel friendly staff

Other hotel is the best!

Service and facility is good but have to increase the number of carts that drive people around .

Excellent hotel and service. Food was very good as well, with the caveat that the buffet was not always available (some nights were a la carte only). Limited entertainment, but it was enjoyable when there was some. I would choose this hotel again regardless of those two things, overall it was a wonderful experience

Really a paradise!

The staff was overly friendly, very accommodating and kind. I really enjoyed the staff there. The amenities were great. The performances were awesome. Jambo was also a nice get away. I love the access to both resorts.

What a great experience! Everyone at this hotel was super nice and attentive. The food options were good as well. If you like to party, this is not the resort for you. There are not a lot of options for that at all. There is a sister property though that does have a nightlife. Overall I had a good time.

I was disappointed that we had to pay more money to upgrade to actually get what we thought we booked on Hoyels.com site. The hotel staff reckon categorisation from hotels.com that they may have used for us is not actually what they booked with them. I paid additional money to ocean blue. Room I originally booked was supposed to have a bedroom and a separate living area but we got an open plan which was not suitable. My worst experience with hotels.com over the years I have used them. Dinner in ai and a second restaurant which is not the main one was really poor for the two nights. Staff were friendly and helpful and other amenities were top notch.

Amazing staff… very helpful and genuine… everyone was extraordinary and food was out of this world… not easy to cook such a variety of food in that quantity and on daily base… but the chef was very creative and everything tasted good… only staff at the reception was under par… everyone else did a terrific job

Highly recommend

Very nice accommodation, everything in walking distance. Beautiful beach below the restaurant. Food excellent.Had a problem with the air con but was upgraded. Hotel uses European electric sockets, not Tanzanian sockets. Can get adaptors from Reception. But bring European adaptors.

What an incredible holiday! The staff really make this place and are always so friendly and welcoming. We had the most amazing upgrade from the one of the female managers at reception. Thank you so much. This made what was already going to be a wonderful holiday into something unforgettable. I can not recommend this place more highly! The food variety is great and you can book excursions through a tour provider at the hotel. Everything was seamless and easy to navigate. Also a very special thank you to Neema who cleaned our room everyday to perfection!

First off: ALL the staff are incrediblly helpful, friendly, polite and attentive, including reception, restaurant waiters and food servers, pool staff and entertainment, cleaners, gardeners, management and even the guy in the Suntours office. Food and drink: Breakfasts, coffee and breakfast all very good and varied - easily have a different style breakfast every day. Main pool handily sited next to main ginger bar with wide range of alcoholic /non-alcoholic cocktails, beer, wine. Informal swim up option or drinks brought to lounger, as you prefer. Loved the option for afternoon tea /coffee with cakes or sandwiches, in the shade. We loved the buffet lunches and dinners, with choice of where to sit (sun/ cool/ shade/ breeze etc, depending on daily whim) and the ongoing jackdaws vs. bamboo sticks entertainment. The "happy birthday" waiting staff harmonies were great. Loved the cool dude on electric piano with his reggae/ zydeco / blues fusion vibes in the main restaurant in the evenings. We managed 3 trips to the Krystal fusion restaurant (excellent, our fave) and one to the steak. The evening entertainment was very good, although we preferred the bands and musicians to the rap/breakdancing. But very varied and aomething for everyone. They even ran the odd game of bingo. The beach, the sea and the views were just wonderful. The beach sellers were not overly intrusive and actually quite friendly. Very easy to get a kayak or paddleboard, etc.