Karafuu Beach Resort & Spa

Need to keep reminding to bring water and new towels to the room.

My fiancé and I visited Karafuu over New Year - a trip that we had planned in March 2023 already. After numerous emails with hotel management, we were pleased upon our arrival to see that all requests had been attended to. Our room was beautiful- sitting on the cliffs with a very clear view of the ocean. The staff were all very friendly and the overall hygiene was impressive. However, it was downhill from there. Our aircon in the room did not work the first night - and as we only arrived at 2am, we were desperate for much-needed sleep which was impossible in the heat and humidity. We complained to management the next day and they sent maintenance to our room to inspect - the answer they gave us was that there was a voltage issue all over Zanzibar and that their generator was not able to meet the requirements 24/7. We asked them to please just keep the generator on during the night as that was when everyone would be in their rooms - but our request fell on deaf ears as we did not sleep yet again. This carried on for another 3 days whereby maintenance kept being sent to our room even though they could not fix the issue. We were highly annoyed as Karafuu is supposedly a 5-Star hotel - but without aircon! My fiancé and I eventually resorted to sleeping outside on the patio with make-shift beds. Really not on!! Luckily it wasn’t mosquito season but we were utterly disgusted about this situation. You cannot not have aircon when you are a 5-star beach resort with ＞30 degrees Celsius heat and 90% humidity every day! As for the food…. we were expecting fresh seafood every day but were very disappointed with what we were given. None of the seafood was fresh - in fact it smelt so bad that neither my fiancé or I even wanted to eat it. I decided to give it a try on two nights and both times regretted my decision. We both had upset tummies every single day - most likely due to the very poor refrigeration of all the food. On New Year’s Eve, the people sitting next to us threw up due to the rotten shellfish that was served at the buffet - and we had to pay $80 supplement per person! My fiancé ended up having 2 pieces of pineapple for dinner - the most expensive meal we have ever paid for. We chose to do the half board option instead of all-inclusive and just as well because the all-inclusive drink list was so limited that most people had to spend additional money anyway so that they could have what they wanted. All in all, we enjoyed the pool, beach and people but won’t be rushing back to Karafuu. You really need to up your game with basic amenities such as aircon, as well as your food - otherwise you might be down rated to a 3-star hotel in the near future.

Most beautiful location. Excellent service, particularly from Freddie in the restaurant. Food was good. Went on three trips...not sure about the fishing...trying to catch tuna off a tiny boat out at sea was pretty hairy! Decent room. Stonetown rather hectic and very busy.

This is a 5* hotel with 3* hotel quality. Probably long time ago this was one of the best hotels in Zanzibar but it is clear they are letting it to rot. The room quality is pretty basic and nothing to do with 5*. Air conditioning that does not have enough power to cool the room, bed clothing and curtains that are pretty old and completely outdated, a single chair in the room and is broken, etc. Also at night there are a number of power outages in the complex which we have not experienced in other hotels in Tanzania even in the middle of Serengeti!! The all inclusive is not worth it, absolutely rubbish alcohol, and clearly set up for you to pay if you want to drink something decent. It is surprising that they do include small bottles of water in the all inclusive but not big ones. Also you can only get them in the bar but not at the restaurants or at the pool so you need to go upstairs to the bar to get the bottle and go back to the pool, why?? Apart from the pizzas of the Italian restaurant, the food is average an the variety is minimal. The staff is generally friendly and welcoming but they have a terrible customer service, if you complain about something the manager hides at the back and let the staff deal with it... Obviously your issue is not solved. The check out process is one of the most complicated I have ever seen. We leave at 13.00 so we asked to keep the room until 12.00 to have a shower before departure. Even in low season with the hotel half empty they made us abandon the room at 10.00 and would not give us a complimentary one. It was even a problem to keep a couple of towels to stay at the pool. Pretty exhausting to be honest having to talk to the reception 4 times about this and get no solution at all. In summary the worst 5* hotel we have ever been (and we have been in a number of them in 5 continents). We will not come back or recommend it.

We are incredibly pleased with our stay in this hotel, the food is delicious, the hotel service is the best ever🥰Ricardo, Basia, you are doing a great job🥳The manager of Glandes is a rocket woman - a wonderful person full of professionalism, she made our short 8-day stay a real paradise on earth❤️thank you with all my heart and greetings from Poland - Radek Madzia Zoe and Hugo 😘