The Residence Zanzibar

The Residence was the perfect spot to celebrate my 40th birthday. The deluxe garden view with the private pool was exact atmosphere my husband and I were looking for. The hotel is extremely clean and they even offer room cleanings twice a day. And we also loved the different themed dinner options each night along side with a live band performance! The staff make you feel at home and apart of the family. Nico always greeted us with a warm smile and helped us capture precious moments. The location is a little far from main attractions but I promise it’s worth it. Thank you to all the staff that made our visit to Zanzibar so special!♥️

We have been to The Residence several times before and have really enjoyed it and so were very keen to return this time. It was just approaching the rainy season and so it was rather quiet with the majority of the guests already going home but, on the whole, we still had good weather with only rain once during the day. All of the staff were, as always, so friendly and helpful from the warm welcome at reception when we arrived to the staff in the restaurants, Hellen, Farida, Sulesh, to name but a few to the driver of the buggy taking you anywhere around the resort and from your villa to the restaurants. Bicycles were provided at each villa and were in good condition. The villas are set in beautiful surroundings and have their own private plunge pools which are regularly checked for water quality and the main pool is wonderful for swimming or just cooling down from the heat. All in all, we had a wonderful visit again.

The room was stunning and spotlessly clean. We chose a Garden room as we love wildlife and we were not disappointed. We saw dik diks, elephant shews, monkeys, lots of sunbirds, African Golden-Weavers, Helmeted Guineafowl and loads of other birds around the hotel grounds. They offer Yoga classes every day and Pilates twice a week. I attended one of these most days and would highly recommend. The teacher gave clean instructions and was very encouraging when I lost my balance trying a new pose. The Pilates was particularly good, I hadn't done Pilates before and it was more of a workout than the yoga. For dinner you have a choice of buffet at the main restaurant or Al la carte at the The Pavilion. The Pavilion menu only had a few options per menu but they have 3 menus and change every other day. The buffet food was nice with lots of options and there is live entertainment every night. The Pavilion is a quieter more romantic option but you have to book in advance. All the staff were really friendly and helpful. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was the fact a very large family were there for our last few days and took over a lot of the resort. The main pool lost its previous tranquillity as the all the children played there and the music from the private event in Pavilion restaurant was very loud in our Villa. 

Overall the property has a lot of potential. The grounds were quite overgrown and unkempt, and the rooms while tidy, had poor finishing particularly with respect painting, where there was paint all over everything. The timber shutters on the terrace doors were broken, one set didn't close at the bottom. The wifi was very unstable through the property, and could not maintain a connection. In the room it did not work at all, and I was unable to do my work until later in the first evening when the IT person was able to install an additional AP in my room. The food in the restaurant was OK, nothing to write home about, and would expect more for example from breakfast, where the fruit selection was limited despite there being an abundance of fresh fruit varieties from street vendors on the roadsides not far from the Resort. The staff were adequate, but lacked the bubbly, friendly and enthusiastic energy that I've experienced almost everywhere across East Africa.