Dhow Inn Boutique Hotel

This hotel needs to seriously rethink itself, at least as as far as my experience is concerned. We had a six day stay, half board in a second floor room with a private pool. It certainly looks good on the outside and the pools and beach are wonderful, but… The pool is a gimmick, maybe fun for kids to splash around in but far to small for use by adults. The hotel decided to do some work on the roof over the terrace and pool while I was enjoying my book seated on the terrace. I had to flee as it rained muck and water from the intervention rendering the terrace and the pool unusable. I expected these to be cleaned once they had finished, but this did not happen and needed a trip to the front desk to resolve. The roof still leaks when it rains, so the terrace is basically unusable. In fact with one downpour the room was almost flooded as the drain was blocked and the water accumulated. Next day, the pool was still dirty. Then the air conditioning in our room decided to malfunction, very likely due to the episode of the previous day, pouring water over our open suitcase just underneath. OK, my fault for leaving it there, but we had to go find housekeeping and maintenance guy to fix and clean. The room itself while spacious, is not aging well. But while I have to admit, these are not daily occurrences, its pretty annoying especially when no apology was forthcoming. More frequent issues relate to the quasi inexistant internet, which when it did function was certainly not high speed. Also, the meals while adequate were not particularly appealing or varied. That said, we thoroughly enjoyed our grilled seafood platter for lunch, which of course was outside our meal plan. The housekeeping and bar staff are all very pleasant but have a tendency to forget things. The nightly turn down service with the anti mosquito spray showed up too late for us each night, While the beach is a short walk away from the hotel, the path is littered with rubbish and shards from broken bottles. It must be said this land is not actually owned by the hotel, but it has to be crossed and best not bare footed. My last gripe relates to the 5% surcharge that they impose for payment by credit card…

We spent 9 nights in DhowInn and we really enjoyed our stay in hotel and generell in Zanzibar!The room 404 was clean 10 steps from a great pool , long enough for length swimming what a really appreciated. The breakfast and dinner was a really good combination of different delicious local freshly prepared foods., for lunch we ordered many times the fresh prepared sushi’s (it took time till we got the food but it was worth it). We also enjoyed 3 times 35min massages in the hotel Spa - really nice ! The amazing turquoise white powder beach is couple steps away from hotel with many opportunities for activities . We booked directly in hotel a couple of really interesting and well organized trips . Our guide was Rhamadan and we highly appreciate his guiding qualities and a very friendly and uncomplicated way to show us the true beauty of the island ! We had a wonderful experience with his guiding . In generell we had a very good experience with hotels stuff ! I can highly recommend the stay in DhowInn.

We were picked by the Dhow Inn driver at the airport to the hotel. I do accord warm reservation, we received from the receptionist. The hotel is well lighted both inside rooms and outside. The only challenge we had was the type of meal selection they had. They were more strict to orders, this could not allow us, an extra different food from the menu.

Fantastic staff We have spent a week in this wonderful hotel heron Zanzibar. The staff has been amazing and we have been treated with nothing but smiles and helpfulness. The hotel is right next to the beach and you have fantastic views from the balcony in the dining area. It’s clean and comfortable and we are happy to have visited the hotel.

We spent the first week of two here and were extremely satisfied. We had a room on the upper floor with a small pool on the terrace, which was partially in need of renovation, but overall the price-performance ratio was just right. The place is super clean, with good and sufficient fresh food. The staff were all really nice and helpful, BUT a huge praise and a big thank you definitely goes to RAMADAN - Ramadan picked us up from the airport, and as a mom with a 15-year-old daughter visiting Zanzibar alone for the first time, we felt immediately safe and warmly welcomed. He then accompanied us on all the booked excursions (definitely book directly at the hotel), and we learned a lot from him. He was patient and the best guide we've had on our travels around the world so far. So, at this point, dear Dhow INN - KEEP Ramadan tight!!! Greetings from Yvonne and Miss Sophie from Berlin ;-) Wir haben hier die 1. Woche von 2 verbracht und waren super zufrieden. Wir hatten ein Zimmer in oberer Etage mit kleinem Pool auf der Terrasse, was teilweise renovierungsbedürftig war im Ganzen stimmt hier einfach das Preis - Leistungsverhältnis. Super sauber gutes und ausreichendes frisches Essen. Die Mitarbeiter waren alle wirklich nett und hilfsbereit, ABER ein ganz großes Lob und ein riesen Dankeschön geht eindeutig an RAMADAN - Ramadan hat uns schon vom Flughafen abgeholt und als Mama mit einer 15jährigen Tochter das 1. Mal allein auf Zanzibar, wir haben uns sofort sicher und herzlich willkommen gefühlt. Er hat uns dann auf allen gebuchten Ausflügen (unbedingt direkt im Hotel buchen) begleitet und wir haben wirklich viel von ihm gelernt. Er war geduldig und der beste Guide, den wir bisher auf unseren Reisen um die Welt hatten. Also an dieser Stelle liebes Dhow INN - HALTET den Ramadan fest !!!! LG von Yvonne und Miss Sophie aus Berlin ;-)

Our stay at the Dow Inn has been overall mixed feelings but more towards disappointing.   I will lay out, the good, the bad and the ugly regarding this resort.  first the food is very good starting with the buffet, to the lunch menu, all very well seasoned, very tasty and well presented fresh food. They have a great selection for vegan and vegetarians.  The property is pretty nice very well maintained pools very clean and the rooms are very comfortable.   The bad is that the items are quite limited in my opinion especially on the breakfast and dinner which are a small buffet.  Furthermore during lunch you're only allowed to order one menu item and one dessert from a select menu only.  Its every limited overall. The ugly is that in comparison to all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean or for instance  Dominican Republic you don't get a lot for your money.  In the Caribbean, when you do an all-inclusive resort you get meals and snacks.  There is usually a cafe of some sort that has coffee, tea, cakes and different bakery items. They may even have a sushi area.  For evening dining, they would have specialty fine-dining restaurants that you can reserve during the morning.  That's not the case with this resort, matter of fact there's only one specialty dining which  is a la cart restaurant you pay extra for or by invitation. Not sure what warrants getting an invitation but for what we pay per night... almost $400 US it definitely was not worth it..... other things such as their sushi is a la cart and there's another Bar or lounge menu that is specifically for people who are not staying at the hotel or you could order from that menu for of course for additional charge.   There no watersports included, there no shows, there's no organized games, there is no dance lessons so in comparison to the Caribbean it's just pretty much minimum. And if you're not much of a drinker then the all-inclusive is really a huge waste here being there so many items are considered a la cart or extra charge. Additionally, if your order from the bar outside of designated hours its also a charge.  Even your room bar is only free upon check-in any refills of the 4 sodas or 2 bottle of beer is also a charge.   We also paid extra for a room with a private pool and the word "private" was used very loosely.  Some kids and their parents were up on the second level area in  the gym and the massage area and could see right into our "private pool".  Overall I wouldn't rate it 5  star resort but I think had we purchased a cheaper room and not did the all-inclusive we definitely would have been significantly happier with the experience but for what we paid it just wasn't worth it. Lastly, the room keychain is the size of a cell phone and if you ever lose it because your room number is engraved on it the person would know exactly which one to go to which has less than ideal.

The place is very good, it has four pools and all of them are very clean and the water is too clear also makes the pool not crowded. The staff are great and caring, Reception staff (Frey & Resty) were took kind and shared all the information needed they went extra mile to assist me when I had trouble getting my computer connected for work. F&B staff are all awesome I can’t remember all names but I remember James(supervisor), he takes everything positively(something I leaned:)) the food was amazing, kudos to the chefs !! Room staff were on top of the their job, getting us everything we needed timely, Good job guys! Overall - very beautiful hotel and amazing food and staff!

I stayed in September 2023 at this hotel, and the hotel was okay. The hotel area inside is beautiful and well maintained with lots of flowers and trees.  I have chosen this hotel because I really am a beach person and the hotel is close to the beach. But unfortunately, the beach itself there was not for me. I personally have missed a wooden beach path to the beach area and because of the trees around the area I missed the sun often (whice everytime quickly made it feel a bit cooler at the beach:( ). Also on the beach there is a lot of sellers walking around (even though you have this everywhere on the island) which made it just a little bit uncomfortable for me. I spent more time at the pools for sunbathing and swimming then at the beach. (Which was also fine because the swimming pool was at least cleaned in between).  In short: for a restful holiday.. this hotel is okay to do. Tip: Be aware of all extra costs surrounding your stay. The only strong compliment I have that makes this hotel good goes to the staff. The Dhow Inn team is customer-friendly and especially Dennis and Ramadan! They were super helpful and nice. I got good tips and explanations about the service. Was also told about what the hotel offers, for example, about the cleaning services and activities in the area.  I also went on a trip with Ramadan and he was great. He told me about the culture and taught me some Swahili words. He is a really good friendly guide.  And last but not least, even though it was less pleasant for me at the beach area, the staff there was also kind.

The stay was fine and the accommodations were nice. However, we ordered the all-inclusive package which is not your standard all-inclusive experience, as we had just left an all-inclusive resort in Nungwi just prior to our stay here. They have a specific menu that is for all-inclusive guests and it is much smaller than the menu provided to other guests. Less beverage options, I certainly understand, but the food options are nearly cut in half also. The service was often slow, especially during lunch. While there, it seemed other guests were also having issues with orders being missed on multiple occasion.