Nest Style Beach Hotel Zanzibar

Pros +

• Very nice little resort on a serene faraway corner of the island. The food was great, the room was cozy with nice views and "Beachcomber Style" decor. And the best cocktails we had in Zanzibar! We booked half board which was a good deal, as their all-inclusive package is quite overpriced. Note that the place is really isolated, there is not much to do around, but I think that is the charm of it.
• The hotel is beautiful, both the rooms and the external common spaces. At lunch the fish of the day is very good. There are two free activities offered: the local village tour and the snorkeling dow trip. The hotel also organises other trips for all the main attractions that Zanzibar offers, which you can book even the night before. The property cared to clean the beach from the weeds one morning we were there.
• Nice, relatively small hotel. Beautiful Garden, spacious Restaurant and Bar area. The pools are fantastic and very clean. Good location, right at the beach, but the ocean is not very clean at the shore. Would recommend the tour organized by the hotel to the village, including schools. Breakfast and dinner is ok, though the buffet is never as good as la cart. The Staff is excellent.

Cons -

• The first day we had no water in the room, which they fixed when we complained. From then on we had brackish water coming from the tap, which was rather unpleasant. They offer free activities, like SUP, but it was so deflated it was impossible to use it. We also tried to do the free dhow cruise they offer but the lady at the reception told us we could only go on the day when we were leaving already. The beach is beautiful but not very ideal for swimming as during low-tide the water is miles away, but even during high-tide it is very shallow and there are lots of sea urchins. The check-out experience was very disappointing as she tried to make us pay for a bill that was not ours and "miscalculated" the final amount and almost overcharged us by 100,000TZS. After playing around on the calculator for 10 mins it was impossible to figure out how she came up with the final amount is USD, which was again higher than should have been, so we did leave with the feeling that they tried to rip us off. When paying by card they charge extra, which is a common practice on the island, however decent hotels don't do it.
• Staff doesnt know how to manage clients problems, always asking other members of staff what to do, promises to send maintenance to the room, then forgets. We had to ask for a room change because of the hideous conditions of the room, they hadnt even thought about offering us this solution. When you ask for new beach towels, they tell you they will bring them to you immediately at the room, but arrived after 4 hours. Our first room had mould in the bathroom caused by leakage of the air conditioning. When you entered the room, it smelled of mould and was unbreathable. Both the nightstands had cobwebs around them and dust. The second room had cobwebs and spiders at every corner, especially in the bathroom, where so many insects (huge spiders, wood termites and worms) came out from the beams on the ceiling. Therefore the surfaces were full of insects, and one evening we found our bed also covered in termites. Again in the second room, the safe didnt work. They never changed our bed linens nor bath towels. The food at breakfast and dinner was mid, full of spices, with little variety. Shower and sink water stopped for two days so there was no possibility to shower. Electricity went off at least twice a day.
• There is nothing