Dhow Palace Hotel

Lovely large rooms. Very quiet but easy access to everything. Friendly staff and very helpful in arranging activities for us.

Beautiful hotel with traditional features. Stayed in the apartment which was huge. Wish we had spent more time there. Central location.

I booked this hotel through Hotels.com and had to make a simple change to my reservation—just shifting the stay by one day. Despite repeated attempts, the hotel never responded to the booking agency and ended up charging me for both nights, without any flexibility or communication. No reimbursement, no rescheduling—just a flat-out refusal to help. Very frustrating and not what I expect from a hotel supposedly rated 4 stars.

The room itself was underwhelming. The bed was uncomfortable, making for poor sleep. While the breakfast buffet was good, both lunch and dinner options were bland and forgettable—not the standard you’d expect at this price point. To make matters worse, the rooftop restaurant that’s advertised simply doesn’t exist, which feels like false advertising.

The building looks nice from the outside, but it’s nothing worth writing home about. The staff were notably unhelpful, especially compared to the warm, accommodating service I experienced at nearby hotels on the same trip.

Bottom line: this hotel is overrated and inflexible, and I won’t be recommending it. There are far better places to stay in the area that actually care about their guests. Save yourself the hassle.

It’s very nice place to stay with family or solo the breakfast is great so many variety that you think what to take and not

We had a great stay in this historical building. The room (especially the sheets) were clean, the building was amazing (make sure to check out the view from the roof), we enjoyed the breakfast, and the staff were great (and available 24/7). A great place to stay in Stone Town.

Warm and friendly and very helpful staff

Had a lovely stay.

Beautiful historical building and well maintained. Pool is amazing, staff incredibly helpful and lovely. Location perfect close to everything h, walking distance but quiet and private. Willl be the p lo ace I would always stay next time I’m in Zanzibar!

Hotel is magical!! The staff were excellent and arranged a terrific last minute tour of stonetown. The food was great and the atmosphere and history of the building a+.

From the minute you arrive the staff is so friendly and helpful for everything. Breakfast buffet is amazing with everything from fresh omelets to samosas to fruits etc. Anything you can think of they have

We had a wonderful room. Property was lovely. Would like to have stayed longer.

The staff was super friendly and very accommodating. Breakfast was great too.

Location and history of the building was unique

Room unfortunately had a mildew smell / odor

Great location. Quirky hotel in an old building with an open air central courtyard. Staff were very helpful and friendly.

Interesting architecture and very spacious room with sitting area. Staff very friendly and helpful. Hot water kettle in room for tea or coffee. Drinking water provided daily, but still in plastic bottles.

Good location in the centre of stone town. Classic building. Helpful staff.

Breakfast can have more options. Lift did work only occasionally.

Clean

The hotel is located on the historical and central part of Zanzibar called Stone Town, so the location is great, nothing to complain.

The hotel arranged a taxi pick-up for the airport but the driver was not there, the driver was there but holding another name: Mary Lee. The taxi was very dirty and the driver not very hygenic.

We arrived to the hotel with smiling reception but full of unprofessionalism. Me and my brother had booked 2 x Presidential Suites, but even though they had our details they were sloppy and asked unrelevant questions.

We got to the rooms, on the 3rd floor next to each other and they were huge and maintained pretty well. As we were very tired we slept directly for 2h and after that wanted to have a shower to refresh up. But the water was not running. Tried to call the reception but either it was busy or no one picked up the phone.

Went down in a rush, they said it will come back in 15-20min. It didn't, just imagine you are in a hotel for 12h paying decent amount of money but the water is not running! It was fixed after 2-3h.

Another huge issue was internet. It worked well in the lobby but no reception in the rooms! Totally unacceptable in year 2024.

We left the hotel around 02:00 AM with another taxi driver the hotel had arranged but this time when he started the car, on the android screen of the taxi an adult movie started to play. He quickly changed it to a muslim prayer.

To sum up; historical nice building, But I had expected much more...

I was disappoint about not being able to bring a guest to the hotel

Very friendly and helpful staff. Beautiful hotel in colonial style. Renovation took place when we stayed there, and that caused noise and dirt/dust. We would stay there again if we came to Stone Town.