Essque Zalu Zanzibar

We had a rough start with this resort the moment we arrived. Maybe it was because we arrived at night but the first thing the receptionist said to my wife was "Passports?". No valet, no greeting, no welcome drink, no welcome towel, nothing. We had even let reception know exactly when we would arrive so they should've been expecting us. The receptionist came back later to ask for our credit cards. This is not how a 5-star resort should behave. A security guard took us to our private villa, left our luggage downstairs, and then walked out without saying a word. No introduction to the suite. Like I said, not a good start. After we spoke to management the situation started to improve. It was clear that management understood the difference between good and bad service. They were apologetic, but didn't go above and beyond to make it up to us. They did however do everything we asked, such as upgrade our rooms. Everywhere we went, there were clearly some people who provided excellent service, especially Sulemon, who performed like a classy captain waiter. However there were others who were obviously lazy and enjoying the property themselves. For example, one of the housekeeping staff who took 2 hours to "prepare" our seafront villa. And by prepare, I mean put a flower vase on the table. He was clearly in there watching TV or something. Then there was the security guard who sat outside our building for hours. He was among some of staff who used the electrical plug outside our villa to charge their phones. So clearly good staff is hard to find, and unfortunately you have to find out for yourself. Management should really track their people better and conduct quality checks. We never used our private pool even asking for it to be cleaned multiple times because it was still filthy. Issues like this could've been avoided by simply having management look at the pool. When you pay for and arrive at 5-star resort, the expectations are much higher. At Essque, many things are amazing but you shouldn't have to deal with issues like this during your hard-earned expensive vacation.

Despite showing signs of the deterioration in some of the buildings and the pool, the quality of services is very good. Some might argue that value for money is not the first reason you might book this hotel in Nungwi, nonetheless the food options and rooms are top tier compared to others in the northern part of the island. The food was spectacular, particularly in the Jetty restaurant. Continental options for dinner in the Market Kitchen are ok. The kids club was great service for families travelling with young kids. Come here to really enjoy the tranquility of the island.

We just got back from a four night stay on HB basis. First impressions were great - all staff very friendly, most accommodating with special meal requests for baby etc. at all times. Room was a great size even for a family of 5. Kids club is amazing and their kids supervisor Neema is born to be with children. Our two girls aged 6 & 9 had a blast. However - reason for giving them only a 2 star rating is the swimming pool area....... I can't emphasize how important it is for a resort of this caliber to have a clean swimming pool! I was appalled at how much algae had grown in the salt water pool. This must be months and months of sheer neglect. Water was murky on two of the four days. Garden debris (and algae!) floating in the water, it was so bad I couldn't bring myself to swim there and was scared for my children's health. The worst part was that after we complained (to a manager) - nothing was done about it! That to me is just plain unacceptable, especially as we'd spoken to other guests and quickly realized we were not the only ones to complain about it. We literally had to walk down the road to another hotel, bought lunch there and they kindly let us use their pool. Not being able to swim in a pool at a resort is awful. Overall, it spoiled our holiday. As I mentioned, food and staff were really great, but I wouldn't go back there under the current management.

It was the best guest service we ever had. The hotel villas are very luxurious. Landscape is wonderful and of course food is really fantastic. The restaurants have a really good variety of different meals to choose. The location is the best.

It's an amazing hotel heavenly food the staff makes you feel at home they tide your twice a day the hotel is very clean you have wifi every were at the hotel the pool is nice and you can see the stuning color of the see