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The Africa House Hotel: Traveler Reviews

2.5 of 5
Shangani Street, Stone Town, Tanzania
Hotel amenities
The Africa House Hotel
Ranked #24 of 30 hotels in Stone Town
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125 reviews from our community

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2 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“Genuine!”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed January 1, 2013 via mobile

Fantastic colonial place that has not lost its soul through renovation. Wonderful staircases, woodwork, old photos, signposts, lavatories. Could be used for a period film any day without much in the way of alterations!

The staff are mostly lovely but a bit shy and lethargic. Unbeliavably they were out if coffee, the water came on and off. There were many charming idiosyncracies that were rather touching and made me feel for the place and hoping that it will manage to stay in business.

Sadly, what will happen is probably a few more years of decline followed by new management and a complete and sterile renovation that will destroy this aging gem!

  • Stayed January 2013
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Peter46773477 about The Africa House Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“Waste of money!!”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed December 28, 2012 via mobile

DO NOT GO HERE!!!!!!

Thus hotel is beautiful from the outside and HAD potential to be exquisite inside but something went wrong somewhere.

We were previously at another hotel but couldn't stay there for the final day as it was full booked. So my dad booked African house hotel because he had previously had such a great stay there (must have been in the early 90's). Anyhow upon arrival the receptionist was so unmotivated that it took her 15mins to look at the same page in the diary to find our booking. Then made me and my sister follow her around the hotel so as she could show us the VERY many empty rooms they had so as we chose what too we wanted. That in itself was a sign that we shouldn't have stayed there- the fact that they had so many empty rooms in high season and that there no tourists anywhere in the hotel (this was at around 11pm)

After deciding what rooms we wanted I went back into the balcony/bar area where my dad asked the waitress for coffee and she replied that they don't have coffee. To which my dad responded 'why didn't they have coffee, there a hotel?'. At that point I had to leave as I was getting irate.

We went downstairs to pick up our bags, carried them along two flights of stairs with three of their staff walking slowlly behind us. Then when we reached the top of the stair ls the receptionist asked if she could help me with the bag!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the long review....

Upon arrival into our room we had two Cleaners making our bed (the only two members of staff who were lovely), then the other three members of staff came into our room as well just standing there

Whilst waiting for the beds to be made it took the receptionist 1ins to find a remote for the AC.

After freshening up we decided to head out and as e did so a waitress came to us with a tray of coffee!

To top it off the room wasn't very clean, doors weren't closing properly, fridge wasn't working, toilet wasn't flushing properly, it took  forever for the cistern to fill up with more water, constant water running in the toilet, staff were so unmotivated, staff would come into your room when your not there,

Breakfast was appauling, wasnt cooked properly, didn't have some of the things on the menu. 

The thing that annoys me is that we paid nearly the same amount for the rooms as we did for the other hotel yet the experience was completely different.

I wrote this review at 5am in the morning due to not being able to sleep from the constant running water in the bathroom. 

  • Stayed December 2012
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 2 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Vgrla about The Africa House Hotel
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“Lovely”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed November 20, 2012

Great fun, great food, beautiful view. The owners are saints. Very accommodating. Located right in the heart of Stone Town. Perfect for watching the sun set and have a few drinks!!! The service was excellent and we were treated like royalty for the duration of our stay by the owner/manager. The drinks are reasonably priced and bar staff efficient, but the setting... overlooking the Indian Ocean (in our case just before sunset) is magnificent. This place has not changed since it was an old colonial officers' club.

  • Stayed August 2012, traveled solo
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Wazmataz about The Africa House Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
ljubljana
Senior Contributor
34 reviews 34 reviews
17 hotel reviews
Reviews in 18 cities Reviews in 18 cities
75 helpful votes 75 helpful votes
“Go for sunset drinks”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed November 19, 2012

Didnt stay in Africa house, but did come twice for a drink with fellow travellers. Terrace is great, overlooking to the sea which adds an atmosphere to the ambient. They offer a huge selection of cocktails priced for tourists. It might happen that bar runs out of many liquors.

  • Stayed November 2012, traveled with friends
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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London, United Kingdom
Senior Contributor
21 reviews 21 reviews
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Reviews in 14 cities Reviews in 14 cities
4 helpful votes 4 helpful votes
“Nice view of sunset let down by bullish staff and customers”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed October 22, 2012

We didn't mind that the drinks were ridiculously expensive because we had got a fantstic view of the sunset- until

a. some awful eurotrash music kept coming on so loud and tastless. some gentle african music or ibizian chill out would have been so much better.

b. some rather rude fellow tourists kept coming up and blocking it. The staff did nothing to stop them blocking our view but instead tried to push us to buy more food and drinks.

The conversion rate fromtanzanian shilling to dollars was terrible - but we had no choice but to pay that way as the waitress claimed their card machine was out of action. strange that they said they didnt have anoher one working in the entire hotel. i wonder how hotel guests paid for things?

nice sunset, terrible service and atmosphere. we couldnt wait to get out of there!

  • Stayed October 2012, traveled as a couple
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Additional Information about The Africa House Hotel

Also Known As:
Africa Hotel Stone Town
The Africa Hotel
The Africa House Hotel Zanzibar/Stone Town
Address: Shangani Street, Stone Town, Tanzania
Region: Tanzania > Zanzibar Archipelago > Zanzibar > Stone Town
Amenities:
Restaurant
Hotel Style:
#4 Business Hotels in Stone Town
#6 Romantic Hotels in Stone Town
Price Range: $
Hotel Class:2.5 star (2.5*)

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