We have just returned from Zamani Kempinski Zanzibar and were there for the New Year celebrations.
Starting on a positive note, the rooms are lovely with an amazing and spacious bathroom. You are given plenty of complimentary bottles of water in the room. The bars and restaurants are very pleasant and the hotel staff are friendly. There are two infinity pools, one large with areas for children, and a smaller one at the spa which is much quieter, both pools are lovely. Trips can be organised from the hotel and are no more expensive than the tour companies.
On the negative side, this is not the place to stay if you like the beach. The hotel beach is a short ride away on a golf cart. You can walk to it at low tide, although not many people do as it can be muddy and rocky . Other guests commented that the Zamani is probably the worst located hotel on that coastline, Breezes being one of the best.
The food was very disappointing. The buffet is always themed and if you don't like the theme e.g Indian, there is no alterantive.
The quality of the food was generally poor although beautifully presented. You do have an option to go to the Red Snapper restaurant which is not included in half board meal plan, and is very expensive but you do get some money off your bill. Here the food is truely dreadful. The Lobster was so tough we couldn't eat it, the red snapper was either off or not red snapper. We complained and the chef offered us free desert - we didn't want desert, and we were still charged for the whole meal. Don't eat here.
New Years eve buffet was better than normal but it was the free drinks entertainment and firework display that made it really enjoyable.
Be prepared to have battle when checking out. You will be charged for trips even if you cancelled them in plenty of time or if something went wrong on the trip. We were charged (along with many other guests) for a bruch buffet at the red snapper on New Years day which was assumed to be free and for the later risers, not so, it cost £35GBP per head and was totally rubbish. The hotel would not accept that they had misled guests and charged everyone.

Initial greetings from the Hotel were odd, with Security on gate not sure what to do with us and then the two reception staff were blunt to the point of disinterested and giving conflicting information. Paying $50 USD per person as a deposit to walk in was ridiculous, especially as the cost of dinner and drinks was outrageous.

We could not read the menus despite their lovely paper, as the 'ink-jet' print was worn off, the rear gardens were terribly overgrown with the outdoor restuarant area in a desperate need of a clean, with the deep ingrained stained paving, weatherbeaten tables, wooden panels replacing other glass panelling on the balcony, misty (dirty) pool, weeds in the paving, and best of all, an indoor electrical outlet with dangling wires screwed into an outdoor tree!

Upon receiving our drinks, the commercial water bottle had been reused as the stains from the bottle and cap were ingrained and not matching!, and can only assume that the staff were refilliing water bottles from the tap or from other half empty bottles.

Waitress was lovely (Zeituni), although female receptionist actually swore down the telephone ([-]) whilst we were settling the bill.

Not the manner in which we would expect to be treated from a supposedly 5 star resort - overall we saw a confused resort, one that was not sure if it wanted to be 3 star or 5 star.

Not sure how they actually make money as I am sure that the number of repeat guests must be low.

Too much reliance on the name, and not enough effort put into making the resort 5 star - better resorts on the east coast of Zanzibar for less money....

(all this noted in just 45 minutes of stay).

The hotel is built on the edge of a cliff with fantastic views of the ocean. Food has a good mix between international and local, they have good themed evenings depending how long you stay. Rooms are modern with huge bathrooms and outside showers. The beach is 5 minute drive on the a golf cart however the jetty is a good day out canoeing and swimming with food and drinks served.

The property is an hours drive from the airport and be prepared of a bumpy drive, it gives you a good idea of the island and the locals. I took a taxi from the airport and enjoyed the driver and provided me with lots of local knowledge and where to eat.

Stone Town is an hours drive from the hotel and makes a good day tour for shopping and culture.

It was so much better than what we had expected:
- great swimming pool
- very good food in the swimming pool and beach restaurants
- good room service
- the most spacious bathroom I had ever been to
- Nice beach (although you need to walk for 10-15 min or get on the golf kart s the access is not direct)
- Friendly staff, though some of them do not understand english very well which makes communication dofficult

Overall we were very satisfied.

No need for me to attach any pictures as the ones on the website are true to the beauty of the scenery around the hotel.

I didn't like the fact that thy don't have their own padi center and you need to go through their arrangement with a neighbor hotel to go diving.

I would go back!!