We Stayed at Swahili Beach for 7 nights and our experience to some up was like a “sweet and sour sauce”. The hotel itself is beautiful and really well designed. It looks amazing. It is probably one of the best and newer looking properties in...Diani.
Pools- Beautifully designed and numerous pools. The pool water was very comfortable and warm, which we were pleasantly surprised as we have found in a few hotels with large pools the water is too cold. However, they can be quite dirty at times. The water had alot of dead insects, leaves, dirt etc floating all over. We did see it cleaned in the mornings but only once, which is obviously not enough. It needs extra cleaning in the day to pick up all the floating debris, especially after it has rained.
Beach- Don’t come here if you are after the beautiful white sandy beaches and turquoise seas Diani has to offer as you will be disappointed. This is short stretch of man made beach which is very rocky and has alot of seaweed. However, 3 days into our stay we heard the owner was over and amazingly, the beach actually improved, as staff started to sweep up the horrendous seaweed frequently and rocks were being covered with sand and for a few days, the beach actually improved and looked alot better and was more enjoyable.
Rooms: We stayed in a superior room. It was large and comfortable but upon entering you are greeted with a very strong smell of dampness that just lingers for the whole stay. We experienced inconsistent room service throughout our stay. We were 2adults and a child sharing. On some days we were given no towels to only 1 or 2 despite them knowing we are 3 on the room. When we asked for them, we were told they didn’t have any as they were still drying. How ridiculous! And the hotel was not even half booked. Water was also only provided on some days and it was either 1 or 2 bottles. However, this did improve when we met the cleaner and specified what exactly was missing.
On 2 nights, turn down service was not done, despite us calling to request it. Again, not enough towels or water provided.
Restaurant: The service at “The Majlis” where you have dinner and breakfast was very quick and efficient. Breakfast had a good selection. Buffet dinner here however was very average. The vegetarian selection and the indian food was spicy but nice, but there could be an improvement on non vegetarian selection. The food is also abit repetitive. The desserts at dinner are probably the worst we have ever had in a 5* hotel. Although they look appetizing and well presented,
they are far from it. They are just terrible tasting. Dessert consisted of thin custard with lumps in it, runny panacotta, very dry cakes and hard chocolate eclairs. The hotel needs to invest in a good pastry chef.
Baharini restaurant:- very very slow service here. Food just takes ages to come (45mins). Though, depending on what you order, the food is decent and some dishes are very tasty.
It was my husband’s birthday during our stay and i must say the staff did willingly arrange at my request a cake and birthday song during dinner. We really appreciated that. It was well done and organised. So thank you!
The staff are very polite, welcoming and friendly. However, they really lack customer service training. Service needs to be quicker, consistent and they need to perform. This all comes down to the managers. There seems to be poor management at this hotel. It also feels like customer complaints during the stay are not dealt with seriously and improvements are not made to rectify the issue or to prevent them.
This is a great property and with the right competent managers who are accountable, has the potential to be one of the best in Diani. There needs to be a focus on customer service training and efficiency which seems to be lacking in every department.More
