Al Johari Hotel & Spa

We spent our last night here.Very reasonable price.This is the centre of all attraction in stone town.The room were very clean.The staffs were very friendly and welcoming.I must recommend this to all my friends who would love to spend some nights in stone town.

.The staff and manager were so helpful and organised a trip at short notice to prison islands. The beds were very comfortable, the house staff were great and the towels were always in a lovely design and great service . The breakfast on the terrace was lovely. Would recommend a stay if you are in stone town .

I had an incredibly frustrating and unacceptable experience at Al-Minar Hotel in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Upon arrival, the receptionist insisted I book via the Booking.com app, despite being right in front of him. After booking in front of him, I showed him the confirmation number and automatic payment reservation sent by the platform. He claimed he couldn’t find the reservation number. I showed him the references again, and he finally said it was okay.

The next morning, as I was checking out, a new receptionist presented me with a fresh invoice and demanded I pay again. Despite showing all my reservation and payment confirmations, they claimed they couldn’t find anything under my name. I asked them to contact Booking.com, but they refused. I had to use my phone to call Booking.com, which resulted in a higher phone bill. The Booking.com agent wasn’t very helpful either; he put me on hold several times and said it would take about an hour to email the hotel, refusing to talk to the hotel staff. Being held at the hotel until I paid again was outrageous, and it caused me to miss my ferry and disrupt my entire journey.

To make matters worse, the new receptionist became aggressive, yelling at me and cutting me off while I was trying to explain the situation, both in person and while I was on the phone with the Booking.com agent. It got to a point where her colleague had to ask her to give us space and continue the discussion with us.

Since then, I have been bounced around by Booking.com trying to get reimbursed. As they are saying that the invoice given to me by the property is invalid and they need another one. Given the poor treatment I received, I have no desire to ever contact this hotel again. This is nothing less than a scam.

I am now forced to try to reclaim the payment through my bank. This has been the worst customer service experience of my life I had at a hotel.
Avoid this one at all costs.

Ok hotel for a one night stop, max 2 nights. Great location for StownTown tour, also close to the airport by taxi 10$/20minutes.
Did not catch the names - as a welcome the Receptionist was super friendly, but later during our stay, his colleagues - not so much, just the opposite.

We hade an early flight, so we missed the breakfast on the last day, we asked if we could use the missed breakfast as a dinner on the last day with the surcharge- but they did not approve our request. So we paid the full amount for the dinner.

Especially thanks to Restaurant staff and the chef, they were so nice, helpful and the food was super teasty.

The biggest compliment I can pay this hotel is that my wife did not complain about anything at all! All the things that she checks first - shower pressure, bed comfiness, aircon, breakfast, room towels, friendly and helpful staff - all received the thumbs-up.

Additional Bonuses: For a mid-budget hotel, it is located in a fairly swanky hotel hood:it is virtually a stone throw away from the following - the beach, a fantastic retaurant called "6 degrees" and other great coffee shops and restaurants. Plus, any alleyway you choose to take (eastwards , that is) as you head out to explore Stone Town will lead you to any of the following - the Freddie Mercury museum, the Old Fort, the Night Market and many, many other places which you will discover as you go on your exploratory walk.

This place is a gem and I personally, highly recommend it!