Isla Bonita Zanzibar Beach Resort

We had the worst experience in this Hotel. On February 5th 2025 at 3am we woke up in the middle of the night with the door of our hotel room open. Someone broke into our rooms at around 2:30am that night according to security camera footage, and stole our phones and our money while we were sleeping. Two rooms situated at the floor level got robbed that night, ours and our friends' room right next to us, the thief stole 4 phones, and around 200 dollars of cash. Which made it a total of about 5000 dollars of stolen goods. The hotel was supposed to have 3 guards that night, during the robbery, all 3 of them were sleeping. When we woke up that night, and found out that we got robbed during our sleep, we immediately notified the hotel staff who were all sleeping during that time as well. They managed the situation very poorly, it took them an entire half an hour to call the police, all they did was, retrieve the footage of security cameras and didn't even apologize to us for what happened to us in their hotel! The police took about 3 hours to get to the hotel, saying that they didn't have means of transportation, so the hotel sent someone to get them from the police station. The next day we asked to change rooms, since the locks of our doors were broken, and we couldn't sleep in those same rooms we had an intruder in the the night before, all that the hotel manager said to us was that they didn't have any rooms available, although they most certainly did, we could see the empty rooms! can you imagine the carelessness! They brought someone to supposedly fix the doors, but it was just a masquerade, since they didn't fix anything, the doors could still not lock. When we told them about it, they didn't care. So we had to spend another night in those same rooms terrified! We barely got any sleep! It was indeed the worst experience someone could have in a supposedly secure hotel! and what made it worse is how this situation was handled and the hotel's staff disregard for our state and what we've been through! I highly don't recommend it!

The hotel is situated in a peaceful and quiet place, right next to the beach. All windows overlooking the beach and ocean. Food very good, lots of fish and seafood. The service was fantastic and very helpful. I highly recommend it.Nice pool. The perfect place to organize birthdays, engagements and weddings. I highly, highly recommend this place.

You can't dream of a better hotel - cozy rooms, extraordinary location, great swimming pool, fabulous meals and, most importantly, wonderful staff and managers - great team!!! Everyone is helpful and nice, creating a homely, relaxed atmosphere. The rooms are very comfortable, clean, with dreamy view of the ocean, not to mention how wonderful it was to sleep at night with the sound of the waves. Fabulous! Thank you to everyone at the Isla Bonita Hotel. Thanks to you, we had a wonderful time in the climate of Zanzibar. See you soon!!!

We had a horrible experience at this hotel. It was poorly managed during our stay, which was during low season. Their only redeeming qualities are that the breakfast was good, the hotel is clean and they hung up balloons for my Mom's birthday. The acting manager, who is not from Zanzibar, tried to bamboozle us. His quote for taxis and archipelago experiences was $20 - $30 more than the island's going rates! I'm from South Africa so I'm no stranger to power outages, but we arrived to no electricity at Isla Bonita at 1pm. And we were the only 2 guests at the entire hotel. I'm sure if you're coming here on your honeymoon or romantic getaway, this would have been ideal, but as I was travelling with my gregarious mother for her 70th birthday, this made us feel down in the dumps. With the heavy rain, we couldn't explore the Matemwe beach either. So we were stuck in a hotel room with no air con, no WiFi, no lights and no TV. It felt like a colossal waste of money for an important trip on Day 1. The manager assured us that the power would come on in an hours' time (so around 3pm) and that they had a generator, which would run the entire night. After sitting without power until 6pm, I had to WhatsApp him to ask for candles/light. The power only kicked in at 10pm, and yet still there was no WiFi nor TV. So we had NO power from 1pm to 10pm. I couldn't pay by card due to their card machine issues and he shouted across the courtyard, "MAYBE IT'S YOUR CARD!" It wasn't, as I used this card for our entire trip in Zanzibar. But that should give a glimpse into the kind of person he is. He was also rude to our driver. The next night (around 2am) the power went off again. At 8am in the morning, I messaged the manager to ask what was going on and he said that it was out of his control and that the entire island had been affected. I said that when we were in Stone Town the previous day, and that that the entire part had electricity and generators, and 20 minutes after my message - Isla Bonita's generator kicked in! Such inconsistent lies. I notified Bookings.com and checked us out immediately. I paid in cash for the 2 nights that we stayed and the taxi from the airport. The manager changed his attitude and suddenly became very humble and talkative, asking us not to give a bad review. There is no sense of customer service at this place. From personal experience, I felt that we were treated this way because we are 2 women. Don't waste your money here. Rather go to Stone Town during Zanzibar's low season and have a trip that's worthwhile & shows a true reflection of this beautiful place and its warm people.

If you read this review and you love peace and quiet with an amazingly friendly staff, go and order Isla Bonita! The owner, Mustafa, knows a thing or two about running hotels and he is doing his absolute best to provide five star service. We, a family of four, ordered this hotel to relax after we had been on a busy safari. The hotel got in touch with us in advance and arranged cheaper pickup from the airport. Unfortunately our flight was delayed, but Mustafa called on the way to the hotel and told us that he had kept the buffet warm for us, even though we arrived very late. The dinner was very good! We had ordered a room for four, but we got upgraded to two adjoining rooms without cost, because Mustafa felt the room would be too small for us. A wonderful touch! The location is very calm and quiet and we had the whole beach to ourselves almost the whole day. What really makes this hotel an absolute must-visit is the staff. They will do anything and everything to make your stay absolutely perfect in a friendly, down to earth way. Food is the best we have experienced in Africa, with a great breakfast with loads of fresh fruits.

First time visitor to Zanzibar. My perferance for hotel stay is normally a 5* hotel, but I was late booking for the half term holidays. ISLA bonita was not 5* however the hotel manager was so accommadating with my needs and requests that I would 100% stay at this hotel again, the staff are willing to help and make your stay a great experience. What more can you ask for is that the hotel is on the beach. The pool was a nice size. If your looking for a holiday to chill and relax this is the hotel is for you. It Is a dry hotel but nobody stops you from drinking your own drinks you have brought in. Also less than 5min walk there is also a hotel close buy that is not dry. They also accommadate the best they can with any dietary requirements. Till my next visit.