AHG Waridi Beach Resort & Spa in Pwani Mchangani

I will try to have a short summary about this hotel: 1 - The rooms are old, in the old building (the cheapest rooms) the rooms are renovated but the smell of paint is unbearable. Woodworms can be heard in the silence of the night, gnawing at the wood of the bed you sleep in. Because of this, we changed rooms after 2 days, but we didn't change much about our accommodation, same thing but different room. 2 - The food is repetitive and below standards, sand in spinach, the lobster also with sand, and that was 35$, was not for free. 3 - The dirtiest beach ever seen in Zanzibar, check the photo what's in water at low tide. 4 - Some of the employees speak English, some do not speak it at all. 5 - The animation team does what it can, unfortunately not much: aqua gym, shawili lessons, table tennis, darts or boccia, cooking classes, visiting the local village, picking up trash from the beach with the help of tourists. 6 - On the beach a new hotel is builded, with the combination of sellers plus the noise from the contructions near by is impossible to have some peace and really enjoy your vacation. I know, is not the hotel fault, they cannot control the public beach, but this is not my problem. The hotel beach is cleaned at minimal effort. *note to Management: - I don't find normal to pay for a local beer 5$ - a bottle of "mineral water" of 500ml is 3$ - Lobster with sand? Was 35$. Was an unexpected surprise. - Asked at sisha bar where I can order a pizza for dinner (19:30), 30 minutes later two workers comes with two pizza on the beach, was 13:10. Told them "thanks", paid (signed the bill) for those pizza and continued with my life. If they don't speak English then why are hired? Above the Sisha bar, there are three open-air rooms available, where there is a tennis table and that's it. There is no bingo, no pool table, and I would have paid even 20$ for an hour of biliard. *Now my message for you, the traveler - find another offer/ location. The sellers on the beach are very, very pushy. The beach is very dirty, I have never seen such a dirty beach as here. You will not have peace, plus the new build hotel, near this one, will make a lot of noise. If you have a light sleep the woodworms will make your sleep miserable. ps - Visit the gift shop at reception area, good prices. If you go in the village near Mr. Big discount shop is a liquer store called Majambo, where a beer costs 3000-4000-5000 shillings, depending on what brand you buy, a 0.75L mineral water costs 3000 shillings and so on. Try Flying Fish beer. Your money- your choice. Bottom line- I will never return at this hotel, 5000€ down the drain.

I would not recommend Waridi. - The beach is unusable due to excessive seaweed, and beach vendors (“beach boys”) are extremely persistent—even following you into the water to try and sell you tours and souvenirs. - The hotel isn’t child-friendly; the small pool is the only form of entertainment. - The all-inclusive package is very limited - you can choose from a few local cocktails. Bottled water is not included in the package and there is minimal variety at meals (which are all buffet style) - Our family suite had uncomfortable single beds with thin mattresses and a damp-smelling bathroom. - Rooms are poorly maintained, and the Wi-Fi is unreliable.

Unfortunately this hotel is not serious. We arrived after a 10-hour journey and they told us that there were problems with the room, something related to the electricity, only to find out from the travel agency that they had sold more rooms than they had available. They moved us to another hotel, also in the AHG chain, but much inferior. No supplement was offered, no 30-minute massage voucher. The idea was that if we wanted another hotel, we would book another hotel. For us it was a very unpleasant experience!

We hated this place. It is only enjoyable for people on budget who have zero expectations or compare it with places they saw 50 years ago. These bathrooms are a punishment, stinking, making you puke while brushing teeth. Other negative reviews are also correct, most people except for very old ones complain about many things here. Unfortunately most people will just deal with the suffering and not leave honest negative reviews, because it is their vacation and it is not their job to lecture the hotel to work at least the tiniest amount of professionally. Basically the locals are left to play around with furniture making and all other crafts without supervision. What you get is a combination of "nice tries". So sad we had to suffer in this hell 😭. And the worst is that ridiculous manager. Talking to her feels like talking to a small Giraffe. Sort of funny but a complete waste of time and nerves. The has nothing under control, does not to any quality checks herself whatsoever and then says the very obvious negatives sides the customers complain about weren't true. What a seldomly pathetic and ridiculous place. It will surely make for a good travel story for years to come, but not in a nice way.