Cristal Resort

I wholeheartedly recommend the Cristal Resort in Zanzibar for an enchanting escape. Nestled amid stunning surroundings, this resort offers a unique blend of elegance and comfort. The attention to detail in the design, coupled with personalized service, creates a truly luxurious experience. The Cristal Resort's commitment to showcasing local culture and flavors is evident in its exceptional dining options

Great 👍 "Exceptional stay! Impeccable service, stylish ambiance, and attention to detail. The staff went above and beyond, creating a memorable experience. A perfect blend of luxury and comfort. Highly recommend for an unforgettable getaway."

Let’s start with the location which is amazing, the best in Paje in my opinion. Apart from this, this resort needs a lot of work . The rooms where very basic - stayed in an Eco bungalow which had no air conditioning or … windows, only nets. Note that the selection of our room was the travel agency’s mistake, we did not know these details. Luckily in July there is a cool breeze in the evening but good luck in the morning with all the noise. The bathroom was in a very bad condition, you could actually lift the sink from its place, the shower was kind of gross, no curtain, stained towels etc. The breakfast was very basic. My friend’s flip flops were stolen and saw one of the cleaning staff wearing them. My friend was hospitalized and had her key at the hospital. Her roommate was not allowed in because the key was not supposed to have left the property. Somebody had to go to the hospital to fetch the key. A general lack of focus in the service, a lot of people going around with not much purpose when essentials are missing. The resort has great potential because of its location - delightful grounds full of Colombo monkeys and birds, stunning beach but unfortunately these are not enough.

If you want to have a peaceful and relaxing vacation, avoid this hotel at all costs. I stayed there in January 2023 with family and friends. We had already stayed at the Cristal Resort Hotel twice before and we decided to go back again because of the nice location and what used to be ’friendly’ staff. On our 5th night, before we went to bed I checked the door and all of the windows of our ECO bungalow to be sure they were completely locked and secure. In the morning, we woke up to discover that we had been robbed while my parents and I were asleep. The window from the bathroom was wide open and our phones, money (thousands) and 2 bags were gone. We immediately informed the hotel management about this but their only concern was why we had not put our money in the safe box. The answer is very simple- we usually use the safe box when we are out of the room, not while we were asleep. Beyond the fact that someone was in our room while we were asleep, imagine how worse things could have been had we woken up while the thief/thieves were still in the room. The hotel has a huge security problem and they know it very well. In order to open a closed sliding window they must have had a premeditated plan or system to be able to open it successfully from the outside... and not to have any security guards in that area at night is just outrageous. In hindsight I am pretty sure we were being observed. It had all been planned very well and they knew everything in order to succeed - who had the money of the group, where we were sleeping, everything. In the morning, we called the police and after they finally came, out of nowhere, one of the hotel staff called us to show us that they had found our backpacks without any money in them of course. We found our phones inside one of the backpacks without our SIM cards in them and after we switched them on we saw on the Steps App that our things had been stolen at 3 am in the morning and that the thief/thieves only took just 78 steps and stopped right near the fence of the hotel. The police was trying to play things down by saying that we were so lucky we got our phones back. A few hours later, I received a message from the hotel manager saying precisely this: --- I spoke with our broker and I checked our insurance. It covers things like cameras, phones and laptops but not money, because the issue of money is very complex. --- This is another reason that led us to believe that the hotel staff was involved. What an unbelievable coincidence! We only retrieved the things that were not covered by their insurance- our phones. On top of that, they also had the appalling audacity to say that we needed to wait for the police investigation as they needed to find out whether this had happened for real or not, because according to them, nothing actually proved that somebody had robbed us and that we could have orchestrated the whole thing ourselves...Great! They were also putting pressure on us to stop this scandal because

Wonderful beach plot and beautifully planned common hotel areas. 2 pools and lots of semi shaded areas during the palm trees for the kids to play. Nice beach bar and food / drinks were decently priced and yummy. Staff very friendly. Check-in / check-out procedure was time consuming though. We however were a larger group travelling together, and restaurant bills had been mixed up despite asking for them to be billed each room. Rooms were OK, clean and functional. In the bathroom there was no shower curtains though, hence everything easily got wet. Also no door to the bathroom, only a curtain as separation. AC well functioning at night, but daytime only weak effect and the hotel claimed this was due to limited electricity supply on the island. Of our four rooms there was only one that had a ceiling fan, made a big difference! (rooms in the apartment block at the far end of the hotel) Average rating as I would have preferred a slightly higher standard of the rooms. At the same time, we made our reservation looking for a reasonably priced option over the holidays. I'd still say we got good value for money compared to many other places in peak season. But don't expect luxury. Paje has a nice vibe to it! Lots of kite surfers in the water though, a bit stressful at peak times when taking the kids out to swim. Many restaurant options for lunches and dinners that you can walk to even at night which was lovely.

Horrible. They stole me and traumatized me. a thief in my room well, this happened on Sunday night (23 january Monday morning at 3:30 AM). I was sleeping in Cristal ressort hotel located in Paje, zanzibar. it was a hotel with rooms and bungalows on the beach. I booked through *********** after reading travelers comments and it was well noted. I booked only from saturday 22 to monday 23 of January 2023 because it was my last night in zanzibar before going back home. I had a room called "beach room" . While sleeping I heard the waves of the beach and once I woke up, I saw a man in my room, I started screaming and saying who are you, he ran away from the room. I got up from the bed, but I was stuck with the mosquito net, and I was afraid. I started screaming and saying: Security, security, help, help. No one was there. I closed the room, and I ran directly to the reception. No one was there either. I came back to the room and I did not see anyone from the security. I went to search for my phone. I did not fund it, nor the laptop that was charging. After that I ran again to the beach and then the security (messaya) came, I explained to them what happened, they started looking for him, but it was too late (after 5 or 7 min). i said please call the police, they said we already called the hotel responsible so they will bring a car to go to bring the police. They were not serious. 1h30 after, the police came and they asked me to tell them what happened, and then they gave me a piece of paper to write down what happened to me. It was around 6 of the morning. Around 9 we went (me and someone from the hotel to the police station again ) and there they gave me a report declaration and they said they will do the investigation. but also i felt that they were not serious at all. I spoke with the hotel manager who was not kind at all. I said this is your fault and you don't have security in your hotel. He said that's my mistake because I did not close the door with the keys. Yes, I did not close it with the key, because I am in a hotel and I am inside my room. He said the door was not broken. I told him that he needs to reimburse me. he said he has insurance but we need to wait until the police deliver the final report. I told him to give me proof of insurance with my name and with all details, but he said he can not contact the insurance company until the final report is delivered. He said he will contact me if he has any news. well he was really not kind and not serious at all. I did not have time to stay longer and deal with this issue because I had my flight in the afternoon and my driver was waiting for me. This is what happen to me, I was really traumatized, no security, the thief could even kill me or at least hit me