Private beach, white sand, free beach cabanas, sun-loungers
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Reviews of Konokono Beach Resort and Isaraya Over Water Villa

5 out of 5
Konokono Beach Resort and Isaraya Over Water Villa
Michamvi, Michamvi, Unguja South Region

Reviews

8.2

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 111 out of 206 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 45 out of 206 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 23 out of 206 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 13 out of 206 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 14 out of 206 reviews" "

8.6/10

Cleanliness

8.6/10

Staff & service

7.4/10

Amenities

8.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Natacha

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The villas are beautiful spacious with high ceiling. Beautiful white sand private beach. Tranquil & luxurious. The only negative is the condition of the road leading to the resort. It is in need of repair.
Stayed 6 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Hussein

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 4 nights in May 2024

4/10 Poor

CHATERRAL

Travelled with family
Where do I begin it was so much starting with the pick up from the airport. I wasn't informed the transportation fee beedes to be paid in cag. I would have been prepared with the cash if I were informed ahead of time. Once we arrived which was extremely late due to flight delays our room wasn't available. There was an unfortunate accident so that wasn't their fault but the room wasn't very clean. The floor was filthy and you can tell it was a rushed job. A short time after arrival the power goes out. This apparently is a thing because it happened frequently during our stay. The A/C & refrigerator wasn't working well. I complained for several days they were supposed to send maintenance. We never saw maintenance. We then encountered a rat in our room! This was the straw that broke the camels back. After battling the rat all night they finally moved us to another Overwater bungalow. They never resolved the issue and moved the next guests right in our old bungalow. The bungalows need a good overall sprucing up. I'm a frequent international traveler and the best part of this trip was leaving the resort for 3 days going on our safari in Arusha. The communication between staff was lacking and insufficient. The front desk miscommunicated transportation fees, they never informed housekeeping about the rat and why our room was in such disarray the next day, and maintenance never communicated with housekeeping.The maid drop the key in the ocean. We had a terrible experience. Don't go!
Stayed 9 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Stacey

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The staff was amazing
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2024

2/10 Terrible

Sean

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
This was the worst experience I have ever had. I am quite use to staying in some rough places and don’t mind that if that is the expectation. I paid premium money for a supposed premium Villa “over the ocean”. It started with the taxi service from the port, the driver was great but, it was not conveyed that it was a private service not from the resort so, when we were dropped off at the resort he expected to be paid on the spot, so make sure you bring cash to pay the driver, it won’t be charged through the hotel. After sorting out the taxi service we were led to our “over the ocean villa” The “ocean view” was at least 200 meters away and nothing like the pictures when booked. I tried logging in on the WiFi that was supposedly available and there was no connection to internet at all, the entire night. I went to take a shower after the long journey to the resort and had abysmal water pressure and zero hot water. When my Wife went to take a shower the water completely shut off in the middle of her shower, the water didn’t come back the entire evening. We tried to make the most of it and have a nice dinner well, the entire time of the dinner we had to listen to cats incessantly whining and going around our feet, my allergies were not liking that whole situation. The wait staff was very kind and courteous but, the food.. it is a set menu with very limited options and the food at best is 2.5/5. The next morning we tried to take a shower and there wasn’t water again. No refund!!
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Samantha

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This is the place for a wonderful, restful and lovely honeymoon!! My husband and I stayed in one of the Isaraya Villas, and these are a must. We loved the intimate privacy within the villa: own pool, access to the ocean, sunset views, short walk to the clean beach and restaurant (delicious, fresh meals made to order). We also enjoyed the facilities on the main resort as well. The staff are welcoming and helpful, they added to the serene atmosphere. We would visit again!
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Sajid

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 7 nights in Feb 2024

2/10 Terrible

Zaynab

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Kono Kono overpriced and underserviced
The hotel was not ready to accommodate guests. The room was not ready for check-in, there were two people in our room still cleaning. The doors didn't close properly so massive bugs were climbing into the room. The power went off repeatedly in the night, there were no back up generators, and then the water shut off for the entire resort. The lighting for the stairs leading to the beach was dark so you couldn't see where you were going, they were literally still installing lights in the dining area while we were eating. The staff are friendly but lost, a beautiful buffet was set for the guests without spoons for service. The waiters promise to serve the food to you and never arrive. Kono Kono has a team of well intended staff but very far from being ready to call itself a resort and accommodate any guests.
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Dan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
We stayed for 2 nights in the Beach Pavilion at Konokono during Valentine’s Day and it was an unforgettable experience. We had dinner at the over the water restaurant at Iysara (the conjoined hotel) on our first night and then an amazing buffet on the beach for Valentine’s Day with yellowfin tuna, a fire and and live music - the setting was divine. Both meals were included in our half board booking and they were easily two of the best meals of our whole stay in Zanzibar. The staff were attentive and cheerful and the beach itself is genuinely stunning. We highly recommend the beach pavilion as the view of sunset from the room is unparalleled. Thank you to the team at Konokono for a magical stay. We will definitely be coming back for longer in the future.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

8/10 Good

David

Stayed 8 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Melissa

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Harvey

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice private beach and very quiet and peaceful
Stayed 5 nights in Jan 2024

4/10 Poor

John

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Amenities
The staff especially the restaurant staff were very poor. The Manager is never on site to resolve any issues
Stayed 4 nights in Jan 2024

4/10 Poor

Rajiv de

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
When we booked this hotel through expedia it was rated as a 5 star luxury hotel. We booked a 5 day, 4 night stay in their beach pavilion room and this was paid in full (Approx $1800). The pictures on expedia looked amazing and we were looking forward to spending our last leg of our trip at this property. Please see below the list of issues: - As soon as you walk into the room it smelled mouldy - The AC was not working so we immediately phoned reception and they moved us to the only other room on the beach, Pavilion 2 - When we first walked in, it was unclean as some just checked out - The bathroom and bedroom definitely need some updating - The bathroom sink faucets had no running water - The private pool was not swimmable as it was not to our standards - The main pool need some work as there was missing tiles - There was no beach towels - The beach had trash and rotting sea weed - Food was good but limited We did call expedia to see if we were able to change our hotel however we were told that the refund was not guaranteed therefore we did not have a choice but stay. However, The helpful and cheerful staff did make our stay somewhat better. I do believe that this property has great potential however there is some work to be done if this is to be advertised as a 5 star luxury resort. Overall the property and rooms needs some repairs and maintenance to bring it up to 4 - 5 star standard.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Samer

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Room was nice, right on the water. There were power cuts and the room service was not the best. But overall a pleasant place and the staff were excellent!
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

4/10 Poor

monir

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Gülay

Travelled with family
Liked: Staff & service, room comfort
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2023

6/10 Okay

Paul George

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
I am conflicted about this stay. This being our 6th vacation on Zanzibar, and island we have fallen in love with and her people. The pro are as follows. Beautiful Situation Beach is gorgeous Staff were friendly and attentive Food was great Rooms are clean and well proportioned with clean linen and fresh towels The cons are. The hotel needs maintenance, the thatching and beams in the rooms are rotting. The septic tank near the dining area omitted a pungent aroma quite often There are no working fridges in the rooms, spoke to the manager who promised to attend to it, but in over a weeks stay nothing materialised. There is a beach bar about 300m down the beach that plays music for their sunset party that plays until 22h00 at a very disturbing volume (saying that, if you can’t beat them, join them!) The lunch menu is very overpriced for what it offers, we went to the above mentioned beach bar for lunch on those days we stayed in the area. As a family of grandparents, parents and child we did enjoy our stay. Would I recommend Konokono, I don’t think so as there are so many options on the island. To grow their clients and encourage return quest the will need to do some serious maintenance.

10/10 Excellent

Sinegugu

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

4/10 Poor

Jamal, APO AE

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staff was good. The beach was amazing. Not a 5 star quality hotel and not as expected. We left early and booked another hotel. The slew of issues like the shower not draining, the porch door not closing fully, the fridge not working, the WIFI not working, the terrible turn down service, the fuse tripping, the private plunge pool was dirty, and the food wasn't great,.. we could deal with. The tipping point was the AC barely worked, we had it on blast with the celling fan on and the room was still uncomfortably hot. In addition the resort next door had music BLASTING, with deep base that could be heard in our room all the way across the water. Sure they turned it down around 8:30pm, but people are visiting from all over the world in different time zones. It was not the relaxing, luxury experience we hoped. They have let the hotel run down. And the manager did not seem to care.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

pradip

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Daniel

Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Beautiful hotel aesthetic and rooms very spacious and clean. We stayed in the garden view villa and it was lovely. However food is not good, service is slow it takes forever to get your food and lots of items from menu are always unavailable. The hotel is in the middle of nowhere which is good for privacy and relaxing but do keep that in mind. Hotel taxi is pricey. Lots of animals eg monkeys hang around in the gardens.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Denys

Awesome place!
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Ed

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
It is wonderful get away.
Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2023

4/10 Poor

Kristi

Travelled with family
Disliked: Staff & service
Thought it was going to be paradise…
This hotel was at a price point that I thought okay we will get there and be in paradise and not want to leave. Unfortunately the place does look very beautiful but our sink faucets weren’t fixed to the countertops, our toilets only worked sometimes (maybe 50% of the time it flushed), the wait staff at the restaurant ignored us most of the time, it was the first place we stayed during our 3 weeks in Tanzania that didn’t spray for mosquitoes and didn't have bed nets. We got eaten up. Road to hotel was so brutal not every taxi could even get to us to pick us up. Considering price it was a huge let down and far away from everything due to the speed you have to drive on the terrible road. Power and WiFi blinked on and off a dozen times a day.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Fawaz

Stayed 5 nights in Jun 2023
Response from evan on 22 Jun 2023
Thank you for your positive comments

10/10 Excellent

vanja

Stayed 6 nights in May 2023
Response from Ev on 22 Jun 2023
Thank you for your positive comments

10/10 Excellent

SAHRA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I loved this property it was exactly what I expected and more beautiful, peaceful and most importantly safe. I spent my birthday there and had the best time of my life. The staff are the sweetest and the service is just perfect. Definitely would recommend
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2023
Response from Evan on 22 Jun 2023
Thank you for your positive comments

10/10 Excellent

Priscila

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I had the most beautiful experience. When I arrived, the manager surprised my husband and I with a free upgrade, an over the water Villa! The villa is amazing, the service overall at the resort is A . Very friendly staff, beautiful resort, excellent food and great experience. Hospitality had been the best I had. I love the fact that the staff and manager did everything possible to make our stay enjoyable.
Stayed 6 nights in Apr 2023

2/10 Terrible

Maureen

Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2023

2/10 Terrible

Tracy

Travelled with family, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
The toilet in my villa did not work. All inclusive does not mean all inclusive at this "resort". The food was atrocious and there were few options. All around boring with a filthy beach
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2023

4/10 Poor

Madalina

Travelled with family
Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Not recommended
Oh I don’t even know where to start from!! This property was probably wonderful at some point but now is just ruined and nobody seems to care! We first stayed at no 19 where it was full of dirt, bathrooms always smelled of s**t no matter what, they don’t have water most of the times so you cannot flash the toilet which was anyway broken. Staff don’t care too much - they would listen to your concerns and that’s it. Won’t do much as the manager doesn’t care. They won’t clean the villas mini pool if you don’t give them something, the outside patio again is full of dust and monkeys s**t and they never wash it off. Breakfast is minimal, just some doughnuts, one type of cereal with milk, eggs, sausages and beans and that’s it - there are cats which we love but they were all over the tables. And while you go get something else to eat they will go up on your table and eat your food. But the worst was one night when the toilet ceiling started raining and the whole bathroom was full of water and the light was also flashing!! With a toddler and a baby with us we called them at 2am to check what’s going on and they tried to repair the boiler which was on villas rooftop and this made it worse as all kind of insects came from the ceiling and now everything was full of water and insects. They gave us another villa but that night was ruined. Also, what you see in the pictures is not like that anymore. All the rooms have had the TV’s removed and also all the mini fridge’s doesn’t work etc
Stayed 12 nights in Feb 2023
Response from EBD on 11 Mar 2023
Dear Madalina,Greetings from Konokono Beach Resort and Spa! I am saddened to read that you and your family did not have an enjoyable stay!As you can see from from our rooms that they all have gardens around them, thus ensuring the privacy for our guests. The pool within our villas are cleaned daily normally in the morning! For breakfast a Full continental Breakfast is offered, and hot breakfasts are ordered. While we do not anticipate for the boilers within our rooms to malfunction, it can happen. You were offered an alternative room. We do hope that you had a safe flight back homeRegards,

8/10 Good

Ulla Bjørg

Stayed 8 nights in Feb 2023
Response from EBD on 11 Mar 2023
Thank you!

10/10 Excellent

richard, Stoughton

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The property was clean, and the staff were very professional and friendly.
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2023
Response from EBD on 11 Mar 2023
Karibu Sana!

8/10 Good

Lesa

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities

2/10 Terrible

Omosomi

8/10 Good

Annika

Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2022
Response from EBD on 17 Dec 2022
Thank you for the positive comments

10/10 Excellent

Isabelle

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This place is a piece of paradise. Ideal for couples who want to rest and relax. The staff is unbelievable, ready to take care of everything we needed. The food was very good and fresh, especially all the fish dishes as they are caught the day of!
Response from EBD on 17 Dec 2022
We are looking forward to welcoming you back again

10/10 Excellent

Jonathan

Stayed 6 nights in Nov 2022
Response from EBD on 17 Dec 2022
Thank you for your positive feedback

10/10 Excellent

Penelope E

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2022
Response from EBD on 17 Dec 2022
Thank you for your positive feedback

2/10 Terrible

shafiqali, sanford

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2022

4/10 Poor

Sandrine

Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Azizi Mahmoud

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing villas, excellent beaches with the best white sands. Customer service was world class: polite reception and catering service. Its is a must when visiting Zanzibar.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2022

6/10 Okay

Jevgenij

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Amazing beach and area, disasterous food, very high prices, little attention to detail.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2022

2/10 Terrible

Seddik kosseila

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Staff & service
he staff were very unaccommodating to our situation, my husband and I picked konokono for our honeymoon, and on the day of travel, we had an incident at the airport actually and couldn't travel. We notified the hotel to cancel and asked for a refund, they told us to talk to Expedia and Expedia kept telling us that the hotel is non responsiveness and are not answering their calls, and after days of hassle between Expedia and Konokono, they simply got back to us to tell us that the hotel did not agree to make any refund for our money, not even a partial refund or deferring our stay to another time which we have proposed. This was a horrendous experience and I would definitely say that I have lost all confidence in Expedia and in Konokono beach resort and I would not recommend it to anyone. Moreover, they never respond to calls, messages, complaints, not from us (directly) nor from Expedia.
Stayed 6 nights in Sep 2022

2/10 Terrible

Sawsan

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Our stay was terrible First the location of the hotel is very far and the road was horrible The food was very limited and there were a lot of bees inside the food in breakfast for dinner it was a la cart menu without any options if you don’t like something you don’t have another option for it The pool inside the room was dirty the room smells dirty There’s no tv in the room and wifi is very slow water went out many time The electricity went out more than 5 times in our last day There’s no light enough in the hotel we were scared while walking to the restaurant
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2022
Response from GM on 12 Sept 2022
Dear Saswan,Greeting from Konokono Beach Resort, We are saddned to read that you did not enjoy your stay. However, for the benefit of our readers:It clearly states the distance to the airport and nearest towns when making the booking. Our menus changes daily and all of our guests has options when coming to the menu for dinner. Our pools at the rooms are cleaned daily should you need additional cleaning then you could have called reception to arrange. With being in Africa we as a resort feel that the TV's take away from our natural setting. We have back up generators that do go on should we have a power outage. The pathway to the restaurant is fully lit up and is part of the back up power should we have an outage. We are situated on one of the best coastlines in Zanzibar and as such we have a pristine coastline of which we can be proud of. Regards GM

10/10 Excellent

Hadar, Newton

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful property, spacious room, the most hospitable staff - we had a wonderful vacation.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2022
Response from GM on 12 Sept 2022
We are pleased that you enjoyed your stay with us and hope that you had a safe journey back home. Regards,GM

8/10 Good

Helena

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful hotel for a relaxed stayed
Beautiful hotel, large and comfortable rooms, large and secluded beach. Staff is very nice and you have friendly and discrete Masai guards keeping the premises at all timeshare dinner service is very good, with a 5 course service but breakfast has low variety and it can take a time to get the drinks and eggs served (on demand, even juices). Bacon is not the standard smoked one you get normally. For common areas you only have the restaurant/bar. And you have harmless monkies all over the place.
Stayed 8 nights in Jul 2022
Response from GM on 12 Sept 2022
Thank you for your positive comments. We do not serve any Pork products at the resort and as such the Bacon is Beef. We do hope that you will return in the not too distant. future.Regards,GM

2/10 Terrible

Keli

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Worst stay ever for a “luxury” property. They claim this is a 5* property but nothing more than a 2star guest house. Water issues the whole time we were there, shower stopped running halfway through my shower on two occasions. Most staff had body odour so when they came into your room, it took several minutes for their scent to leave your room. Food was terrible, cold and unpresentable. Everything about this place is terrible. I don’t know if they were ever 5* but they’re terribly run down. We couldn’t wait to leave the place. They ruined the last bit of our holiday in Zanzibar.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2022
Response from GM on 12 Sept 2022
We are saddned to read that you did not enjoy your stay will us. We pride ourselves in delivering a 5 star experience to all of our guests. There are certain times as explained during the briefing on arrival that the water will slow down as we are refilling our tanks. We do not have municipal water services and as such water is brough in daily. Our dining experience is a highlight for most of our guests. We do hope that you have had a safe journey back homeRegards,GM