Pongwe Bay Resort

We stayed here during our visit to Zanzibar. A beautiful place, great location, a walk to clean, well maintained beach. 5 mins walk to Kongowea Pier restaurant. Hotel rooms were great, cleaned daily, evening curtain drawn, insecticide sprayed, mosquito net drawn. Lovely relaxing porch, a ladder provided to hang swimming suits by the porch, Breakfast was well organised so was lunch and dinner. Pool was wonderful, small, exclusive and relaxing. The staff are amazing, friendly, helpful and always smiling My only frustration was the sand on the path, walking on with sandals at dinner time was always a challenge and frustrating but had to give in after a day, was time to relax so ditched the sandals and bare feet walking was the thing. Will definitely visit again.

We have just had a fabulous week at Pongwe Bay Resort. This is more like a wellness retreat than a hotel. The layout is fantastic. Our chalet/villa was situated on the beach within 50m of the magnificent restaurant and pool. The beach area is idyllic with ample palm tree seated shelters. A 300-meter wooden pier leads to 'The Club' a further restaurant/bar within the Indian Ocean. OUR VILLA We were in 302, which had a seated verandah, a 4 poster bed with mosquito netting. Ample space for clothing and luggage and a spacious bathroom. It was cleaned daily and also visited in the evening to turn down the bed. THE RESTAURANT/BAR It is an awesome structure that is aesthetically beautiful. There is plenty of room for everyone. The food was both varied and plentiful. Some evenings were a la carte and some buffet. Every other evening, an event took place, including a beach bbq, a poolside gala dinner, and a Masai show. THE POOL Beautifully clean with ample sunbeds and parasols. No deep end, so really safe, too. THE SPA Predominantly for a large selection of massages, but what massages they were. The best I've ever experienced. If all of the above sounds good, they all come a distant second to... THE PEOPLE Tanzanian people have a reputation for being super friendly, and Pongwe Bay has delved deep into that gene pool when recruiting staff. Everybody and I mean everybody was an absolute pleasure to be around, and the teamwork was so good to witness. The resort is owned and managed by Italians, and they have assembled a Tanzanian workforce to be very proud of. Everyone was so welcoming, and smiles were in abundance from morning to night from all quarters, whether that be the cleaners, waiters, reception, and bar staff to management. There are far too many to mention them all but a big shout out to the following who left a lasting impression. Manjeet - The ever cheerful restaurant manager with a great eye for detail. Carolina, Irene, and Jennifer - just 3 of many waiting staff, but these in particular always stopped by to chat and make sure we were happy. Janenth- Cocktail maker extraordinaire Openda & Fatima - the girls with magic hands. Seriously good masseuses!! Davide - Fabulously attentive member of the management team and a Laziale too!! To conclude, if you are looking for an active break with plenty to do, then this may not be for you. On the other hand, if you want one of the most peaceful, relaxing, and chilled times of your life, Pongwe Bay Resort ticks all the boxes. 5* all the way. Asante Sana.

This was our second visit to Pongwe Bay resort. It still is a beautiful resort, with fantastic staff. A few points of attention: the food in both restaurants. We had hoped that there would be a little more variety, especially in the jetty restaurant. But there is a small menu. Which means that vegetarians and meat eaters in particular don't have much choice. Loud guests: there was large group they were loud. There were shouts and yelling at each other from a great distance. There was so much commotion that we thought something was going on, that we even went to the manager. But this group was not held accountable for their behavior. Very unfortunate because all that shouting meant that other guests couldn't really relax. I would like to end on a positive note by saying that we really appreciated being allowed to check out late without any extra charges.

RACIST HOTEL STAFF & GENRAL MANAGER (Marcus) I am writing to express my disappointment with the poor customer service and overall experience. There were numerous aunts and insects on the premises and bed sheets which made our stay uncomfortable and unpleasant and wanted to leave hotel earlier in which they confirmed to us that refund for the rest of the stay will be completed upon check out .however later we received email that no refund The experience was extremely frustrating as as When we tried to communicate with the General manager (Marcus), which eventually learned that he is so Racist against arabs; he yelled at us and refused to make any refund as promised upon check out ! And hung up the phone as soon as he found out we were Arab as his behavior became blatantly disrespectful. He began to mock us by using Arabic words in a rude and sarcastic manner, as if he was making fun of our identity and culture. This conduct was not only unprofessional but also deeply discriminatory. Based on this experience, I would not recommend this place to anyone. The lack of hygiene and professionalism, poor service, and disregard and for customer satisfaction were beyond disappointing.

Loved our stay at Pongwe Bay Resort. The beach is beautiful, the gardens are so beautiful and the staff is amazing. The east side of the island is so calm and quite which was exactly what we needed.

The resort is quiet and an escape to relax and renew.