Huis van Livingstone

Our stay at Diamonds Mapenzi Beach had several positive aspects. The location is good, the pool area is nice, and the staff are friendly, welcoming, and helpful throughout the stay. That said, there are a few points worth being aware of. The rooms appear more worn in reality than the pictures suggest, which detracts from the overall impression. In addition, the food unfortunately falls below expectations. Considering the price, the culinary experience could have been significantly better. This becomes particularly noticeable when compared to similar hotels in destinations such as the Seychelles or Cape Verde, where the food standard is often higher within the same price range. It is also worth mentioning that the Hotels.com Gold benefits (Early/Late checkout, Upgrade) do not seem to apply here (even when listed on confirmatio). However, this appears to be more an issue with Hotels.com rather than the hotel itself. Overall, a perfectly acceptable place to stay, but somewhat overpriced for the experience it offers.

We stayed at the Baraza for four nights in July, after a week-long safari. We had booked the two-bedroom villa (garden view). The staff and the food were wonderful. The personnel just wanted us to feel comfortable and at home. The quality and diversity of the food was amazing and I particularly loved the ability to ask for a custom fruit smoothie whenever I wanted. The hotel is starting to show its age a little bit if you pay attention, but overall it it very well maintained and looks like a palace from the 1001 nights. The villa is where things got a little disappointing. On the plus side, it is huge and was pretty close to the restaurants, pool and beach. But as soon as we entered we noticed the main bedroom’s door not closing, lights flickering, toilets leaking a little, iron and two pairs of slippers missing, things that the hotel manager got fixed immediately, but that we should not have even seen in a $1,600 / night villa. The iron holder is old, frayed and rusty, the hot water takes a long time to arrive (several minutes). I did appreciate the large safe, big enough for laptops. The beach looks great but is not very inviting: you need shoes in it (the hotel lends you some) and after 12-2pm a wind and current made it not fun to swim in. The pool is superb, and despite not being heated (I think) it was refreshing during the afternoon. We never felt the place was crowded and never had to way for a daybed or table. So overall a very nice stay, but not quite perfect.