Reviews of Breezes Beach Club

"We arrived in Breezes after our transfer from the northern Serengeti and immediately hit a problem. There was a long delay and eventually the assistant manager appeared and told us there was a problem with our rooms. He said that another family with the "same name" had arrived earlier and had been given our rooms by mistake! As a result it meant that our teenage daughters were in a completely different part of the resort (at the back of the property) whilst we were at the front. Now I can accept that hotels make mistakes with bookings and that rooms are shuffled around depending on circumstances, but this is the first time I've heard this excuse. Surprisingly we didn't meet the family with the same name during our entire stay here!

The manager said that this was only for one night and that they would put us into a pair of rooms (the villa) which were attached with a sitting room the next day. This rather dampened our spirit but we were assured that these rooms were more suitable and they also offered us a complimentary lunch. The next day we were asked to leave our bags packed and after spending some time on the beach were contacted just after lunch to move them. I went to see the rooms and whilst they were OK they felt very hot with a bit of a musty/damp smell. I assumed that this was because the air conditioning had not been switched on, it was also disconcerting that someone else's bags were still in the room. I went back to the room later in the afternoon at about 3pm with my wife as she wanted to unpack and the air conditioning was still not working and the room smelt even worse. My wife was rather upset by this and I went to speak with the assistant manager. We sat around whilst the air conditioning was fixed in one room, however it was incredibly noisy in the second room and the smell was still present. Eventually I asked them to move us to some different rooms which provoked a lot of head scratching. I gave them an hour to come up with a solution. Eventually they said they had asked another family to move rooms as they were leaving in the morning and gave us two rooms next to each other, however there was another delay of an hour whilst they organised this and cleaned the rooms (they wanted two hours which would have meant we didn't get into our rooms until gone 7pm).

Once we got past this initial issue and we were able to settle down the hotel was fine. We got our lunch and a bottle of wine one evening, plus the girls were given a massage voucher. It's just a shame that the first couple of days were handled in this manner and that I had to threaten to leave the property before a solution was found. Expert Africa were great in helping us resolve this as they applied pressure to the hotel on our behalf as well. Other gripes: The welcome drinks reception was a bit of a joke and basically an excuse to sell you additional services. The diving centre is good, however be warned that they don't take credit cards, only cash.

The location is excellent, we were lucky with high tides and didn't suffer from problems with sea urchins on the reef walks. We found that the sunbeds had gone fairly early when we returned from a diving trip at 10am, however there were plenty at the side of the pool. Lunch menu is great, drinks were good and the meals were reasonably varied during the week." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 7n in Zanzibar

"Just what we needed after a week or more of early morning starts. Only let down by the weather with rain one afternoon and the next day. Having a gym and tennis court was great for the kids and this was perfect for unwinding.

The shop had limited opening hours, some fabulous crafts but they were expensive compared to Stone Town.

The food was fantastic, the service excellent and everyone was friendly and courteous. Would thoroughly recommend this for everyone who needs to unwind in great surroundings." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"Breezes has a good pool and it is located on a very long sandy beach.

The highlight for us was that we (my 12 year old son and I) signed up with the diving club and got PADI quilified - diving club is child friendly and they are a good friendly team.

The rooms were good but very few are by the beach and have a sea view (even the deluxe and premium ones) - most have garden views. Accodation buildings are a bit concrete and crammed together on the site. When the tide goes out the lagoon drains and you can walk out half a Kilometer to the reef. The lagoon is not good for swimming or playing in however as it is full of coral/rocks and sea urchins.

The biggest drawback was the food which was consistently disappointing particularly in the evenings. It simply lacked quality, however, when we filled in a comments card the head of catering, Marsha, did track us down and discuss it with us, however nothing changed,. it's obviously just the formula that the resort thinks works.

The tennis court had only 2 useable adult racquests available and some tired tennis balls.

Overall it is no more that a 3/4 star hotel from our perspective. Breezes need to up its game a little as it seems to be getting a little complacent. Not much evidence of "The Mangaement", apart from the catering side! No feedback questionnaire was requested from us by the hotel.

A lot of the financial dealings at Breezes was "cash only". It would have be useful to know this in adavance of our trip as the only way to access cash was to go to authorised dealers/banks in Stonetown, one hour away. Hotel not authorised to let guests withdraw cash. It would also have been useful to know in advance that long trousers are required in the evinings (I would have packed a pair!)" See all these reviews: 9n in Zanzibar; 8n in Tanzania

"After the top quality of the Selous Safari Camp we were a bit disappointed with Breezes. The location was fantastic but the service of the staff was variable, the food at the beach bar was dreadful and the food in the main restaurant was not always great.

A particular comment was on a snorkling trip we did. It was run by a gap year student who had only been there a week and we were just dropped off on the coral where the current was very strong. This was not communicated to us and lead to 3 of our party suffering grazes and stings. There was nothing on the boat to deal with this and when I tried to feed back my comments the staff at the Water Sports (not the dive centre) were only interested in covering their backs!

Rooms were quite dark and the whole decor of the place seemed tired. We definitely got the impression it was not very well run.
Having said that we did not make any complaints to the main management so appreciate we did not give them an opportunity to address our concerns. This was because we did not want to sour our trip with any arguments and on the whole we did enjoy ourselves." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"If you are going to suggest that your clients go on to Breezes after Beho Beho and Selous, you should warn them that they will be disappointed. Also it will be a huge disappointment to anyone who has spent time in luxury resorts in the Far East or elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. It just does not compare to what is on offer in the Seychelles, Mauritius or Maldives, or Thailand etc.

We had suites but you could not hear the ocean let alone see it, such was their distance from the beach. The rooms are very basic and not what we expected for the price we paid. The hotel staff were very unfriendly on arrival but got better as the holiday progressed. Its a package hotel - catering en masse. It was impossible to have dinner outside the hotel - nowhere to go.

We ate in the a la carte restaurant twice. The food was good but little atmosphere and we had to order out food from a menu in reception several hours before we ate. It took us the whole of the first morning to arrange this. Likewise we wanted to order drinks on our balcony. This took several hours to organise but was very good when it arrived. The lunches were very good. The buffet food was good if you like that sort of thing but it was very mass produced and not special. The breakfast was very disappointing and again mass produced. I just felt we were herded!

The beach is nice but again nothing special if you have travelled elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. The Spa was nothing special either to look at but the service was very good. Good massage and facial from Thai, Malay and Indian beauticians. There is nothing to see around the hotel and Stone Town is one hour away and you have to negotiate the endless police roadblocks - 12 in total on the journey to and from Stone Town for a morning's visit. The gym is not worth mentioning.

All in all it was a real anticlimax to what was otherwise a wonderful holiday. We would definitely not go back." See all these reviews: 5n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar

"Very nice hotel for a family to relax in.

Great beach and pool, good food, friendly service.

Has a qualified and equipped nurse on site who was very useful to several of the guests we spoke to." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 6n in Tanzania

"We were backpacking in Zanzibar in 1999 and ended up having a drink in Breezes and really liked the look of the place. We decided that if we ever got back this would be the place for us. It certainly lived up to our expectations and we are glad we made the trip.

The room was excellent and was exactly what we needed at that stage of the trip. The food was also very good and while not generally a fan of buffets, the variety and quality of food meant they weren't the chore they can sometimes be. They also tended to serve starter and/or dessert so it wasn't all queuing. The restaurant staff were very friendly and chatty.

Overall facilities were very good and the beach was really nice and it also has an excellent dive centre attached. There were also nice touches like a present of a Christmas decoration on arrival and a Breezes shopping bag on leaving. We also dined in the Sultan's Table restaurant which was a lovely treat." See all these reviews: 5n in Zanzibar; 2n in Tanzania

"No request was too small at Breezes and all the staff were hugely friendly and falling over each other to help - this could have been because the resort was only half full, but I don't believe this was the case.

The location is perfect for total relaxation, although there are a number of activities available should you wish to move temporarily from your sun lounger! The rooms (in my case a Deluxe room) and other facilities are very good, although the equipment in the gym was very limited. The therapists in the spa (all from Thailand or Bali) were excellent and there was a good range of treatments at reasonable prices. The food was faultless - wide choice available at breakfast and a number of themed buffet evenings which meant that you could choose whatever you fancied.

As a single, female traveller, this was a perfect resort. It could have been the time of year, but there were no children in sight which is great when you're looking for a peaceful and relaxing break!

If I had to try and search for something negative to say about Breezes, it would be that my room wasn't ready when I arrived. Nevertheless, I only had to wait 90 minutes, so could have been worse. However it would have been nice to have known this in advance, after travelling for 13/14 hours, so that I could have expected the wait." See all these reviews: 11n in Zanzibar

"Good hotel but not much to do unless you like diving or sunbathing.

A trip into Stone Town is well worth it but not using the hotel provided service ( we used the people who did our transfer and it cost about 25% of the hotel price). Food is good but buffets 50% of the time.

Plenty of room for guests on the beach and around the pool." See all these reviews: 5n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar; 3n in Kenya

"You would have to have a serious problem to complain about this hotel.It lived up to all expectations.We looked at a number of other hotels and we had chosen the right one.Food choice and service was of thge highest order." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania; 8n in Zanzibar