TOA Inside Out

When you spend thirteen (13) consecutive days in a brand new hotel which opened three (3) days only before your arrival, you easily pick up everything the hotel wants you to see as well as everything it doesn’t. Over the course of two weeks, warm smiles you may have initially taken for politeness tend to fade and unexpected behaviors tend to appear. It’s therefore up to you to adjust and find your way through it all in order to enjoy your vacation.

This was my experience at TOA HOTEL AND SPA, listed online as a 5 star accommodation in Pongwe, Zanzibar, and mostly built as such, or close to such, right by the turquoise ocean’s waters, which is the best thing I will say about the place. So there goes the skinny: TOA is very well built, very comfortable, very well furnished and, indeed, very beautiful and loaded with the touch of luxuries one might expect in this price range. However, as always, there is more to the story than meets the eyes… Please grab a seat and let me tell you all about it…

So, why brand new, no-reputation-as-of-yet TOA HOTEL AND SPA as a vacation spot in a foreign country? Well, I just saw it listed on Booking.com and, after bouncing back and forth between competing offers, I chose it because, aside for its listed amenities, it allowed me to book early while keeping the option to cancel late, which is something I’m used to in the Accor system as a Gold Member. It’s also a favorable option most well-established competitors to TOA in Zanzibar did not offer. Moreover, as a first time visitor to Zanzibar, I wanted to discover as many parts of the Island as I could from one place instead of moving around as I was told I may have to do. But I didn’t want to move around so the spot I chose had to fit my needs and those of my wife and two teen daughters, pertaining to comfort, food, fitness and relaxation. My family had spent a couple of hectic weeks between Geneva, Paris and Abidjan prior to landing in Zanzibar and all we wanted to do was to chill. That’s it. Chill, eat, sleep and enjoy world-famous Zanzibar. So of course a 5-star accommodation with the word “spa” in its name should do.

As soon as we got there, my wife urged me to inquire about the spa she longed for but I was told it would soon be ready, which meant that it was not, then and there. There was no spa as of yet. I was surprised. A few days later however, a young lady came offering massage service while my family and I were lounging on the beach and I jumped into the opportunity fully expecting to be blown away by what would surely be a very modern spa akin to a 5 star accommodation. Meaning, a service which usually includes not only massage but also sauna, hammam and the likes. Well, there is no such thing, thus far, at TOA. Instead there is one single flat massage table a highly skilled young masseuse called Anna uses to perfection. But again, for a hotel that uses the word “spa” in its name, just know that, as it stands, it refers to an idea, not an actual service.

The same goes for the word fitness. Although not used in the hotel’s name, online description for TOA refers to a “fitness center” I had planned to use but haven’t seen anywhere. I was told by reception that I would be informed when it is available. Well, it was not available during my stay which reads to me like false advertising. Another disappointment.

So what did I actually get at TOA HOTEL AND SPA? Well, I got the Deluxe Family Room hosting up to four (4) people that I had booked. It was very nice and comfy although not quite as spacious as the photo on Booking.com would have you thinking. This being said, it did come with a very large and slickly designed bathroom which sported an assortment of high quality furnitures and equipment. A highlight.

Still, our beds didn’t have the protective nets I saw in online pictures of said Deluxe Family Room, a feature which would have been of some help to circumvent the assault of flies and mosquitos buzzing free everywhere. One might say that it comes with the tropical climate and it may be true. However, what also comes with the tropical climate is professional know-how on how to fight pests off. For starters, health specialists in most tropical climates would confirm that banana trees are heaven for mosquitos for they breed and thrive inside and around them. And guess what kind of trees the hotel harbors right in front of room buildings? Beautiful banana trees! So having housekeepers slide into rooms at night to spray insecticides may be somewhat useful, but the task is of very little help when mosquitos will be storming back in the couple of hours afterwards because they comfortably reside in banana trees right by the windows. My youngest daughter’s bitten face still tells as much. Furthermore, spraying insecticides around 9:00 pm is rather risky for a guest like me who has asthma (*). Therefore, when I bumped into a housekeeper who had slid into our room while we were outside and who was about to spray something, I quickly declined the offer. Lucky me, that time, until I wasn’t much so when another unrelated issue surfaced: fire alarms.

Case in point: four (4) times during our stay, we were forcefully woken up by a screaming fire alarm before dawn. My inquiry about this nuisance no one came forward to apologize for prior to my asking gathered that someone may have been smoking close enough to the alarm system or that power failure may be the cause for the alarms going off. Basically, all I could do was to cross my fingers for the alarms not to ring again. Yet they did.

Another time, my family which had been deeply asleep for an hour or so after surviving yet another music concert nearby (more about it later) was woken up at ten past midnight (00:10 am) by a loud phone call from the front desk. A fellow called Innocent innocently inquired about the kind of bread I wanted for the early breakfast I had required the next day on my way out to snorkeling and dolphins tracking at Mnemba Island. At 00:10 am! I was fuming! I barely slept afterwards which totally messed up my following day and had me wondering if TOA’s employees had actually been trained at all. Maybe they have or maybe they will but some of them should not make it.

A few, nonetheless, should definitely make it. There are a couple of employees I would personally recommend for the quality of their service, the ones I believe management should promote, the ones my frequent traveller’s memory will not delete. The aforementioned Anna is one heck of a masseuse. She did a great job my wife really appreciated. Tafari is a joyous, efficient and reliable housekeeper whom my wife particularly liked for she always decorated our beds with artworks made of fresh scented flowers. Yacinta who first checked us in after arranging for our pickup at the airport by one polite, punctual and reliable guide called Rama was very gracious, welcoming and professional. Shadrack who also works at the front desk was very helpful in answering questions and finding solutions to most needs, even those as precious as the power adapter he provided for I had totally forgotten I would need it in this old British colony (left driving and all, yep).

Who else? Kaley, who appears to be a supervisor, may very well be the hardest working employee of the hotel. I have seen him resolving matters here and there throughout the day whether on the beach or the restaurant, with the same swift efficiency. He is seconded by Maryam, a lovely waitress with a bright smile, who has the perfect balance of inquiry, efficiency, friendliness and respect of privacy and who clearly stands out among the crew waitering. And last but not least, Ally, the hotel’s director, a man with endless politeness for all guests, who clearly understands responsibility and professionalism.

Other employees like Sara and Ramadan, both cooks, Elisabeth, a baker, Youssouf, a gardener and Jeremiah, a bartender, were also noticeably friendly towards us during our stay. However, I can’t say the same of the main chef whom I believe is called George but whose name I did not care enough to double check for he did not meet my expectations of professionalism. In fact, the man was very close to being rude, was incredibly impatient and had a hard time handling the slightest of pressure when guests started to line up before him in the restaurant. More than once he threw half cooked prawns in my plate my wife had to send back or sauces on my beef steaks he didn’t even ask if I wanted.

This chef’s unacceptable behavior notwithstanding, I find restauration at TOA to be somewhat disappointing albeit not dramatically so. I guess calling it right about decent is quite fair. Still, it needs to improve in a hurry. For instance, breakfast is very basic for a 5 star accommodation and menu à la carte, although available, is rather limited. It also requires customers to double check their orders for the wrong food will be served to them from time to time. My eldest once received three (3) wrong meals in a row when she only wanted a specific meal she had ordered the day before. Otherwise, dinner did improve over time quality wise, but I’m afraid it may become a headache when it comes to service because of the way it’s organized, buffet-style, with people waiting in front of cooks while they prepare the main dishes they picked. This system more than once bordered on disorder when multiple guests poured inside the restaurant.

And many guests there were most times, at TOA, enough for a lot of noise right by my Family room, which was located a couple of meters away from the sprawling squeaky clean swimming pool which served as the de facto area for regular music-filled dinner time. Not quite quiet music though. Apparently, hotel’s management has decided that evening entertainment should be imposed to all guests whether they asked for it or not. This meant that I was rarely able to go to bed early like I wanted to do, because live guitars, keyboards and vocals were blaring through my windows until around 10:30 pm, to the point where my kids couldn’t even hear the TV inside our room. This happened fairly regularly during my stay, every two or three days, which some customers may find very entertaining but which was not the deal I made when I booked this hotel. Simply said, I did not come for the party nights. I came for the listed services I actually paid for which, in my mind, entailed comfort, relaxation and fitness. I got the first one. I did not get the other two.

Which brings me to my last and most crucial point. Over the course of my stay, I have met and exchanged many a small conversation with a man who introduced himself to me, without my asking, by saying (and I quote) « I’m Ariel and I own this place ». He was commenting on my photographer gear while I was at the reception desk and, although I found him somewhat funny initially, he eventually came across to me as extremely entitled and sitting somewhere close to condescending. I was amused by the fact that he mostly acted as if I was supposed to be impressed by his owning of the place (which I could not care less) when, in reality, I wanted to be impressed by the service the place offers (which was, at best, very average). I was also quite shocked by his overall behavior in the very place where guests pay rather high prices to enjoy their vacation but where they find an owner acting as if he hosts a bunch of friends inside his personal home. If this remains, I expect service at this hotel not to improve very much because it will not find the need to, close to perfection as it may already feel. Again, I spent over 7300 USD at TOA HOTEL AND SPA expecting to be served nicely, not expecting to feel as if I should be grateful to feel accommodated by “a boss” who quite literally used the place as a private playground for himself and his rather large Jewish family, about twenty (20) members strong, from beautiful babies all the way to grumpy elders. By the way, that said man never once greeted me but did come to me time and time again asking if I could freely share my personal photos of the surroundings with him in exchange for a massage at his “spa”. Can you believe this? He also went as far as twice suggesting that I capture photos of food he deemed “beautiful” in the restaurant (whether or not I liked them, as a customer, didn’t seem to matter at all to him), not once asked what I thought of my stay and, I guess, expected my appreciation of his “kindness”. Well, I did not appreciate your brand of entitlement at all, Ariel. I refrained to tell you as much, face to face, out of respect for my wife and kids but I’m not one of your local employees you seem to expect admiration from. Not only do I not work for you but, as one of your very first customers, I just paid your hotel a rather hefty sum, maybe more than any other single guest before and after me, at least for a while. So how about professionalism, decency and civility?

This being said, I also had a couple of brief exchanges with another older gentleman whom I was told by said Ariel was his partner. This gentleman was strictly focused on customer service. While telling me that he had a 44 years experience in the hotel business, he directly asked for my input in order to improve it. Well, this long detailed review of my stay is for him and for Ally, the hotel’s director, who repeatedly (albeit worryingly) asked for it. It’s also for the many visitors who, even though they might never read this on Booking, TripAdvisor or else because I choose not to post it on popular platforms (for now), might check TOA HOTEL AND SPA on the eastern shore of beautiful Zanzibar. They probably should but they should also know what to expect. And what not to.

(*) One better way the hotel could use to fight mosquitos off is to have environmental specialists spray ready made liquid pesticides directly onto banana trees and everywhere outside the rooms, maybe once a week or even once a month. If done properly, it should actually kill all mosquitos for a couple of months. Some pesticides that are used in my home country in the Ivory Coast get rid of mosquitos for up to six months. Without triggering asthma.