Deluxe Bungalow, Sea View | Beach/ocean view

Reviews of Cristal Resort

3.5 out of 5
Cristal Resort
Paje Beach, Paje

Reviews

7.4

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 14 out of 52 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 16 out of 52 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 16 out of 52 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 4 out of 52 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 2 out of 52 reviews" "

7.8/10

Cleanliness

7.4/10

Staff & service

6.6/10

Amenities

7.0/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Thanks Cristal Resort
Amazing stay with wonderful sea view and sweet and nice staff, always available and kind to the guest. The prices are very accessible. However the breakfast could be improved with more varieties.
Stayed 6 nights in Nov 2023

8/10 Good

Jason R

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Excellent! Will stay here again.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2022
Response from Management on 6 Aug 2022
Dear Jason, Thank you for positive feedback

8/10 Good

Amanda L.

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Location
Parking available in front. Great beach location. Restaurant onsite and friendly staff. Room was comfortable.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2021
Response from Hotel Management on 24 Mar 2022
Dear Amanda, Thank you

4/10 Poor

Giulia

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not good
Wifi didnt work. Coffee is instant. Lighting and decoration in the room is poor. Bad condition and over priced compared to nicer places next door
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2021
Response from Gubuligubuli on 29 Apr 2021
Dear Giulia, Thank you for the feedback. We will examine all the issue and fix it, but just for your information our prices is very low compared to our competitors.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
The location is great. The staff are friendly. The accommodation needs a refurbishment and new linens. The Palm restuaraunt service is very slow and each time we sent our food back because it was cold there was ko improvement.
Stayed 14 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Gilbert

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Room comfort
Heaven
The place is on a breathtaking beach like a postcard. Too difficult to get to and prices for drinks and food is a little high. Not many rooms with AC. Friendly staff.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2019
Response from Cristal Resort Team on 6 Sept 2019
Hello Guest. Thanks for the compliment about our Beach, we are sorry you found our prices high on F&B its same to other places here or less from other places its due to the economy. We have different kinds of room there are rooms with A/C too. We hope to see you again.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The location was good but the place is very run down with almost no breakfast , food etc
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2018

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Rooms are pretty basic, the AC unit not working properly.
Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2018

6/10 Okay

Tai

Reception asked me to pay another 10us for tax per day by cash !! I didn’t know that is not include when I booked this hotel
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2018

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Enjoyable stay, good food and friendly staff. Beautiful location and plenty of beach activities. Lock on our door wasn’t secure and Villa 3 wasn’t as nice as Villa 1 - there was a room that was unfinished. Otherwise probably one of the best places to stay in Zanzibar.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A nice place to unwind, the views are excellent, the resort is co friendly, so no TV, coffee makers in the rooms, Wi-Fi is limited to reception area. The food is good but slightly over priced.. The beach is the best part of the resort, not crowded , and clean and very few beach boys.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Cristal Resort Experince (December 2017) - Paje
Myself and my wife stayed for 6 nights in B-6 (in one of the beach rooms) - the view of the ocean from the room was spectacular! Room and bed was comfortable and the air conditioning was fantastic. Beautiful cabanas right on the beach for lounging all day and the pool was very nice too. The constant breeze day and night was an amazing surprise. Kite surfers are around, as there are two kite surfing schools on either side of the hotel, myself nor my wife are into that however. Only would become somewhat of a nuisance if you were swimming in the ocean around 4-5pm as this is the best breeze and obviously best time for kitesurfing. The food and drink was pretty good. The breakfast, we did not mind, but was the exact same everyday. I would recommend management spruce it up a bit - have a omelette station where a chef takes orders upon request and cooks in front of the guest - and serves a variety of different items every few days. Overall, we enjoyed our stay tremendously and we will be back to Paje soon and will stay again at Cristal Resort.
Stayed 6 nights in Dec 2017

10/10 Excellent

Kathryn

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beautiful Beach Resort
A lovely resort on an incredible beach. The bungalows are very comfortable and look out at the beach. Food and drink in the restaurant were good. Nice breakfast buffet. Friendly, helpful staff.If I were to return, I thinkl I would still choose the bungalows, but since they don't have AC, it was hot at first at night.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2017

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Bungalows on the Beach-NOT a resort - left early.
Hot , open bungalow design with warped & twisted floors, wood box open sided shower that sprays water into the bathroom floor; despite open windows & screens - no apparent airflow at all from the ocean or at night. The bungalow was always hot & humid, so much cooler outside throughout the day & evening other than dealing with the mosquitos. The only saving grace was a fan & Power in the bungalow. Staff was polite & responsive , but only two of the managers actually spoke or understood basic English & beyond. The wait staff, cleaners , bar tender - barely spoke more than a few words & couldn’t understand simple questions or requests. Not good to employ at an intentional beach “resort”. Loud music from a club blasting all night - until 05:00 am from next door, mid-week on a Wednesday night. That was only second the night staff up yelling & hollaring watching soccer in the open restaurant area while blasting their own music - Wednesday night - without a single customer around - until I finally had enough at 01:00 am & approached them. The one armed security guard was sitting in the couch watching soccer instead of roving on his job, while the other staff were laughing about my frustration with my family unable to sleep because of them next door to our bungalows. They finally cut off the music & left for the night, but not before the main culprit refused to provide his name to me & walked away while not a single manager was available all night long
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2017

8/10 Good

Brad, South Africa

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Great location - nice and relaxing!
The resort and facilities were very nice - a great location with absolutely beautiful beach. The room was nice enough, with the basics - but right on the beach and the sound of the waves at night. Staff were mostly friendly, with food and drink a little pricey for what you get.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Alison

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Aster

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
My stay at crystal resort was amazing. The beach was literally 30 steps from my room and the whole scenery was breathtaking.

6/10 Okay

Rhiannon, Australia

Liked: Cleanliness
it has a beachfront location so views were great. Staff were friendly & helpful.

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
i wouldn't go rushing back but was OK-ish
Arrived late at night and was helped to my room by the Massai guys (very nice and polite), in the morning woke up to a stunning view from my Eco Lodge straight onto the beach, beautiful to wake up to every day. I opted for Bed and Breakfast and I'm glad i wasn't forced to eat anything more than that, the lunch and dinner menu is poor. Thai food that tastes straight out of a jar, one night took 45 minutes to serve me grilled fish which was raw in the middle. During my last few days i over heard a manager going through the order for the kitchen and the words "jars of black bean sauce" hit home the standards of the kitchen. So decided to spend my evenings relaxing with reasonably priced drinks and food further down the beach at oceans bar, staff at this bar amazing knew my name, welcomed me when i arrived, even offered to walk me back to the hotel when it got dark - great service there. At the Cristal not one member of staff referred to me by name or at least miss/madam. As a solo traveller was shocked when no one informed us that a couple from the hotel got mugged on the beach. Do not book excursions through the hotel - try others on the beach. I stupidly paid $185 for the Blue Safari excursion - only to find that other people from different hotels on the same trip paid $100 - this hotel rips you off on these things.

8/10 Good

Maurice

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Nice accomodation
Nice clean and simple accomodation. Positiv stay, would come back.

6/10 Okay

ifat

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Only the beach
The beach is beautiful The room has a glass door-little privacy Shower pressure very low Breakfast averege No comman sitting area

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Overall nice , very quite area, nice staff There weren't any phone in the room

8/10 Good

DEIDRE, South Africa

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The location of the hotel is great because it is on the beachfront. On arrival I was checked into the incorrect room and the hotel only realized 2 nights after, they did offer me free dinner for 2 nights to make up for the misunderstanding. The hotel is clean. The food at the restaurant is not the greatest for the money you pay and the waitron staff need to learn more English in order to communicate better with no misunderstanding. Over all stay was pleasurable.

10/10 Excellent

Christelle

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Hôtel très agréable et un personnel charmant
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2022
Response from Management on 1 Sept 2022
Dear Christelle,Thank you.

10/10 Excellent

Doreen

Stayed 14 nights in Jul 2022
Response from The management on 16 Aug 2022
Dear Guest, Thank you

8/10 Good

Roberto

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Das Personal ist sehr freundlich und sehr bemüht. Der direkte Sand vor jeder Hütte mit Palmen und direktem Strandzugang ist ein Traum.
Stayed 14 nights in Jan 2022
Response from Hotel Management on 24 Mar 2022
Dear Robert, Thank you.

6/10 Okay

Sehou ulric

Travelled with family
Liked: Staff & service
Stayed 10 nights in Jan 2021

4/10 Poor

Wen Jie

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2021

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2020

8/10 Good

Yasmin

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
El lugar es un paraíso!! 😁😁😎👌
El lugar es mágico, bungalows directamente en la playa, el agua del mar cristalina y preciosa. Hay varios tipos de bungalows el nuestro no tenía aire acondicionado, solo ventilador, pero también los hay con aire más caros. La wifi no funcionaba, la estaban arreglando.. Yo volvería encantada.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2021

6/10 Okay

Peter

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness
Dåligt att inte få ta med sig snacks in på hotellet, speciellt eftersom man inte kunde köpa nåt snacks där.
Stayed 6 nights in Mar 2020

8/10 Good

Jane Nyruo

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 6 nights in Feb 2020

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Amenities
Die Lage ist super. Personal war sehr freundlich .Nicht gefallen hat uns ,dass vom Schlafraum in die Toillette alles offen war. Keine Klimaanlage,
Stayed 7 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 11 nights in Feb 2020

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Amenities
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Great pool! But all roofs are covered with plastic because of deferred maintenance. Killed 4 Cockroach in the bathroom, not the small ones! Nice garden and beach, you can walk easily to other restaurants in Paje on the beach.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Bianchin, Annecy

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
magnifique plage en face des bungalows, logement très authentique sur pilotis ! jolie chambre spacieuse ! un bel établissement où il fait bon farniente !
Stayed 8 nights in Aug 2019
Response from Patrick Rods GM Cristal Resort on 6 Sept 2019
Dear Guest, Thanks for the compliment and we hope to see you soon back at our hotel.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service, amenities
Il Resort si trova in una buonissima posizione (Paje) leggermente più arretrato rispetto alla spiaggia privata con lettini e ombrelloni in legno. Questo fa si che gli alloggi non siano a ridosso della spiaggia (a differenza di altri resort della zona). Davanti alla zona reception c'è una piscina ben riparata dal vento. La spiaggia è controllata di giorno e notte dai Masai. Il ristorante è fra i migliori in zona sia come offerta sia come qualità, di conseguenza i prezzi sono un po' più alti degli altri. Noi abbiamo alloggiato al secondo piano della villa (una caseggiato Bianco con vista spiaggia). Letto comodo e provvisto di zanzariera, cassaforte con chiave nell'armadio, aria condizionata. Ho messo 3 stelle anziché 4 per due motivi: 1) Nonostante la villa costi un po' di più degli altri è davvero spartano ed da l'impressione di trasandatezza anche se pulita, il mobile per i vestiti non utilizzabile perchè le mensole sono in legno grezzo (neppure levigato) con il rischio di rovinare gli indumenti. Gli asciugamani della doccia, anche se sono stati cambiati quasi ogni gg, hanno tutti una riga di ruggine (probabilmente del cavo dove vengono appesi ad asciugare). Basterebbe un po' di cura di questi dettagli (che sono alla portata di Zanzibar a mio parere) per essere all'altezza del costo leggermente superiore. 2) Abbiamo prenotato il transfer di ritorno per le 5 di mattina ma il giorno della partenza il taxi non si è presentato
Stayed 7 nights in Mar 2019
Response from Patrick Rods GM Cristal Resort on 6 Sept 2019
Dear Guest we are happy to here you enjoyed your stay at Cristal. We deeply apologize for the small challenges you found at our hotel, i have noted those points and already been rectified. We hope we will see you soon for your next visit to Zanzibar. Have a good day

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Bungalows en pleine nature, personnel charmant, bonne cuisine et plage magnifique avec parasols et transats à disposition.
Stayed 8 nights in Mar 2019
Response from Management Cristal Resort on 12 Mar 2019
Thanks A lot for the review. Hope to see you back again soon. Regards

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Rien de m’a plu ma chambre était sale les serviettes avaient des taches ne sentaient pas bon. Au sol ils y avaient des dizaines de fourmis qui se promenaient. 2 araignées sur les murs, 2 lézards dans les lampes de chevet. Autour de la chambre des palmiers coupés la zone était complètement à l’abandon. J’ai passé une nuit horrible
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Cristal resort ligger jättefint på stranden intill havet. Utsikten var fantstisk. Överlag trivdes vi mycket bra. Vi kan tänka oss flera mindre förändringar för att få det fantastiskt. Tex hade vi en liten uteplats vid vår bungalow, men inga möbler. Där skulle vi gärna suttit i några sköna loungemöbler.
Stayed 11 nights in Jan 2019
Response from Patrick Rods GM Cristal Resort on 6 Sept 2019
Dear Guest, Thanks for the review we are happy to here you enjoyed your stay. Will definitely do the changes you said and we hope to see you again at Cristal Resort.

8/10 Good

bruno

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Hôtel très correct, restaurant également. Des soirées organisées régulièrement. Un des plus beaux endroits de Paje, très belle plage , spacieuse. Sécurité permanente, surveillance, bungalow et plage. Je recommande, pour séjourner en famille et l'initiation kitesurf.
Stayed 14 nights in Jul 2018

10/10 Excellent

Pat, Kla Turbie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Ok
Cool cool extra cool top thanks enjoy cool nice ex
Stayed 8 nights in Apr 2018

6/10 Okay

Celina

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Sammantaget trevlig plats på stranden med god mat. På den negativa sidan följande: - ganska slitet. - otrevlig personal. Gav aldrig någon extra service. Svarade vid ett par tillfällen inte ens på raka frågor. - dyr mat (men det gällde nog hela Paje). - WiFi funkade endast sporadiskt.
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2018

8/10 Good

dounia, paris

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Vue du bungalow juste magnifique
Plage tres belle Un des meilleurs hotel sur la plage de paje Personnel juste génial souriant acceuillant Prix du restau raisonnable Mieux vaut echanger des tchillings que des dollars Pr les excursions sur la plage sur la gauche de notre hotel vous demandez Adem tres pro et excursions juste magnifique blue safari mnemba island eaux turquoises
Stayed 7 nights in Jan 2018

6/10 Okay

Jean Louis

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Decepcionados
Nos ha decepcionado tanto el bungalow como la comida. El bungalow era viejo y muy básico, con el suelo inclinado, expuesto al sol y sin aire acondicionado, no nos ofrecieron ni sillas o mesa para la terraza, ni jabón ni otros accesorios para la ducha. Por las noches olía a tabaco fuera durante bastante rato. En la página mezclan fotos del bungalow con las de las habitaciones y crees que se trata de algo decente, pero no enseñan fotos del bungalow. Además la comida fue básica y muy cara. La sopa thai saladísima, pedías agua y tardaban 15min en traerla. La fruta tampoco era una maravilla para la que tienen alli. El personal del bar no hablaba inglés. Las excursiones muy caras con respecto a otros hoteles (Bosque Jozani y transporte a otro hotel 195$...)... y todo por un precio de un 4* enfin. Lo único que nos gustó bastante fue la playa.
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2017

6/10 Okay

Annelies, Nederland

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Prima hotel, mooie locatie echter wij zaten er tijdens het laagseizoen en dan is het erg rustig.
Stayed 13 nights in Sep 2017

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

Jindrich

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
nice clean hotel, perfect to relax and chill out
We liked the stay very much. Private beach with sun beds enough for everybody. Masai security guys 24/7, so we felt save and could leave our stuff on sun bed and go for swim. The rooms are not that new as on pictures, but they are clean and room service washed bathroom and cleaned the room every day. Also the room service prepared rooms for the evening by spraying anti mosquito spray, putting down the net around bed etc. The cuisine was incredible and our "wow" belongs to the chef. Anything we tried was an amazing experience of many different taste and cuisine. We tried other restaurants in the neighborhood to compare but we came back and continued trying more food at the hotel's restaurant. The staff was very nice and helpful. Only thing missing was enough of dollars in cash to be given back when we paid even with 20$ bill. So we suggest to everyone to have enough of smaller bills or to have tanzanien schilling. Or you can pay at the end by credit card but the hotel will charge you 5% extra. There is a bit of night life next door, but is mostly to relax, chill out or do kitesurfing next door. Definitely no party there ;)

6/10 Okay

Justine, Europe

Liked: Cleanliness
Un havre de paix
Restaurant et réception
L'Océan indien depuis la plage
La salle de bains du bungalow