We stayed at the Beyt al Amaan two nights. We thought it would be nice for our last two nights in Zanzibar, but it turned out totally negative. We booked the hotel in person, but soon after we checked in, they tried to move us out of the nice room we booked and into a smaller, dark room in the basement. Seems someone else walked in and offered them more money for the room we were in. The staff gave us a song and dance about all kinds of reasons we had to move, but since our old hotel was already booked, we did not move out.

Then the staff retaliated by not cleaning our room and they kept telling us the owner was going to fire them and it was our fault.

The room was nice and once we were inside it, it was great - very nice building and rooms. Except the showers only trickle. Breakfast was good too. It could be an amazing hotel.

We figured out why it was so bad once we met the owner. She treated us very rudely and when I said it would be hard to recommend the hotel to anyone, she yelled at me "Good! Don't recommend this hotel to anyone! Ever!" Then she got even worse, insisting we run down to the bank to get her dollars since she didn't want to take payment in the local currency. She also told the luggage guy not to get us a taxi and to just let us walk. It was totally unpleasant.

We do NOT recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to stay in Stone Town. Better to try the Zanzibar Coffee House or one called the Dhow Hotel (?) on the main street. They are similar in price and seem friendlier, but both were booked out while we were there.

Nathan - www.IceMountainAdventures.com