"We recently stayed at the Kenzi Menara Palace Hotel as a party of nine, occupying four rooms. Unfortunately, despite being advertised as a 5-star hotel, our experience was nowhere near a 5-star standard. It was closer to a 2-star experience. First impressions are actually very good. The entrance and lobby are grand and aesthetically pleasing, and the pool was probably the highlight of our stay. Unfortunately, once you get beyond the impressive lobby, the hotel feels very tired, dated and in desperate need of refurbishment and much greater attention to detail.
Cleanliness was one of our biggest concerns. My daughter's room was handed over without having been properly cleaned after the previous guests. There were sticky coffee/tea stains on the tables, the bath and shower were visibly dirty, and rubbish from the previous occupants was still in the bathroom bin. We had to ask three times before someone eventually came to clean it. To make matters worse, at checkout, reception attempted to charge us for a tub of crisps from my daughter's room, claiming it had been opened and partially eaten. My daughter had not eaten them. Given the condition in which her room had originally been handed over, had it actually been properly cleaned and inspected between guests, staff should have noticed this themselves.
The restaurant and food hygiene were particularly disappointing. Tables were sometimes sticky and left uncleared, and during busy periods there were shortages of plates, cutlery, serving spoons and tongs. We saw flies around uncovered food and, because serving tongs were not always available, I personally witnessed guests picking up wet watermelon and pastries with their bare hands. I also noticed waiters wearing food-stained shirts and aprons, which added to the overall lack of presentation. The snack bar was extremely poor. We were expecting sandwiches, pastries and pizza, but the food felt almost rationed. Pastries appeared to be leftovers from breakfast and were hard, sandwiches were tiny with minimal filling, and there was virtually no variety. Between approximately 5pm and 8pm, despite what appeared to be around 150 people in the pool/snack-bar area, roughly one small 9-inch plate of very thin cheese pizza slices would appear each hour. It was nowhere near enough for the number of guests. Entertainment was also very basic and certainly not what I would describe as high-quality. Much of it consisted of a DJ and host trying to encourage people to dance and seemed predominantly aimed at children. One performance involved someone lighting a cigarette and spraying what appeared to be a flammable substance to create a flame for a few seconds. It came across as amateurish rather than 5-star entertainment. Noise was another issue. Very loud music from a restaurant/club opposite the hotel continued late into the night, making it difficult to sleep.
There were also some concerning safety and maintenance issues. We watched cleaning staff throw buckets of soapy water across tiled floors during busy periods and mop them without properly cordoning the areas off. Guests were simply allowed to walk across the wet, soapy floor. It looked like an accident waiting to happen.
The gym was equally disappointing. A treadmill was broken and the lat-pulldown machine repeatedly became stuck after only a few repetitions.
The two pools were the only positives. However, these positives simply weren't enough to compensate for the numerous problems we encountered.
What disappointed me most was the difference between the 5-star experience we believed we had booked and what we actually received. Star ratings may differ between countries, but basic cleanliness, food hygiene, maintenance, service and attention to detail should not.
The Kenzi Menara Palace has the potential to be a decent hotel, but in its current condition it needs significant refurbishment, is outdated, staff require further training in hospitality, better management, improved housekeeping and much greater attention to detail. If I could post photos to show how awful this hotel was, I would."
