Shanzu, Paradise Beach Hotel Review

Overall Rating

Crocodile Camp
View from room

See review text

We booked Paradise Beach Hotel through African Safari Club who own the airline, hotels, safari lodges, and cruise ships for 13 nights including a 1 night safari to Tsavo. Firstly our plane seats were double booked but as we had checked in first we had priority. Secondly our baggage was badly damaged as was many other peoples. We were so glad we had paid the extra for the VIP transfer which enables you to travel with your luggage as those who didn't were left waiting for over 4 hours for their luggage to arrive at the hotel which in the heat of the day still only having the clothes they had travelled in was not a great experience. The room was basic but clean with an excellent view over the beach.
At the welcome meeting we were advised that we actually only had a day trip to Shimba included in our holiday price but after producing the relevant documentation confirming a 1 night safari and quoting trade descriptions it was rectified. We joined the regular queue of about 5 deep at the tourist desk to try and upgrade the safari for an additional night which we had been told in the UK that this was possible. However the tourist desk said this was not possible and we would have to exchange our safari for another, strangely enough none of the safari's in the UK brochure were available and they wanted and additional £330 per person to arrange a safari which in the brochure is priced at £165 needless to say we did not bother.

The food at the hotel was basic with perhaps only 1 or 2 choices of a meat or fish dish every day. The desert options either fruit or cake was not covered, and flies were all over the food.

Having been on 3 other safari's previously I can honestly say the ASC safari was well below standard. We were driven in a bus (not the usual type of vehicle with the open roof) which broke down once and had suspension problems. The packed lunch on the first day consisted of a tomato, boiled egg, cold sausage and stale cheese and ham sandwich and was quite disgusting. However we did see a large variety of animals and the Crocodile Camp was wonderful with our hut overlooking the river the food here was also excellent and a vast improvement on the hotel food. The following day we set off on safari again which was a total waste of time we drove very fast for 4 hours before being treated to exactly the same packed lunch before being driven 4 hours back for our flight back and saw few animals. It was tiring, dusty and not an enjoyable experience.
On returning we walked around to the Serena Beach Hotel (not owned by ASC) and booked a safari with them which was excellent in all aspects.

The usual practice in the hotel is to sign for everything but a number of the waiters asked us to pay cash for which they gave us a discount on the drinks prices. We later found out that none of the staff in any of the hotels have been paid for several months, due to the 60% unemployment in Kenya they cannot leave their job but are surviving on tips and doing cash deals with holiday makers on drinks.

On our return journey despite our luggage weighing less than when we went out we were charged £40 in access baggage. The limit is supposed to be 23kg including hand luggage. strangely enough when I weighed my bags when I got home they were only 22kg! Needless to say there were numerous people at the airport who were charged a considerable amount of money.
Finally on the flight home they only had vegetarian meals available, which personally I don't mind but a lot of people did.

Although I would go back to Kenya again I would never travel with African Safari Club based on my own and my fellow holiday maker's experiences some of which were far worse than mine. The company are disorganised and staff are no help when you have a problem probably because they do not have the authority to sort it out and make a decision.

Members' Comments onMrs P Howe's Review

• shakeyd on 28th Sep 2004

  I have read this review and I have to say apart from the food this review has nothing to do with the hotel and is clearly a very personnel view and is not constructive regarding the actual hotel. Her complaint regarding the food is very subjective and is only her matter of taste as is any complaint regarding food. I have visited both this hotel and Club Watamu and I have to say they are really good value for money.
  
  In respect of the safaris, comfort is not a word that goes hand in hand with going on safari due to the lack of tarmac on the so called roads. My main point is that if you are going on a jeep safari expect to be bumped around in a jeep, expect it to be hot and dusty and most of all enjoy it because all of this is part of the fun .if a hotel is really bad then complain to the rep and it should be dealt with, if it isn't then write a well deserved bad review of the hotel but don't write a bad review because you didn't like all the food that’s on offer be constructive not destructive.

• Steve Maund on 4th Oct 2004

  I think SHAKEYD has missed the point, I went on holiday with P Howe who made the original comments, the hotel was OK, they did run out of whiskey, vodka, rum etc for 2 days and the food was basic and the same type every day.
  
  With regards to the safari, the coach did break down, the suspension was broke, but, we carried on into the park in this coach, every other vehicle we saw in the park was a lot smaller, the people inside could stand up and view the animals through the roof, the packed lunch was bad. The crocodile camp was fantastic though, the food was good and the accommodation was 10 times better than the Paradise Beach. On the second day of the safari, again on the same coach, we did exactly the same trip as on day 1 without stopping to find any animals, we stopped at exactly the same place for lunch with the same awful packed lunch, the only saving grace was that after lunch we drove back at break-neck speed to the crocodile camp to get a 30 min flight
  back to Shanzu.
  We did expect a bumpy ride and to get dirty, the only complaint is the standard of the packed lunch and the poor transport in the safari park.
  We could never blame ASC for the state of the roads outside of the park.
  
  As stated in the original comments, my partner has visited Kenya 4 times and has been on safari 6 times, she was only making comments and comparing this safari was the others she has been on previous.
  
  PS, Would recommend the Malaria tablets, we were advised by the nurse in the UK you don't have to bother, 11 days after coming home, was rushed to hospital with Falciparum Malaria and spent 6 nights in hospital. Was only bitten the once.....
  
  Also the damaged luggage claim made to ASC was paid in full within 4 weeks. Thank you ASC.

• shakeyd on 5th Oct 2004

  I don't want to enter into a slagging match with Steve as it sounds like they had what I call very bad luck with certain parts of there trip. I would like to point out that since I wrote the first review I have since taken the time out to call ASC for there comments on the reviews and as I have booked to go again in December, I only thought it would be the correct thing to do. They advised me at that time in September there were a number of things going on at the hotel in question, Firstly they were in between chefs so this could account for the below par food and ASC did say that complaints were made and things have now changed and there menu is much bigger in choice, So I hold my hands up and say Sorry if any offence was given. They also advised me that the hotel had been given a complete re vamp of the rooms and in August/ September was the time this work was being carried out.
  
  In Regards to the safari then what can I say but you were unlucky again, My main reason for the reply to the original review was to try and stick up for ASC as I have been with them on several occasions and have never been this unlucky. I would at any point and I have recommend this Hotel to anyone as the staff and the operator do there best to make sure you have the best time you can .
  
  Regarding any injections and tablets before you go I would STRONGLY suggest you always take the advice of you're doctor rather than a travel agent. PLEASE GO TO KENYA THEY NEED US AND IT’S A PRIVALAGE TO HAVE BEEN.

• doonhamer on 12th Nov 2004

  I Have just returned from the Paradise Beach (Nov 2004) and I have to say I feel It was at a different hotel! We felt the place was aptly named, and that the food was well cooked, well presented, and varied.
  The staff were brilliant, the location superb, and the safari we went on was great. Our minibus developed a radiator leak, so it took us a long time to get to Leopard Lodge, but it was all part of the experience!
  Whatever the problems in August/September, they were solved by October/November.

• carlitobrigante on 12th Jan 2005

  I have to agree with P Howe's verdict of ASC and the hotels incorporated within it.
  
  Firstly, let me state that I have been to Kenya on 8 occasions in the past, with the last trip during the summer of 2003.
  
  I have never experienced anything like the treatment I recieved at ASC, and hopefully never will again. I have stayed with them twice, the first time being at Paradise Beach Hotel, and the second time being at Shanzu Beach hotel.
  
  The first stay was uninspiring to say the least, but during the second stay (which I only booked because it was all that was available within my budget at the time) I was regulary 'ripped off' by the hotel (too many incidents to report), was subjected to awful food, was told I had to pay extra for breakfast even though I was on a half board basis, and was charged £60 at the airport on the way home for excess baggage (in which the price per kilo doubled the night before we got our flight home!). It was so bad that I booked a room a few miles down the coast at the Indiana Beach Hotel, which was basic but splendid in comparison.
  
  I actually was one of the lucky ones, as the rest of the British tourists at the hotel had an even worse time than me, presumably because they didn't escape like I did!
  
  ...and in regards to the 'changing of chef' story, I was also told that tale on both of my visits. They are going to need to come up with a new excuse for the food being so dire..
  
  I'm sure a small minority may actually come away from ASC feeling satisfied, but I would suggest paying a little more and staying at one of the hotels down the coast. Traveller's Beach and Bamburi Beach are 10 times better, and if you can afford it the Serena Beach Hotel is out of this world and a 5* hotel, yet the drink and food prices are considerably cheaper and ,needless to say, in a different league to anything ASC has to offer.

• discokitten on 17th Jan 2005

  We have just come back from holiday with ASC and it has been a total nightmare. We had booked a hotel room with air conditioning in the Coral beach to discover upon our arrival that there were no rooms with AC. After heated discussions with hotel manager in which we were called 'a menace' threatened to be removed from the hotel by security etc. We ended up in staff quarters with AC but no running water. Our room was flooded during the night on 4 separate occassions with 2 inches of water when there was water leaking from the toilet. There are no fire extinguishers in the complex, and the fire alarms have been boarded up and disengaged. Quite strange as the entire hotel burned down two years ago.
  
  When we complained to the manager we were told we could 'upgrade' to a room with AC and running water for 328 Euros per person per week. So we would have to pay another £1000 for a room that we already booked and paid for!
  
  The food was of a terrible standard, to dishes that had cooled down, fresh hot food was added and then stirred.
  
  We have never been so happy to go home at the end of the holiday, only to discover other people in the plane with the same experiences.
  
  We will take this up with ABTA as in our opinion this company has to be closed down. Please do not book a holiday with this company.

• carlitobrigante on 1st Feb 2005

  I totally agree with you. ASC are a total shambles, it's amazing they are still in operation.
  
  When I returned last time, I lodged a complaint with the company I booked them through (can't remember the name now). After a lot of fuss I eventually got refunded £100, and got a written apology. This was only after they recieved many similar complaints from other guests.
  
  All I can say is that the Shanzu / Bamburi area of the Kenyan coast is a beautiful area with some fantastic hotels, and hopefully people will not judge Kenya on their experiences with ASC. They are an insult to the Kenyan tourism industry and people should be warned about them before they waste their money!

• wendy clyde on 4th Feb 2005

  I cannot disagree with anything on this reveiw, in fact the situation has got even worse, we returned from a holiday with ASA at the Coral Beach Hotel on Saturday 29.01.05, the rooms were very basic and dirty, food almost inedible, staff and guests are not trusted by the management, in fact it felt like a prision camp for the two weeks were there, this feeling was felt by most of the guests present, we did ask the tourist information office who actually gave no information at all if we could upgrade to either to a better hotel within the group or even better to another hotel within the area, this was not possible!!.

• discokitten on 7th Feb 2005

  Wendy, could you please email me on venkadr@hotmail.com
  
  We are organising a complaint with ABTA and BBC Watchdog, email me if you are interested.

• Birley on 9th Feb 2005

  This comment is actually regarding ASC hotels.
  The shambles started from day one, my partner and I booked a AC room in the Coral Beach, we were firstly dropped at the Palm then the Coral beach and back to the palm (the two hotels are basically joined except entrances)
  There are no air con rooms apparently in either hotel. The food was appalling, on safari the vehicle broke down and we stood outside the vehicle in what could have been dangerous country while the driver took the radiator cap off (he carried a large cannister of water so presumable the problem was ongoing and not addressed.
  The rep was next to useless, she never had an answer to any questions. In fact in the welcome meeting people who had been to Kenya before were prompting her on important information i.e. beach boys.
  There was little entertainment at the Coral/Palm only the rehearsals most of the entertainment took place in the other hotels, which I had assumed better, apparently not.

• discokitten on 10th Feb 2005

  Hello,
  
  This is Discokitten. If anybody is sufficiently unhappy with the ASC chaing, please email me on venkadr@hotmail.com in order to lodge an official complaint with ABTA and BBC Watchdog.