Sea Cliff Hotel, Dar es Salaam

It was my first time to Tanzania and I was excited to stay at the Sea Cliff Hotel as many of my colleagues raved about the rooms and view. What they did NOT warn me about was the management staff. It is beyond words: I was excited to go souvenir shopping my first weekend in Tanzania and made a list of what I wanted to buy. After writing the list I estimated the cost of these souvenirs based on what my colleagues advised, folded the list in half and placed this amount in Tanzania Shillings in the folded list. The next morning as I was running late I left this list where I placed in the night before -- on my bedside dresser, under the TV remote. Meanwhile, my colleague and his girlfriend were on their way to Zanzibar for the weekend. They asked if they could place their bags, laptops and other valuables in my room and requested I place their valuables in my safe. As I travel with him quite often I had no problem with this request. I handed him my room key and asked he leave it at the front desk so that I may pick it up after work. After a half day in the office my colleague dropped me off at the hotel and I ran upstairs excited to grab the list and go shopping! Imagine how I felt when I realized the list was missing, as well as the money. After 30 minutes of searching I determined it was indeed gone. I contacted the front desk. The Day Manager, at first, was very apologetic and promised to get to the bottom of the issue. An hour later he, a security guard and the Housekeeping Manager knocked on my door. The Housekeeping Manager did not greet me but instead, literally pushed my door open and walked in my room and appeared to be "searching" for something. When I asked her what she was looking for she without making eye contact and still "searching" asked "Did you give your key to anyone today?" I stated yes I had and explained why. I then pointed out the luggage my colleague and his girlfriend left behind and explained that I put their laptop and other valuables in my safe. When I inquired as to why she was asking me this she THEN looked at me and said "Well how can we be sure your colleagues didn't take the money. We saw them enter your room on two different occasions with the room key you gave them." I was irate! How dare she! I explained to her that 1. The amount of money taken from the room versus the valuables my colleague left IN MY ROOM were worth 40x that as he left his laptop in my possession and 2. I travel with him all the time so if he had to borrow money, he would have asked with no issue. She was silent for a minute. As she exited the room she said they would further investigate. A WEEK WENT BY! During this week not ONE manager contacted me with an update. I called the Day Manager several times. He informed me that the General Manager was in the hotel but could only see me between 9 - 11a as she is very busy. I explained to him over and over again that I was hosting a professional training and as the only trainer these were impossible hours! I requested to meet with her during my lunch hour or even early afternoon before she leaves the hotel. These requests were always met with "She can see you at 9am or 10am..." Never once did I meet the elusive General Manager. Never once did the Day Manager apologize for the incident. Never once did the Housekeeping Manager apologize nor provide a "report" of her findings during this "investigation." I left not only without my money but without so much as an apology for the inconvenience of the entire incident. This is not about the amount of money taken from my room but about the way the management handled the situation. Avoiding a customer that is paying $187/night and staying for two weeks .. a customer that works for a project that provides this hotel with consistent guests all year long .. a customer that hopes that they realize how much future business they lost because they refused to handle the situation in a professional manner.

This is the place to stay in Dar. Beautiful setting, great pool, excellent restaraunts, and good staff. You will love the Sea Cliff!

Liked everything. All the conveniences one would expect from a 4 or 5 star hotel. Loved sitting outside and looking out the Indian Ocean drinking/eating. Excellent restaurant. Friendly servers. Rooms were lovely and service wonderful. Was heartbreaking to see the hotel burn.

The place is off da hook. I liked it the minute i came in. The service is excellent, and the food in the restaurant was spectacular. I also liked the feeling that i of being home there.

The Sea Cliff is a very comfortable hotel. The location, at the top of a peninsula, overlooking the ocean is great. The staff is friendly, cheerful, helpful, the rooms (in the main hotel; I don't know about the rooms in the annex ('the village')) are what you might expect from a first rate hotel. Concerning the food: I only ate at the Karambezi Cafe (outdoors, right on the edge of the cliff), and must say that the quality of the food is OK, but nog spectacular. The problem with eating outdoors, in a constant sea breeze, is that the foods cools very fast.

Beautiful location. Has all the serivices you could dream of, quiet, relaxing, nice pool. We went for New Year and they had the best party I have ever been to - A big Pirates ship was constructed and loads and loads of fireworks - good bands - you have to buy tickets, but it is well worth it. The staff worked well and were professional at all times.

no telephone in room waitress took off her skirt for blackmailing me, had to call the police to sort it out, not good at all

it is just too far from the city, all you have is cold food, hopeless drinks and quite expensive, try bahari baeach hotel, its much better

i love it here in africa it is highly recommended and it is not that expensive

I stayed in a number of different rooms at the Sea Cliff. One thing I would recommend is that you stay in the main hotel and not the in the annexed area behind the hotel where new rooms were added. These new rooms have none of the good qualities of the Sea Cliff. They are noisy and small. The bathrooms in those rooms are so small you'll be unable to shower comfortably, unless you're a 5 year old. You'll have to sit at an angle on the toilet too. However, the main hotel rooms are spacious, and if you have a sea facing room, you'll have a great view. the food at the hotel is not too bad, but not great. Hit town for good food.