Questions, Answered

We help you arrange a driver who meets you outside the arrivals hall with a sign showing your name and the hotel's. The car costs USD 60 per direction for up to six people. You pay the driver's company, not the hotel: the driver directly, or by card on the company's machine at the hotel.

Yes, we provide complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, including all rooms and common areas.

The hotel is about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes by car from Zanzibar International Airport. We work with local travel agencies and taxi companies, and we are glad to help you arrange the transfer.

Standard check-in is 14:00 and check-out until 10:30. Early check-in and late check-out are subject to availability and may incur additional fees.

Not fully, and we would rather say so plainly. Villa Kidosho is the one to book: from the entrance into the villa a wheelchair can be used without problems. The way to the restaurant is partly sandy, and the restaurant is not wheelchair-friendly. The way from the balcony down to the sun terrace and pool is not step-free; for that, the butler carries guests in a purpose-built carry chair. Asili House is not step-free either: there is a small step at the front door, two small steps to the ground-floor rooms (Maji and Dunia), a staircase with a railing to the upper rooms, and steps to the pool area and the beach. The bathroom is workable but not fully adapted. Please tell us your needs before you book so we can discuss them honestly. The same goes for elderly guests and anyone with limited mobility.

No, guests cannot bring their own animals. The hotel has its own residents: two dogs, two cats and nearly 40 tortoises, which live in their own enclosure behind the restaurant. Guests are welcome to walk over and see them; around lunchtime, when they are fed, is the best moment.

Zanzibar is a malaria-risk area, so ask a travel clinic about prophylaxis well before you travel; we cannot give medical advice. Mosquito repellent for the evening hours is worth packing. An extra bed in a room comes with a mosquito net.

The property comprises two villas offering six private bedrooms total. Asili House features four sea-view bedrooms, while Villa Kidosho offers two bedrooms.

Villa Kidosho is ideal, as it accommodates only one other couple. The private terraces are thoughtfully designed to ensure seclusion, preventing guests from seeing each other.

All our rooms have direct sea view.

All rooms are equipped with both showers and bathtubs. Each room features a double sink, rain shower head, and bathtub. In Villa Kidosho's suites, the shower area has two showerheads — a rain shower set into black tanga stone on one side, and a regular showerhead on the other.

Yes, we offer a laundry service. Each room at Boutique Hotel Matlai is equipped with a laundry bag for guests to use, with additional charges applying.

We understand you might have a special room in mind, and we always do our best to fulfill those wishes. However, with just six rooms in total, we aren't always able to guarantee a specific room.

Guests enjoy Bustani Spa, Zatiny restaurant with its two kitchens (Zatiny and Duyên), beach setups, kayaks, the open-air cinema, and the jungle gym — a wooden outdoor gym we built ourselves on the playground, with a slackline, pull-up bars, wooden weights, a bench for bench press with cement weights, a climbing rope up a tree, battle ropes and a punching bag. It is homemade and fun rather than a fitness centre, but you can genuinely train on it.

Daily housekeeping maintains freshness with evening turndown service provided to establish an ideal nighttime atmosphere.

Yes, the restaurant Zatiny by Matlai is also open for outside guests.

The hotel has one beachfront restaurant, Zatiny by Matlai, with two kitchens: Zanzibari/international cuisine, and Duyên Home Cooking (Vietnamese). Dining is flexible, including breakfast in rooms or terraces, prix-fixe dinners, or a la carte options. Breakfast is served 07:00–12:00, lunch from 12:00 and dinner from 18:30, with last orders at 21:30; the kitchen closes at 22:00.

The hotel's chefs are attentive to dietary requirements and can tailor meals accordingly, ensuring a delightful culinary experience.

The hotel provides half-board (breakfast and three-course dinner), full-board (with lunch), or breakfast-only plans. It does not offer true all-inclusive packages.

There is no dress code at Zatiny by Matlai. Swimwear with a cover-up is fine at lunch; in the evening, casual is enough.

Yes, at Boutique Hotel Matlai, you can arrange a private dinner on the beach on extra charge, featuring candlelit romantic settings under the stars.

Yes, within the kitchens' hours (07:00–22:00): meals can be served to your room or villa terrace at no extra charge; drinks other than water are charged as usual. There is no 24-hour room service.

The property operates as a full-service hotel, not self-catering. Guests with dietary preferences should communicate in advance for chef arrangements.

From 07:00 for hotel guests, at Zatiny or wherever the butler sets your table. Leaving early for a tour or for the airport? The kitchen packs your breakfast for you.

The kitchen is halal-friendly, with many halal options, and most of our chefs are Muslim and know how to prepare it; pork is also offered on the menu. Vegetarian and vegan dishes are on the menu, and the kitchen is flexible and can serve many vegan dishes, although there is no separate vegan menu. The daily-changing main course always includes a fish or seafood dish, a meat or chicken dish and a vegetarian option.

Yes, we provide snorkeling gear and water shoes for guests. Guests can borrow snorkeling equipment and water shoes for exploring tidal pools and nearby coral reefs.

Yes. The beach in front of the hotel changes with the tide: around high tide you swim straight from the beach; at low tide the water draws back, the channel towards the sandbank keeps its water and you can swim to the sandbank. The tide calendar on our site shows the times for your dates.

Sometimes, and we will never promise a seaweed-free beach. Matlai sits on a long, open stretch of beach, not in a bay, so the tide carries seaweed back out within a few days; sheltered bays elsewhere trap it. It comes over the reef on the highest spring tides around the full and new moon and is somewhat more common from December to March, but it is unpredictable and some years bring very little. Most of the time there is little on the shore, and staff clean the beach every evening.

The minimum age for individual room bookings is 14 years. Families with younger children must book entire villas due to the peaceful, tranquil environment designed for couples. Please note the villa pools are not fenced, so parents are responsible for supervising young children around them.

All bedrooms with king beds/ensuite bathrooms, indoor lounge, shaded outdoor dining, the villa's pool (yours alone when the whole villa is booked), beachfront garden, daily housekeeping, turndown service, butler service, and in-villa breakfast plus private dinner options.

No. Families are welcome, but the house is quiet by design. Individually booked rooms take guests aged 14 and over; a whole villa can be booked with children of any age. Bookings with children go by enquiry: send us your dates on WhatsApp and we reply with the options.

A 25% non-refundable deposit confirms the booking; the balance is due 30 days before arrival. If you cancel with less than 2 months' notice, 50% of the total is charged; with less than 1 month's notice, 100%.

The hotel accepts Visa and Mastercard — not American Express — and doesn't provide currency exchange on-site. There's an ATM in Michamvi Pingwe village itself, and several more further south in Paje. If you're bringing US dollar cash, banks and bureaux here are strict about condition: bring notes from 2009 or newer, since older ones are often turned away.

Tips are appreciated and never expected. There is a tip box in the office, shared among all staff, so there is no individual tipping.

We name only what we actually do: free drinking water from refill stations instead of plastic bottles, recycling of waste, a daily beach clean-up by our staff (guests are welcome to join), locally sourced fish and produce, and welcome soaps from the Mwani Zanzibar women's cooperative. We hold no formal eco-certification, and we are not solar-powered: our only solar installation is two solar water heaters at Villa Kidosho.

Yes, we host weddings, anniversaries and other celebrations at the hotel, on the beach in front of it. Our trusted partner Castaway Weddings takes care of the whole wedding, from planning to co-ordination on the day; we provide the venue, the rooms, the food and the butler service. Tell us your date and the number of guests, and we answer personally. Castaway Weddings can arrange either a legally binding wedding with the official documents or a symbolic ceremony only; contact them directly for details.

Yes, small beach weddings are possible here. Our trusted partner Castaway Weddings takes care of the whole wedding, from planning to co-ordination on the day; we provide the venue, the rooms, the food and the butler service. Castaway Weddings can arrange either a legally binding wedding with the official documents or a symbolic ceremony only; contact them directly for details.

The hotel offers honeymoon packages, from +USD 300 on top of the room rate. The first package, Matlai Tatu, includes a welcome cocktail, a bottle of sparkling wine, a decorated room, a candlelight dinner, breakfast in bed and a couple massage. The larger packages add a floating breakfast, a private seafood barbecue, a sunset cruise and more spa time.