Hotel Review: Constance Aiyana, Pemba Island

Unique – this word best describes the Constance Aiyana on Pemba Island, Tanzania. After a short Cessna flight and a subsequent one-and-a-half-hour drive through rough and smooth, you wouldn’t expect to see such a breathtaking sight. The setting, the entire hotel architecture combined with the vegetation and the shimmering turquoise blue sea take your breath away.

From Pemba Airport, which is no bigger than a small sports airport in this country, the hotel can be reached within an hour and a half’s drive.

First through simple towns, across the countryside and along simple gravel roads. Then we continue through a rainforest, until the last few minutes of the journey you have no doubt that there is a luxury hotel in the middle of nowhere.

After the car has climbed the last hill with a 20 degree incline, you can see the large entrance gate to Constance Aiyana. You would never guess that there is such a paradise here.

When you get out of the car, a whole team beaming with joy is waiting to greet you. Hands are washed and refreshments are served.

From here, at the top of the resort, you have a wonderful view of the entire resort framed by vegetation – with the turquoise-blue shimmering sea in the distance.

 

Constance Aiyana

The Constance Aiyana Hotel on Pemba Island, a sister island to Zanzibar, has been part of the Constance Hotel Group from Mauritius since January 2018. This group specializes in luxury hotels in the Indian Ocean. These include the Constance Prince Maurice, the Belle Mare Plage in Mauritius, the Constance Lemuria and Ephelia in the Seychelles and Constance Halaveli and Moofushi in the Maldives. The Aiyana Pemba was originally built by Mr. Ashok from Mauritius. Mr. Ashok worked as a florist for Parisian hotels and built the hotel out of a vision. Ecological architecture inspired by traditional African architecture, built with local materials such as limestone, minerals and coconut fibers, high ceilings, pastel colors, fragrant gardens and water features are reflected. The local integration of the people from the surrounding villages is always present. The five-star hotel has a total of 30 rooms with direct sea access and offers an open-air restaurant area with a large terrace, a pool area with a cocktail bar, a small spa village and a very simply equipped fitness center. After a brief check-in, Ekaterina, the front office manager, accompanies us through the entire area to give us a feel for the hotel and the most important information.

The Welcome Pavilion leads straight ahead to the beach. In front of it on the left is the pool and the bar, with the restaurant on the right. To the right is the hotel boutique with all the necessities (sunscreen, bathing shoes, art), the art gallery (the owner is an artist) and the wine cellar.Bar area

View from the bar area to the restaurant

Access to the beach

Room

All of the 30 rooms at Constance Aiyana, divided into four categories (Villa, Senior Villa, Ambassador Villa, Presidential Villa) have direct access to the garden from where you can reach the sea in no time at all. Villa – bedroom
Senior Villa – bedroom, living room
Ambassador Villa – 2-bedroom, living room
Presidential Villa – 2-bedroom, pool Our Senior Villa is entered through a small front garden; quietly, on the outermost part of the resort past the other villas, which shine majestically in the morning light with their white walls and front gardens.

The spacious entrance area leads into a living room with TV and minibar.

The bedroom on the right has a small desk, two closets, a safe… https://youtu.be/YXPnPBvBr80 https://youtu.be/aPCN1D8-m6o and behind the bed with closets a bathroom with a large bathtub, rain shower, toilet and the super well-kept outdoor area with the rain shower, decorated with palm trees and vegetation. Luxury problem: there is only one washbasin and no air conditioning in the bathroom. From the bedroom and living room you have access to the terrace with a great view of the sea (here you can see the underwater room of the neighboring resort) and access to the garden which leads to the beach.

With 90 square meters, the villa is perfect in size, cleaned twice, in the evening there is turndown service. The bed is very comfortable and not too hard. The only criticism I would have of the room would be the minibar (soft drinks are free throughout the hotel) and the bathroom which is not air-conditioned.

Restaurant

As much free space is available to guests on the extensive beach, the Constance Aiyana restaurant is clearly the meeting point for all hotel guests. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served here. The large open-air area offers sun-protected covered seating and a large terrace with a view of the sea.

All dishes are freshly prepared a-la-card, so there is no buffet. The fish is freshly caught. Breakfast
– Coffee or tea of your choice
– Freshly squeezed juices
– Fresh fruit
– A bread basket with rolls, brown bread and croissants
– Eggs of your choice (ham and eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, etc.) – Pancakes – Home-made jam and butter)
– pancakes
– home-made jam and butter Lunch
– salad
– fish of the day (sea bream, red snapper, tuna, …)
– alternative pasta (a different one every day)
– often an additional Mauritian dish
– dessert mostly fruit cocktail and a dessert of the day For dinner, there was a new setting almost every day. Once in the restaurant, on the beach, by the pool, etc. The menus here were more unusual and experimental than during the day. The portions varied in terms of quantity. Fish was served with a choice of side dishes (potatoes, chips, vegetables), the vegetarian alternative of the house was so extensive (mashed beans, soup, potatoes, etc.) and then dinner was always on the verge of not being full. However, it was never a problem to order a second portion or get a third dessert to share. Coffee, tea, fresh juices and soft drinks were available all day throughout the hotel and on the beach from the beach boys. Alcoholic drinks for a fee. The cocktail bar by the pool was a popular hotspot in the evenings before dinner. As food & beverage planning is difficult in tropical destinations, it can happen that certain things run out, such as the Coke Zero on the fourth day of our stay. This can happen and takes one or two days until a new delivery arrives from Zanzibar. Complaining loudly about it like an English couple – you’ve booked all-inclusive and Coke Zero can’t run out – that’s the kind of worry I need on vacation. As we hardly ever drink alcohol, I can’t judge the wine cellar, but the cocktails we had (margarita, caipirinha) were priced at a European level (USD 12-14), but far from the standard. The friendliness of the bartender, who always asked with a proud smile how his cocktails tasted, could not be answered with anything other than “very good” :o)

 

Service

The friendliness and courtesy of all the staff is a point that has to be mentioned. Clearly not every member of staff is trained in the catering industry, you can tell. There were some communication problems when ordering the food. However, these were quickly resolved with the help of more understanding colleagues and you can tell that every member of staff does their best and enjoys working here. The management was always visible and available. Barbara Elkaz, the general manager of the Constance Aiyana, who was previously manager at the Constance Halaveli Residence, made contact with every guest at least once a day to check on them. The chef and restaurant manager were also there several times during our stay to check that everything was to our satisfaction, and if there were any suggestions for improvement they would be happy to accept them.

Spa and fitness

In the extensive garden behind the villas, the Constance Aiyana has its own spa area, set up like a small village around a fountain with several treatment cottages. Treatments start at USD 95 for a 60-minute aromatherapy massage and go up to USD 150 for the 90-minute Signature of Maji treatment.

Behind it is the very simply equipped fitness center with a few yoga mats, wall bars and Pilates equipment that I wanted to visit on the second day of our stay. After my first look inside, I mentally said goodbye to training for two weeks. That’s a holiday.

Pool & Beach

Our vacation stands and falls with the hotel beach – and what can I say, the Constance Aiyana does not disappoint! Spread over the entire length of the resort, you will find both a fine sandy beach and a pebble beach mixed with shells. The water is, as we know it from the Bacardi commercials, shimmering crystal clear in all its turquoise blue-transparent facets and at 28 degrees Celsius exactly my temperature. A dream!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OolkCjyhrrM Dazu stehen ausreichend voneinander entfernte gepolsterte Liegen und Schirme zur Verfügung. Hat man sich nach den ersten Tagen akklimatisiert und „seinen“ Platz gefunden merken sich die Beach Boys das und bereiten schon während des Frühstücks alles mit Handtüchern vor, dass man sich nur noch hinlegen und relaxen muss. https://youtu.be/P3WYIugk66Q Ebendiese stehen einem den ganzen Tag zur Verfügung um Getränkbestellungen entgegenzunehmen und zu bringen. https://youtu.be/AfJ3cEE8juI Jedes Paradies hat einen Schwachpunkt und in diesem Fall sind das die extremen Gezeiten. Im Abstand von 6-7 Stunden machen sie aus den traumhaften Strand ein Schlachtfeld aus Matsch und Gestein. Gesäumt zur linken und rechten mit Seeigeln. Hat man, wie wir das Glück seinen Urlaub so gewählt zu haben, dass Flut unter Tags fällt und Ebbe ab 17.00 Uhr eintritt ist alles gut. Ebbe von 10 bis 17 Uhr Ebbe wäre jedoch sehr schade. Der wirklich schöne Poolbereich bietet zwar gute Abhilfe aber Strand ist Strand.

Activities

As mentioned, we are typical beach lovers. In the evening, however, we like to go into the town/village. To mingle with people or eat with locals in the evening. This is not possible here, but we knew that in advance. The hotel itself offers many activities, including snorkeling, diving, a sandbank excursion, kayaking in the national park, an excursion on a fishing boat or a jungle walk.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the Constance Aiyana is worth a clear recommendation despite the long journey and the small service shortcomings. In addition, the service level will be raised to five-star level by the task force team in the coming months.

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