Golden Tulip Hotel - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Located in the Dar es Salaam the Golden Tulip as an extreme disappointment. After 10 days in the bush, I was looking forward to a true full service, 5 star hotel but Golden Tulip did not even come close to its five star status. Here is a copy of the letter that I sent to the corporate office.

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently returned from a safari in Tanzania. Our plans included on night at the Golden Tulip Dar Es Salaam. We had reviewed the website and the hotel looked beautiful so we thought a day or two of total relaxation there would be a great way to end our trip.

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Sadly, the hotel was a disaster. We checked into our suite around 7 PM. The first suite was a mess. To start with, it was not a true 5 Star suite but just two rooms connected, one with a bed, one with living room furniture. Not an Executive Suite as we have come accustom to at a five star facility.

The bed was full size, not a king size like we were told, there were no towels in the bathroom however there were bugs and insects in the closet. There was a worm on the floor next to the bed and the cheapest wastebasket I have ever seen. In addition, there was no bottled water and the bathroom floor looked as if it had not been cleaned in a month. This is just to give you a very brief snapshot of this room.

I complained and we were moved to another suite. This suite had no bottled water, the mini bar was empty, the bed sheet had a hole in it and the pillow had no pillowcase. Again, I complained and they came and redid the bedding.

I requested water from the time we first arrived and after two calls to housekeeping and one trip down to the front desk; we finally got water, more than two hours after checking in.

We tried to order pasta from the room service menu only to be told that it would take a long time then later it was, "we are out of pasta". After many additional selections that were not available, we finally (around 10:15 PM) got club sandwiches.

Ordering wine was a whole other experience. We literally had to order 6+ bottles before we found one that they actually had in stock.

To put it lightly, our plans of a relaxing evening with a nice bottle of wine and dinner in our room were totally, totally ruined. It was not until almost 10:30 when we were able to relax.

To say I was disappointed would be an over statement. I was and am disgusted with the level of service and the quality of this hotel and what I have shared here is only a fraction of the issues we had.

The one thing I learned from this experience is to stay far away from the Golden Tulip brand of hotels. Their logo ": International standards, local flavors" is far from true.

I simply had to share this experience so you have some idea of what your hotels are doing. In the world of safaris and high-end travels, people meet, talk, and share experiences and unfortunately, this is one experience I will need to share with others I meet in my travels. The sad thing is that this hotel has potential, but right now, it looks like run down hotel from 50 years ago.

Dissatisfied and disappointed with the end of our trip thanks to Golden Tulip, that will always be my memory of this trip.

I e-mailed this letter to the Golden Tulip Top corporate offices and to my dismay; I did not get any type of response at all.

I will be sure to never stay with Golden Tulip or any of the hotels managed by Golden Tulip Top Hospitality Group.

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