AHG Dream's Bay Beach

A Mixed Experience – Not What We Expected from an All-Inclusive Hotel I'll start from the beginning. We were picked up from the airport at 8:00 pm, but our taxi driver couldn't find the hotel. After around 20 minutes of driving around, we eventually needed a local escort to guide us down an unmade road to our destination. Not the best start to our holiday! On arrival, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the hotel. The receptionist was very attentive and welcoming, even insisting on arranging something for us to eat despite the kitchen having officially stopped serving. A lovely gesture that was much appreciated. Our room was spacious, the air conditioning worked well, and the housekeeping was excellent, with fresh towels provided daily. Unfortunately, the bed was extremely hard, and although the balcony was reasonable, the view of the Indian Ocean was only just visible. The following morning, we discovered after making a cup of tea that the running water was salty, like seawater. The shower pressure was poor, although the room itself was generally clean. The biggest disappointment was the food and the all-inclusive arrangement. Having booked an all-inclusive holiday, we expected a reasonable choice of food and refreshments throughout the day. Instead, meals were served at strict, set times, with no buffet and nothing available to eat between meals. Lunch and dinner had to be pre-ordered, and the portions were small, bland and disappointing. To make matters worse, bottled water cost extra. In my opinion, this fell well short of what I would expect from an all-inclusive hotel. The food arrangements and additional charges definitely need reviewing. The swimming pool was nice and provided a pleasant place to relax. Unfortunately, the beach was covered in seaweed, and the water contained numerous sea urchins, making swimming less appealing. There was also a constant stream of fishing boats along the shore, although this was not the hotel's fault. The hotel itself was peaceful, making it a good place to unwind. Most of the staff were helpful and friendly, and the housekeeping deserves particular praise. However, the entertainment staff could have made more effort to involve guests in the activities on offer. We weren't invited to participate in any events, although organised entertainment isn't really our thing, so this wasn't a major issue for us. Final Thoughts There were some positives: a welcoming receptionist, spacious accommodation, good air conditioning, excellent housekeeping and a peaceful atmosphere. However, the disappointing food, small portions, limited meal times, extra charges for bottled water and poor sea water shower pressure took away from the overall experience. For me, the all-inclusive package was the biggest letdown. When you book an all-inclusive holiday, you expect food and refreshments to be part of the experience without constantly having to plan around strict meal times or pay extra for basic necessities such as bottled water. The hotel has potential, and the staff deserve credit for their efforts, but improvements to the food, facilities and all-inclusive offering are needed.

We spent a one-week stay at the Dream Bay Beach and, honestly, our opinion is quite mixed. Let's start with the positive: the location facing the sea is superb, the place is very quiet, both during the day and at night, and it is really pleasant for resting. The activity leaders are lovely and are clearly one of the hotel's biggest strengths. Some servers are also very kind and smiling. But unfortunately, the setting isn't everything... ❌ Rather disappointing services The dining is probably the biggest negative point of the stay. Breakfast is very limited and repetitive: always the same thing, with very little choice. And above all, we were surprised to learn that it was not possible to have breakfast if we did not take their excursions. A rather peculiar practice for a hotel... Result: we sometimes left for excursions very early in the morning without being allowed to eat. At lunch and dinner, there is no buffet, very few dish options, and the portions served at the table are rather small. Suffice it to say that you shouldn't be extremely hungry. 😅 And between meals, there are no snacks available. Another unpleasant surprise: some desserts were served to us still frozen. Except for the ice cream, which is quite the irony... When we pointed it out, we were told that "that's just how it is," with the added remark: "You don't like frozen desserts?" A response that was, to say the least, surprising and unprofessional. 🚿 As for the room, a few surprises as well The sheets were sticky, which is frankly unpleasant in a hotel room and not really what you expect in terms of cleanliness. As for the towels, they are changed every day. And for the shower… the water is salty. We understand that this may be linked to the island's particularities, but you clearly need to know this before booking because it is not necessarily pleasant for washing. We also experienced several power outages during our stay. In summary, the setting is magnificent, the hotel is quiet and the activity staff are truly top-notch, but we found that the services offered are not up to what one can expect from a hotel of this standing. Between the very limited dining, the lack of a snack bar, the cleanliness issues, the salty water, the power outages and some little surprises, we leave with the feeling that many things could be improved. Beautiful place for the setting and the tranquility, but it is better to know what to expect before booking.

After a shaky start, driver couldn't find hotel, entrance didn't look very inviting. But as soon as we got inside we were pleasantly surprised. Staff all very friendly and helpful. We had a lovely room, balcony looking out to sea. We did have few problems , with A/C and drains but all sorted quickly.

Mis-sold to us as a luxury adults only retreat. It feels very run down. Read all the negative reviews so you are prepared as to what you will find when you get there. Attached is the description we received before booking, and this is the voucher they used to book us in. The pictures reflect what we actually got. My full review is below but is long. To be honest I don't know where to start it was just so horrid, it was also our 10th Wedding anniversary. We had just finished a safari and now wanted to chill. We believed that we were getting something special and luxurious. This is lengthy but I wanted to make sure you are absolutely clear on what you will get. We were shown to our room which was small and cramped, not the luxury we had been promised. Yes the bed was covered in flowers, but the room was not nice. We were right next door to the pool and restaurant. We had no private balcony/space just two seats outside our door facing onto the public path. Our voucher for this hotel was described as luxurious, spacious, plush bedding, none of that was present. The bed was rock hard, only one small pillow each and it was filled with what I can only describe has small off cuts of foam, not pleasant to sleep on, not luxurious for sure. There wasn’t a headboard to the bed either, just a concrete opening, so no-where to lean back on if you wanted to read or watch TV. There were no bedside lamps either, only a main light in the room, so you couldn't read if your significant other wanted to sleep We realised we had nowhere to put our clothes, there was no wardrobe to speak off, not one drawer to put things in, no bedside lamps either side of the bed, no shelves in the bathroom to put your toiletries on. I went back upstairs and asked the girl on reception where we should put our clothes. The girl came back down and pointed to a small hanging rail above a small not working fridge, I'm tall and my clothes are long, I stated that my dresses wouldn't fit and she pointed to a rail under a shelf, you could hang maybe three items, underwear and t-shirts etc I was told can go on the small shelf. There just wasn't enough room for our clothes, my husband left his in his suitcase. The bathroom had mismatch flooring, a small hairdryer on the wall above the sink, in the shower area there was a small corner shelf housing a bottle of something, it wasn't labelled. The bathroom on the hotel voucher stated that there were luxurious toiletries, again no there wasn't and it was NOT luxurious. The bathroom window wouldn't close as the latch was broken. The bathroom had a glass door which was hung wonky, the latch didn’t work and would swing in as well as out. The kettle didn't work, we told reception who provided us with another one, unfortunately, when the kettle boiled it made the handle so hot that we had to use a towel to lift and pour. The TV had black sticky tape over the top of the tv onto the screen, who knows why, we never watched it as you couldn’t see it from the bed due to the mozzi netting (which by the way was minging), the remote control buttons were faded and impossible to read The curtains, this was the icing on the cake, they were at least a couple of inches different in length, from the bed it was all you could see, very different length curtains. The hotel voucher we were given describing this hotel boasted about a Michelin chef, again, this is false, no way was that food that we had, produced by a Michelin chef, when we spoke to the hotel manager he stated that there was no Michelin chef at the hotel. We complained to the hotel manager. We said that the room they had given us didn’t match the description on the hotel voucher they had used to book us in under. The manager took the description, read it and said it wasn’t their description. This was not what we were sold and booked, and it certainly didn’t match what we were standing in. The manager appeared to understand, but said it wasn’t his problem, well it wasn’t ours either. We were sold a dud. Our travel agent said that there was a process to follow which was to see another room to hopefully resolve the issue. Returning to the reception to ask to see another room, we were told by the girl on the desk that we had to pay for an upgrade, they wouldn’t let us see the room unless we handed over the money, I said that I just wanted to have a look, but she wouldn’t budge. My husband was close to loosing it at this point and was ready to pack up and leave to go home. If I haven’t said, this was our 10th Wedding anniversary, I was in tears and wanted to go home. We spoke with our travel agent and sent him pictures of everything (see below) and he was horrified. He got to work and we had complained to the manager who to us really didn’t care, we were now a problem or that’s how it felt. We wasted 2.5 days, talking with our travel agent, who was talking to AHG Dreams, and the manager etc, and it felt like we were being given the run around. On day two we believed that we would be moving to another hotel, the agent having secured a refund, it was just waiting sign off. The AHG manager then refused to sign it off. The options we had were as follows; stay in the hotel, go to their sister hotel Sun Bay, pay out another £900.00 to go to another hotel or pay out to change our flights and go home. We decided on the advice of our travel agent to go and see the other hotel. Marco the manager met us and he was very helpful. My husband was all for going home, but we chose to compromise and moved to Sun Bay. Just an observation, the safe was very tiny and would hold purses, passports, but not enough room to hold your travel documents or anything of value like tablets, kindles etc. It was also located above the fridge but right at the back of this small space, if you have knee issues or can’t get down to the floor and back up, you would not be able to use it. See the other negative reviews regarding the issues with regarding food and the all-inclusive drinks, which also reflects our experience.

DO NOT STAY HERE Room smelt of sewage, I got sick after eating the lunch and dinner, with projectile vomiting, stomach cramps, and fever. Beach is advertised as private it is not. Hawkers are at the beach 24/7 and come onto the hotel property to harass guests. Management refuse to intervene and when asking for assistance they say it is normal to be harassed and you asked for it by staying there. Management were verbally aggressive and intimating to the point we could not get food or drinks at an ALL INCLUSIVE PLACE (they charged for water). We had to checkout early due to health and safety and felt unsafe in the environment so stayed else where Still waiting for a refund from unused nights

The hotel itself is pretty , we had a bad experience with check in with being allocated the incorrect room which we booked and paid for . It took a few hours to sort out , not what you want after travelling the entire day ! Once inside the “correct room” the aircon wasn’t working they sent maintenance out only to find when we returned from dinner it was still not working so back to reception the next morning . What they don’t tell you is the beach is NOT swimable due to 100’s of sea urchins .also you dare not step on the beach without being harassed by the messai literally 6 times a day if that is how often you dare step of the patio ! The food was dismal and bland , for a spice island one would expect some flavour ? Also to be served a 4 course meal for lunch in summer is not appetising, they should have a light meal /snacks option think poolside beachy vibes not pasta and rice . Lastly the all in drinks option was the worst I’ve ever experienced in our travels . Only 1 beer option and for the cocktails I have no words , No fruit juice for any cocktails so vodka and soda water or rum and Coke was as good as it gets . Although brandy was offered they didn’t have stock . At breakfast they had 1 jug of fruit juice like tamarin juice or watered down pineapple juice but that was the only time we saw any kind of juice !

Good hotel with verry friendly staff! Especially Omar, iddi, Happyniss, Simo! Thank you for everything