Palm River Hotel

The hotel has good facilities with stunning views, and the dinner is of a decent standard. It is very convenient for trips to Victoria Falls and Livingstone, Zambia. Originally, I was satisfied with my stay. However, a terrible incident happened on our second day of check-in: USD 300 cash was stolen from our room. We only discovered part of our money was missing after dinner when we talked about finances that night. We raised the issue with the hotel the same evening. They promised to investigate. We followed up again early the next morning, yet there was no immediate conclusion; they stated they needed time to review the CCTV footage. The hotel did arrange for someone to accompany us to the police station to give our statement. This was a hard lesson learned. From now on, we will always lock our luggage whenever we leave the room.

We spent two nights at the Palm River Hotel on our way to our safari in Hwange and wished we could have stayed longer. The hotel grounds are beautiful and relaxing and the food is just outstanding -- we had breakfast x 2, lunch and dinner there. The staff is kind and bends over backwards to help. Loved our room with a balcony. It's maybe 10 minutes out of "town" (such as it is) and the hotel provides free shuttle service. But you won't want to leave the hotel grounds. I almost didn't write this review because everyone says the same thing -- it's just wonderful.

Had a wonderful experience at Palm River Hotel. Hotel has an old-school, tranquil colonial charm at the main building and the hotel grounds, though the architecture for the guest room buildings resemble a barracks. I enjoyed the sunset river cruise that the hotel hosted. The River Odessey's setting was also a fitting extension of the hotel's colonial safari appeal. We enjoyed the cocktails - Falls Gin fitted so well with the finger food prepared onboard! Saw elephants swimming across the Zambezi, a rare sight! Hippos surfacing for food. Crocodiles and herons as well! At our 3-day stay, we were impressed by a hotel staff - Andrew who served on the river cruise and at the restaurant. Polite, attentive, always had a smile, and doing his part to tell us more about the Zambezi river and the food and beverages we would be served. He was also busy keeping the afternoon tea going, replenishing food, cutleries and keeping the serving table tidy, despite the large number of guests who frequented the afternoon tea. Kudos to Andrew. He is a great ambassador of the hotel!

This hotel has a great setting in the river bank. Rooms are lovely and housekeeping is outstanding. Transfers into town and to the Falls are good. All food is top notch. A very comfortable stay.