Sevi Boutique bids travelers to “Come as guests, leave as friends, and return as family.”
Earlier this year, Sevi Boutique Hotel underwent a change of ownership and management. One of Unguja’s most idyllic seafront bungalow-style retreats, Sevi occupies a secluded bay across Mnemba Island, a popular destination for snorkeling and scuba diving.
Over the past few months, Sevi Boutique Hotel has begun a new era of Zanzibar hospitality. Most recently, the hotel was taken over by private Austrian owners, Mrs. Barbara Hochleitner and her family. Sevi Boutique Hotel now has a dual mission. First, the management will hyper-focus on becoming an integral part of the local community. Secondly, the new motto of the seafront hotel bids guests to “Come as guests, leave as friends, and return as family.”
After a short modernization during January of this year, the hotel reopened to guests arriving after mid-February. The new hotel owners also added industry veteran, George Kotronis as General Manager.
“Our number one mission is to brand ourselves as an integral and positive force in the local community. This is fundamental to our philosophy of putting our guests first and last. By this, we mean our first and last order of business is the experience our clients take home with them. In order to ensure our success with this philosophy, we needed to make it part of the culture of how we do business,” said Mr. Kotronis.
In keeping with the “barefoot luxury” hotel’s new philosophy of supporting the local community, Sevi Boutique Hotel created a guest contribution fund to support Kigomani Village. The hotel employs over 90% of its staff from local villages, and the hotel fund goes to aiding the local infrastructure including schools, potable water systems, and other much-needed modernization.
About Sevi Boutique Hotel Zanzibar:
Situated on the amazing Indian Ocean beachfront on the outskirts of Kigomani Village of Unguja, Sevi Boutique Hotel Zanzibar is a complex of rustic “bandas” bungalows scattered among lush gardens of palms and exotic foliage facing the aquamarine sea off the Spice Island. It opened in February 2019, under the ownership of the Hochleitner family from Austria. It offers accommodation in 13 traditional bandas (bungalows) and an oceanfront villa, as well as experience-oriented services and facilities, including a spa and yoga retreat.