AVANI Victoria Falls Resort

Amazing stay. Magical experience for our first time in Africa. The animals on property and Boma dinner made it extra special and fun for our kids. Very family friendly. The convenient and free access to the Victoria Falls made it especially worth it. Food and service was excellent. Room was lovely as well! Highly recommend!!!

I recently stayed at Avani Victoria Falls Resort and came away with mixed feelings. There are definitely positive aspects to the property. The food was genuinely excellent throughout the stay — both breakfast and dinner were very enjoyable. The rooms are comfortable and clean, and the bathroom facilities were perfectly fine as well. However, the overall experience did not fully align with the upscale lifestyle image and polished hospitality experience the brand presents online. The rooms felt smaller than expected for the price point, and although I had a river-facing room, the view was not especially remarkable. The main difference, in my opinion, is that this hotel operates more as a high-volume commercial resort serving many guests rather than as a more refined or detail-oriented upscale hospitality experience. That is not necessarily a negative thing in itself, but travelers expecting a calm, personalised atmosphere with stronger attention to detail should manage expectations accordingly. Service was inconsistent during my stay. At breakfast, we had to repeat a simple coffee order several times, and the cappuccino with oat milk still arrived so late that we had to take it away because our transport had already arrived. Laundry service was similarly slow. I had to call three separate times before someone eventually came to collect the laundry. Perhaps the hotel could consider placing laundry bags directly in the rooms and allowing guests to drop them at reception to improve efficiency. The room phone line was also very poor. It was extremely difficult to hear people on the other end of the line, which made communication with reception and housekeeping unnecessarily complicated. One disappointing moment involved the ironing board in the room. The board already appeared damaged, and while ironing a shirt, the surface burned very easily, which made the overall quality feel questionable. In hindsight, perhaps I should have informed housekeeping immediately, but due to the delays already experienced that morning and with my driver already waiting outside for the day’s activities, I simply continued getting ready to avoid further delays. What felt excessive afterwards was the response to the issue: three housekeeping staff members came to discuss it, followed by a fourth person being sent to write a statement. For such a minor matter, this created an uncomfortable situation that felt disproportionate. Considering the rate paid for the stay, I would have expected a simpler and more guest-focused resolution. The iron itself was still functioning properly and only required cleaning. I have travelled across Africa and stayed in approximately 7–10 hotels during this trip alone. Honestly, the hospitality standards across Africa have been excellent overall. In several hotels where we paid significantly less than at Avani, the level of service, efficiency, warmth, and attention to guests was noticeably better. Some were even simple transit hotels booked only for convenience purposes, yet they still delivered a smoother and more personalised hospitality experience than what we experienced here. Overall, the hotel has strengths, especially the food and location, but I believe expectations should be set correctly depending on the type of experience travelers are looking for.

Beautiful hotel with strong design aesthetic located in the national park of Victoria Falls. The hotel offers free access to the waterfalls and because it is in the national park friendly wildlife like zebras, giraffes and monkeys roam freely across the grounds. Rooms are spacious and nicely decorated. Unfortunately, the hotel restaurant was not open in the evening because it was low season, and with the location on the outskirts of Livingstone alternative dining options are limited. We were encouraged to dine in the pool bar, and while the food was fine the menu wasn’t too inspiring with mainly sandwich, pizza and pasta options. Breakfast was, however, all you could hope for with both local and international dishes based on local produce.