Truly unique experience - Lene Wikander

Lene Wikander is a Norwegian journalist, author and blogger for Norway’s bestselling Womens Magazine Tara.

My first meeting with the Emerson Hotels was in the early 2000’s when Emerson Spice was not yet fully finished.

Still I had the honor of being invited there for dinner by Emerson Skeens whom I had met previously.  He took me on a tour of the rooms and I instantly fell in love. Since that time, I have brought friends and family to this dream-like oasis for years.

In a world full of generic hotels, it is something truly special to find such a magical space tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of Stone Town’s busy streets.

These past few years I have been taking my followers on organized trips to Zanzibar six times a year.  Our three day stay with Emerson is one of the absolute highlights of these trips. Pampered by the fantastic and friendly staff, with wonderful dinners, both at Emerson Spice Tea House and at Emerson on Hurumzi, our traditional kaftan fashion show in The Secret Garden and private concerts, the ladies feel like absolute queens for a few days.

That is the true magic of the Emerson Hotels. It is the overall understanding that people crave some magic in their life. That we need to be truly transported to other worlds when we travel. That we want to feel special for a few moments in time. That only the genuine is good enough to create memories for life.

This understanding is pouring out from both staff and management, but it is also soaring through the building itself. The breeze sweeping through hallways, lingering under the impossibly high ceilings, passing through the enormous Zanzibar doors, always seems to be whispering of lives lived here in the previous sultanate, but also the lives yet to be lived in this magnificent space on earth.

More than anything it is the feeling staying at Emerson Spice gives both me and my guests, that brings us back again and again. I truly love this hotel, there is nothing like it on Zanzibar or in the world. 

Lene Wikander

Norwegian journalist, author and blogger for Norway's bestselling Womens Magazine Tara.

Articles about Emerson Hotels in Tara Magazine: 

Tara Magazine: In Norwegian

Links to blogposts, articles and columns featuring the Emerson Hotels (in Norwegian):