Victoria Falls resorts in Africa’s top 5

DESTINATION Victoria Falls continues to attract world attention with two luxurious hotel facilities in the resort city making it to the top five favourite resorts in Africa for 2023.

The ranking is based on the Travel + Leisure Readers’ views and Matetsi Private Game Reserve on position two, and Victoria Falls Hotel on position five, made it to the list of five luxurious accommodations in awe-inspiring destinations as far-ranging as Victoria Falls and the Sossusvlei Desert based on votes from readers in the annual “World’s Best Awards” survey for 2023.

According to Travel + Leisure readers, Southern Africa is home to the continent’s best resort hotels, from the winelands of South Africa to Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls to the expansive Namib Desert of Namibia.

Service and location were among the most important things for readers when casting their votes.

Hotels were classified as either resort hotel, city hotel, or safari lodge based on their location and amenities and they were specifically rated based on rooms, location, service, food and value.

Babylonstoren Simondium of South Africa scored 98.50 points to rank top, closely followed by Victoria Falls’ Matetsi Private Game Reserve with 98.20 points and another South African facility, Birkenhead House Hermanus at 97.11 points.

In fourth place is Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge in Namibia with 92.60 points and lastly The Victoria Falls Hotel at 85.75 points.

Voting is done such that every year Travel +Leisure asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more.

Nearly 165 000 readers completed the 2023 survey, an increase of nearly 25 percent over pre-pandemic voting levels.

A total of more than 685 000 votes were cast across over 8 500 unique properties.

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor and the final score is an average of these responses.

Victoria Falls was a hit destination for Travel + Leisure readers with the two properties from the Zimbabwean resort area featuring in the top five spots.

Matetsi, a great boutique hotel is located in the thicket of the game park along the Zambezi River west of the resort city is positioned along the Zambezi River, perfect for those seeking a relaxing stay.

The Victoria Falls Hotel is located within the central business district, ideal for visiting the majestic World’s Natural Wonder and Rainforest.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe national president Mr Farai Chimba who is also Victoria Falls Hotel general manager said the recognition “shows our tourism product is strong and competing in Africa.”-ebusinessweekly