"My grandmother booked this holiday for my family several months ago as a wish for us to travel and experience different cultures. The holiday was booked as a package deal through a local reputable travel agent, who use EasyJet as a supplier, which was ATOL protected. Flights, accommodation for 5 cousins (3 men, 2 women, ages 18-27) and an excursion was all included and paid in full (£5k).
We arrived at Riad Catalina on Thursday midday and were told our rooms would be ready in 10 minutes. After a wait of an hour and a half, we were finally shown to our rooms. They could have just said that the rooms are not ready, and we would have left our cases and explored instead of waiting. We had two different rooms, one room for the men, one for the women. Everything was fine, the rooms were acceptable and we were ready to enjoy our holiday
On the second day (Friday), the hotel manager Nadia told us "the best room" in the Riad was available as a "free upgrade", and insisted we see the room. We decided that we did not want the one room, as we preferred privacy between the men and women, and one bathroom between 5 people was not ideal. Although we did not want the room, the staff and manager were quite pushy and it seemed like they really needed us to be in that room.
Before going out for dinner on our final night (Saturday), the hotel manager mentioned that there was still an outstanding balance for the stay, and demanded payment. I told her that cannot be the case and showed proof of several booking confirmation invoices which showed full payment, with no outstanding balance. I also asked why, if there was an issue with the booking nothing was mentioned when we initially arrived on Thursday or the day after on Friday? Why did the hotel manager wait until 8PM on our last night to inform us of this serious issue? We had a dinner reservation soon, so decided to do some research and resolve this in the morning.
We contacted our travel agent who told us that, everything has definitely been paid for and that we should not meet her demands. Our agent confirmed that payment was made to EasyJet more than 8 weeks before the holiday, and everything was definitely paid and confirmed. The agent contacted EasyJet to get in touch with the Riad first thing tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning comes around and we arrive back from breakfast to discuss with the hotel manager, who states that the issue is still not resolved and payment is outstanding. She begins getting very aggressive and states that in Moroccan law, if a guest has not paid, she can contact the airport and prevent us from leaving the country. It is now around 1PM on our final day, and our airport transfer is due at 4PM. We are now getting extremely worried that she is trying to scam and extort us, as well as preventing us from leaving. This put an unbelievable amount of stress on us and our family, with our mum stuck in the UK unable to help, nearly giving her a panic attack from stress. Other hotel staff were seen laughing about the situation in the courtyard.
Using the hotel managers desk phone, we put her in touch with both our travel agent and EasyJet, where she continues arguing with both. After several calls back and forth, the issue was still not resolved and we had to leave as we no longer felt comfortable. Nadia now said that she would have to cover the cost out of her own pocket and that her family would suffer as a consequence. Not only is this emotional blackmail but what kind of hotel would allow their staff to do this? It was clear that she had made a mistake and expected us to foot the bill. Even when put in direct contact with our agent and EasyJet, she was incredibly aggressive and manic, and switched her story seemingly every hour.
This experience completely spoiled our holiday through stress, interrupting our plans and ruining our last night and day in Marrakech, with the added threat of not being able to leave the country.
As for the rest of the stay - the beds in the rooms were hard and uncomfortable. The shower pressure was non existent with temperature randomly changing from freezing cold to scalding hot. Breakfast was slow and minimal, consisting of pancakes and jam. We asked for milk for the tea and coffee several times but got none.
I would not stay here again even if you paid me a million pounds to do so. The hotel manager Nadia was deceitful, rude and aggressive. She went about the situation entirely the wrong way. If there was ever an issue, why was nothing said on the first or second day? Why wait until 8PM on the last day on a weekend (when travel agents are closed)? We did nothing wrong, were respectful, and had already paid everything in full many months in advance. If there was a breakdown in communication or an issue of payment between EasyJet and the Riad, the hotel manager should have contacted EasyJet directly without involving us. This was a very short stay, half of which was ruined by the treatment and threats we received from Nadia."
