"Booked through British Airways
Room stayed in Room 2226 – A junior suite, sea view
Arrived 4 hours early to the hotel - Check in not until 3pm.
On arrival, shown to a small sitting area with other guests checking in and handed forms to be completed with usual name, passport details etc. Once completed, given hotel bands and told to go to Cashiers desk (not told why) - this was to pay local taxes and for safety deposit box if you intend to use it (this is 3 Mad per day).
Taxes and room safe money paid, we were told our room was very nice, but not yet ready (if ready would have been given room key straight away). We were told to go and have a drink and some lunch.
My husband went to check on room at 2.30pm, only to be told that they could find our booking. We appeared not to be on the system! My husband said he would return in 30 mins. On return there was still some confusion at reception about the booking, but a manager did confirm it was on the system and we given our room keys. Our room appeared to have just been cleaned, judging by the wet floor when we walked in.
Room was as we expected and large balcony with 2 seats and a table. Safety deposit box in wardrobe. The sea view, to be honest, was very much a ‘tree view room’. It was cleaned by the lovely Fatima. There was a kettle and cups (no teaspoon) in the room - no coffee or milk, but some tea bags and sugar (extra can be picked up from bar area). Our room was cleaned all but one day (I think our regular room attendant, Fatima must have been off). There was a fridge in the room for cooling your own drinks and snacks.
Food – one large buffet restaurant for all meals, serving a variety of very nice foods. There is a pool-side snack bar for late breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, and a bookable Moroccan themed restaurant ( we were advised that there were 2 potential visits for our 2 week stay), though booking at a time that worked for us proved a little difficult and we were only allowed to book one visit at a time. The food was very good and a vast amount. We decided that one trip was sufficient, as the only change we could have made to what we were eating there was the meat in the tagine.
Drinks available from a bar in main reception area, bar where evening entertainment takes place or the pool side bar. Also some self-service coffee and soft drink dispensers in main areas.
Pools – a small kids pool, a larger unheated pool (cold!) and a slightly smaller, slightly warmer pool. Inside spa is a heated pool for spa visits, though open between 12-2pm for general swim – though please note, start of session is used for swim fitness class. It is worth noting in the larger outdoor pools that these are 1.70m deep ( I had no hope of touching the bottom to stand in the pool). There are a couple of shallower areas roped off on one side of complex which seemed largely used for fitness classes and water activities. The ladders into the pool are metal and only have 3 or 4 rungs into the water, so you are in pretty quickly. The edge of the pool curves up, and this is the limit of places to hold onto around the pool - not great if you’re not a strong swimmer and just want a cool off break in the water. The pools, on the whole are clean, though was one incident where we decided to get out – life guard who cleaned it, said it was just suntan cream washing off people in the water (was a bit oily on surface), but did also look like a child had been sick in the pool and was enough to put us off being in there at that time. The seagulls like to have a pool party in the colder, big pool in the early evening.
There are plenty of sun beds around pools, though they are very close together! Wasn’t a fan of waking up from dozing on my bed to find a backside in my face where a woman was bending over to access her stuff she was storing on that sunbed! There are some cabanas around the pool – not all have all the sun shades intact and they are claimed quickly.
We did use the small gym, which has the usual cross trainers, treadmills and weights etc. Never seemed to be used that much.
The spa facilities are very nice. We did a couples Hammam and body scrub (an interesting experience, best done right at the start of your holiday), followed by a very good massage.
Entertainment team run various sessions in the pool and out – we took part in the archery – can be very hot sitting in the sun waiting for your turn. Evening entertainment usually involves some live music, a quiz and a dance show. All the entertainment team work really hard and will try to remember your name if you interact with them.
We did go out of the hotel – we were recommended to take the little orange taxis – do confirm price before setting off. Taxi driver advised us not to buy gifts etc in the Medina as ‘tourist prices’ and better off purchasing in the Souk. We also did a fair amount of walking, as discovered that though took a while, quite easy to walk back from places like the souk. Did also use the ‘Get your guide’ app for a couple of trips.
All in all, a good holiday, but few things to comment on –
The confusion with our room booking seemed to be with the way our names were recorded on the systems once we paid the local tax. Make sure you have booking reference very clearly to hand (we had it and still some confusion). Still not entirely sure what the problem was, but on the hotel app we discovered we were listed by first and middle names, not surname (apparently not enough room on the system?!)
As early June, we found it could be quite chilly/ breezy in the mornings around the pool and in the evenings for the outside entertainment – pack layers.
We had a sizeable balcony – probably could have had sunbeds up there as well as table a chairs, and some days would have been nice to have some space for lounging without sometimes noisy chatter of other guests. Feel that hotel is missing this for that room given the space available.
The beach – not impressed. There is a roped off area of beach for the hotel use. I’ve never seen so much plastic debri (also glass and food waste) in a small patch of sand. We live near the sea, so well aware of what gets washed up. Feel that the hotel is so good at keeping its grounds tidy and clean, that to have this as their designated section of beach is pretty disgusting. There is waste on other parts of the beach, so got put off going there, but there were people litter picking in some areas. There are stray dogs around beach – seem very placid.
All the staff work really hard, the food is very good and the facilities are good. In the restaurant there were several times when senior staff were coming round checking that regarding food and stay generally. The hotel itself is kept clean. It is safe to walk down the promenade to local restaurants – worth doing, though do be aware that the street vendors can be persistent. A firm ‘ no thank-you’, preferably in French, is usually accepted. All in all, a very good holiday, in an interesting place.
*Did go to Paradise Valley on an excursion - we felt it was nice, but over rated."
