Hilton Taghazout Bay Beach Resort & Spa

"What a beautiful location and a very fine hotel building. The staff are the most friendly I have ever come across at a hotel, truly charming. This said, the majority of them are beyond useless. Imagine building a hotel and then rounding up a collection of individuals room all walks of life, giving them uniforms and absolutely no training about what they need to - that's the Hilton Taghazout Bay Beach Resort & Spa. Here is a short list of some of the experiences you might find if you come and stay. All is so easily fixable - put someone in charge who knows what they are doing and then train the staff. Hilton - you have a huge problem here - read the other reviews - it's an absolute shambles. I've only given you a flavour of things here - one could write a book on the experience and it wouldn't make a good read. 1. Interconnecting rooms - we booked two interconnecting rooms as we are a family of five (with three children) - on arrival we were told that the hotel was very busy and that interconnecting rooms were not available. 2. Room service - sticking with the rooms, which are, it should be said, really lovely, I must tell you about the room service by which I just mean cleaning and re-stocking. Our latest service was at 5.30pm - absolutely perfect timing - just when you want to get ready to go out they arrive. Cleaning (of sorts) happens on some visits but not always. You might get more loos rolls you might not - my advice would be to bring your own as you will frequently run out. Similarly, water - some days this will be replenished and other days not. Hair conditioner - you might find that the bottle is removed from the wall and not replaced. Maybe we weren't supposed to use it. All this said, we did one day get our nightwear arranged the shape of a flower along with a note saying that it was a pleasure to be at our service - all very nice but no help when you run out of loo roll. 3. Meals - there is some jolly nice food on offer - the trouble is you may struggle to find anything to eat it with. Other reviews have highlighted the "spoon issue" - it really is a thing. A trip to the local souk could sort this - they just need to send someone. Teaspoons are akin to unicorns - a mythical thing that simply does not exist. Desert spoons are rather like taxis when it rains - hard to find. Cutlery generally is an issue - one will often sit down to find a table set with one, two or maybe three items missing - perhaps a fork or a knife - obviously not a spoon as they are never there. After a while you'll work out where they keep the knives and forks so you can overcome this - you'll never find where they keep the spoons. Another little gem is having bowls of liquid-based products without anything to remove them from their receptacle. Have you tried removing yogurt from a bowl with your hands before? 4. Drinks service - this is where it gets really special. How long have you got? Not to read this but to wait for a drink. Our longest was 45 minutes from ordering. Okay, it was actually a round of five drinks but even so.... Now, when it comes to more than one drink, bear in mind you are unlikely to get what you ordered first time. If you really like a long wait then head to the beach bar - a stunning spot with some of the worst service you will ever experience. Think telephoning HMRC to ask a question or perhaps trying to book an appointment with your local GP if you phone at 9am. We concluded that the waiters and waitresses could best be described as like goldfish. Wherever you are in the hotel they'll take your order, swim off somewhere and then forget what they were doing before they swim up to someone else to take their order. One night, halloween, there were six staff at the beach bar, most of whom were taking photos of themselves for Instagram. Only one poor lady (who had no idea how to do her job) was serving and when one asked the others whether they might help all they seemed to do was talk to the lady serving and then carry on taking photos of themselves. 5. Cleanliness - goodness me, I've seen cleaner student accommodation. Last night I was served food by hand until another guest pointed out that the waiter must surely use tongs. Perhaps they do not know that if you use a dishwasher it needs some sort of cleaning product to be added. Have you ever been served wine in a freshly washed but not dried glass - if the answer is no then come to the Hilton to experience it. Bowls and plates are often dirty. In fairness, at least you can usually find them. Sometimes when you go to get a coffee there are no coffee cups but if you wait five minutes you'll be given a wet one. 6. Creative accounting - this is their speciality - really watch out here - almost every day they have tried to charge us for things that we've not had. Five glasses of wine where we had only ordered two - how could you get that so wrong?! Another day, told that the payment hadn't gone through on the card machine - please tap again, please tap again. Low and behold, three entries on the bank statement - told them about the error - said they'd sort it - never did until the manager was called and even then it took half an hour. On checking out, make sure you cross-check the receipts - they make up the figures even when you've got the receipts in front of you."

"Positives: Rooms nice and big Pool area clean. Lots of loungers. Generally a quiet, peaceful hotel Negatives: Food at breakfast was the same every day...fush soup at 8am? A general lack of variety...once it had gone, that was it (for example, once the bananas had gone they were not replaced) Lack of fresh fruit Evening meal at the buffet was luke warm at best Queues for the freshly cooked food were too long, service was too slow. Too many managers stood around looking at their phones, leaving those doing the work running around. Tables were not cleaned between use No spoons...how do you eat creme brulee with no spoon? We resorted to using a soup spoon. The same goes for tea spoons..! Room cleaning was hit and miss. No tissues were replaced, had to ask for toilet roll. Resorted to asking for room to be cleaned one day. In general, the hotel is clean and calm. Rooms are big and spacious. Lack of variety of food which is luke warm at best. If a few managers stopped messing on their phones and actually helped out, these issues could be fixed. Not a 5* experience sadly. Weather was beautiful which made up for it."

"From the moment we arrived, we were warmly greeted by the doorman, Jawal, whose friendliness and professionalism made a lasting impression. His consistent attentiveness throughout our stay truly made him a credit to the hotel. Check-in was smooth and efficient, setting the tone for what initially felt like a very promising stay. Dining Experience Breakfast was excellent — plentiful, with a wide selection of food choices, the pastries in particular were fresh and delicious, and with the variety on offer, no one could possibly leave hungry. However, I found the food in the Moroccan and Lebanese restaurants rather disappointing. The flavours were unexpectedly bland, which was surprising given the vibrant cuisine Morocco is known for. The Mediterranean restaurant (Anaw) offered a better experience with a small menu, but was let down by poor attention to cleanliness. The wicker-style placemats were stained and clearly uncleanable, with crumbs attracting flies and birds — a real hygiene concern, especially with cutlery and glasses being placed directly on them. I would add that Yassine,Meriem and Fatima provided great service in the evening as daytimes were chaotic,as the staff had to service both the pool and restaurant guests. At Azul, the same issue persisted. Placemats and cutlery from the previous evening were sometimes left out overnight and used at breakfast next morning,and staff seemed to simply brush them with a napkin rather than properly clean them. For a high-end establishment, this fell short of expectations. Rooms and Facilities The rooms were clean and comfortable, providing a relaxing space to unwind. However, I would recommend avoiding the Full Sea View rooms, as they sit directly above the Azul restaurant. The constant scraping of chairs and tables below can be quite disruptive especially at around 6.45am and throughout breakfast and then from 3pm and through until late evening — something easily preventable if staff took more care in handling the light furniture and if rubber or felt were placed on the feet of tables and chairs. It would also have been a nice touch for a hotel of this standard to include ice buckets in the rooms and ice machines on each floor for guest convenience. Toilets around the pool area stank of stale urine probably due to the fact the staff weren’t guided properly and told just to mop floors with water rather than using urine neutraliser in their buckets also. Location and Surroundings The Hilton is located in a purpose-built tourist area alongside several other hotels. There are a few small shops and restaurants within a 15-minute walk, and the beautiful beach directly in front of the hotel is a definite highlight. Overall Impression Despite some hygiene and noise issues, the staff were always friendly but from Day 1 the bar service has been awful and been consistently poor throughout our stay. I am not sure if its due to lack of manpower, lack of motivation, poor guidance or poor infrastructure. With a few improvements — particularly around restaurant cleanliness and attention to detail and improve bar service— this Hilton could easily deliver the five-star experience it aims for at the moment the Service is 3 star at best"