"Our first trip to Marrakech.
Good points of Indian Palace;
- Very Attentive, well meaning, helpful staff. Jamal is an asset to the place and we were very grateful for both his and Omar's efforts in making our stay special. They work long hours and work very hard which we appreciate.
- It's a beautiful setting. We kept looking down at the pool from our balcony trying to soak the beauty of it in. The pool is big enough to cool down & have a little swim, nice & fresh so helps to cool down in the heat.
- The breakfast gets 5 stars...it's a fantastic feast, slightly varied each day & they serve it on the balcony. The dinner gets 5 starts too, we had the beef and lamb tagine. The effort they put into making it extra special with flowers, candles & rose petals spread across the table was a wonderful touch & a pleasant surprise.
- The decor is stunning throughout with lovely little touches. Our room (Lakshimi) was great, enough space, a big bathroom and large balcony.
Things that could be improved:
- Balconies are advertised as private however 2 of them are actually also walkways for that other guests have to walk through to get the their room. Balconies are separated by a curtain. This wasn't too much of a problem for us as we were at the end balcony so no-one had to pass through. It might be better to have this clearer on the ad.
- Cleanliness was overall fair however the mattress topper & pillows were full of a lot of stains. This could be rectified by simply using mattress & pillow protectors. Also, no-one has cleaned the light switches for a very long time....until I did!! They were dirty so we used disinfectant wipes to clean them all on our 1st day. We ended up doing this in 2 rooms as they checked us into the wrong room first which we spent an hour cleaning & were then told we had to move to another room. A small thing to clean but makes a big difference. The cleaning staff which they don't have many of also work long hours.
- Intermittent smells of sewer coming in to the bathroom & sometimes around the pool from the drains, I'm not sure they can do much about this.
- It's advertised as no pets allowed however they have 2 dogs that live there & freely roam around the place. When you are sitting by the pool & turn to see a dog taking a poo next to where you walk bare foot, it's not too nice! They also jump up at guests eating dinner. However, i do love King Charles Cavaliers so it was very cute (apart from when having a poo) but my husband is allergic so not ideal as it gets up on all the furniture by the pool.
- The main disappointment for us we had asked to not have our room cleaned & we will ask for new towels when we need them as we didn't want anyone in our room during our stay. This was agreed but when we came back after a day trip we found a hole in our bathroom ceiling had been filled with bits of it all over the floor & a new larger bath mat placed over all the bits on the floor..instead of just cleaning it up. No-one asked us if it was ok for the workman to come in our room while we were out & no-one informed us of this when we got back either. I felt it was very sneaky & had we been asked I could have moved my private belongings into the wardrobe out of sight as I do not like any man i do not know going into my bedroom, this is very intrusive and I didn't like it and didn't sleep that night. I felt very unsettled by it. They opened the bathroom window due to the smell of the filler which let the bugs in, I always keep the windows closed & they removed our rubbish bag which were emptying & re-using, so we no-longer had that which was annoying. I waited for them to tell us the next day but no-one said anything. You shouldn't be carrying out general maintenance while a guest is paying for the room for their own use. And at the very least the guest should be asked. Unfortunately, this tainted our stay as I didn't feel safe knowing a man had let himself into our bedroom, we like our privacy which is why we asked for no-one to go in our room.
Overall, I would still recommend Indian Palace. We walked into a few other riads whilst we were there & Indian Palace was by far the most beautiful inside. Jamal and Omar couldn't have done more, I feel for them working so hard and such long hours and appreciate the little touches & rose petals.
It's also a perfect location and only a 10 minutes walk to the Souks but nice & quiet in the room."
