"An honest review…
Overall; not a bad hotel.
Although striving to be a 5* star hotel, falls some way shy of the mark.
Have been to many of these self proclaimed 5* all inclusive hotels around the globe; many arranged by TUI, but this one just fell that little bit short of what it says it does.
Good points:
Nice grounds, entertainment staff friendly.
Plenty of sun beds and pools. Plenty of varied cuisine to make a meal, if the offered is not of your choosing.
Bad points:
*Branded drinks offered on menu - not available in reality. According to bar staff.
Bar staff in the Jungle Bar (main bar) hold back the branded imported spirits, saying “they have none” even though it’s on the all inclusive menu. Tanqueray Gin being an example.
Jungle Bar staff hide it, so they can be given tips in the exchange for providing you with the ‘good stuff’.
You need to prominently ask for the branded drinks offered within the all inclusive menu.
You will not be offered these willingly and will be given cheap local alternatives.
*No wine options
Only the given standard house white, red and rosé. Not even the option to purchase at cost an alternative to the below par offerings.
*Bar staff looking for the tipped work.
I don’t mind tipping when good service has been given. But there’s also a time when bar staff should just do their job; the bare minimum. If you go above and beyond; or give friendly service, then you may well be offered a tip. When standing at an empty bar and waiting to be seen, the bar staff looking over, (5 of them standing about doing nothing), but standing and leaning back on the rear shelf, with no intention of serving until being called on, under duress it would seem, and then appearing to look busy when the manager makes an appearance.
The larger barman at the Jungle Bar had no appetite for work. Which is fine. Maybe don’t choose hospitality as your chosen career?? Eating nuts from his hands as he served, before proceeding to serve drinks, spent promote good hygiene in my eyes.
Some bar staff would use the glass wash before serving drinks. Others not. Very inconsistent.
*Bar staff lazy on occasion
Tried ti order Expresso Martinis on a few occasions; only to be told no glasses (you know the type) available.
It’s fine, it happens, but it’s also but the guests job to source the appropriate glass.
Surely that’s down to the var staff to arrange.
I know we were in Morocco, whose standards are far behind those of their European neighbours… but there is a saying in hospitality: “whatever the guest wants they get" (WITHIN REASON!!), captures the extreme end of guest-centric service, meaning going above and beyond to fulfill requests, even unusual ones, making guests feel truly special and at home by anticipating needs, offering personalization, and solving problems proactively, focusing on their feeling of being cared for, not just the transaction. It's about empowered staff saying "yes" (or finding a solution) and creating memorable experiences by meeting desires for convenience, choice, and personalized attention.
If you claim to do it; then do it. You claim to be a 5* resort; then work to the standard you claim to be.
Attention to service is everything in the hospitality game!
*Glasses dirty - hygiene, not as upto standard as our European counterparts. Which can be understandable. But when serving drinks with handprints all over them, after being supposedly washed; is rather off putting. No wonder there has been so many illnesses within this hotel.
*Steak House - No steak on the menu.
Granted; it might be just my own belief; but a steak house should serve steak. From a cow. Beef.
No beef option in the steak house. Just veal or chicken.
Although there were zebrs and stag heads mounted on the walls for decoration, which would indicate possible zebra option? But no. I may have liked a lovely bit of zebra. Maybe it tastes like horse? Will never know.
*Al La Carte restaurants - near impossible to book!
Managed to get a reservation on our last night…. I wouldn’t bother people!
Dined in: Krystal.
Bisque was so much better in the buffet restaurant.
Putting mush sweet potato with an octopus arm is not “creating new ideas” (something along those lines) as the restaurant claims.
Very lacking and disappointing.
The booking system for the à la carte restaurants is highly complex and impossible.
The hotel’s (and TUI’s rep) response… “go and find the restaurant manager to sort”.
Which if course, you cannot find.
Surely it’s it the guests issue to solve the hotel’s booking system problem?
Unable to book a table on all nights of our stay for a party of 5. (Reservation limit exceeded). Even though only 5 in our booking.
Highly frustrating and left a sour taste in the mouth, that would not therefore book another Riu hotel again based on this experience.
*Glasses - self service, can only pour beer and wine into a small wine glass.
If any connoisseurs out there will know; it just not the same to drink beer/lager out of a tiny wine glass. Riu; spend a little. Invest in some small cheap better beer glasses. Make the customer experience that bit better.
Glasses dirty, even after being ‘washed’.
Yes, I understand at all-inclusives they don’t want you actually eating and drinking.
But the right tools for the right job saying still applies.
*Room not ready on arrival.
Check is from 3pm, however room not ready until after 4pm. Left waiting after a long arduous journey.
*Entertainment - lacking.
Again, if you’re having a good time, you’re drinking more. Which the hotel doesn’t want. Granted.
Pool fitness, darts, bingo, blah blah, at the same time EVERY day. No variety.
The evening disco / entertainment finishes with Afro / Euro dance music. Every night. No variety for the varied age group of the hotel. Seem to only cater to one demographic.
The theatre pretty much empties out when this music comes on. Again; this is what the hotel wants; so you’re not clearing out their stocks of cheap local spirits.
You’d be hard pushed to get drunk at this hotel. Unless of course you are bunging the bar staff tips for the expensive branded spirits they say they do on the menu; which the bar staff hide, unless you tip them; saying they have run out.
Either way; both bad practice.
The manager is therefore incompetent for not keeping track on stock levels and under ordering… or the bar manager is incompetent and none the wiser to the underhanded tactics the bar staff under their supervision are pulling.
Unless of course, they are in on it!!
Night time entertainment = the daytime crew doing a different song every night.
One night they had an outside firm come in, branded as a “circus”.
It was a father and son duo; with the father performing magic tricks
*Daytime activity - the daytime team put in a great effort and not taking anything away from then. Although no variety. Maybe because out of season?
However, lack of activity if you’re not sunbathing and certainly nothing to do other than the board games offered for hire, if it is raining.
*Lack of TV screens in communal areas
Yes, I understand… it’s a relaxing holiday for some and they are sbrcti distance themselves from the outside works.
However, a dedicated bar or sports bar may do a good turn at this hotel.
I’m not saying screens each bar etc, but at least dedicated bar showing live sports and/ or current affairs so some guests can still feel connected to the current world.
Only option is the TV in the guest rooms.
Hoping the World Cup is accessible on the room TV’s to guests wishing tribute between June / July 2026???
*Drainage on site: none present. Most of the hotel flooded after some rainfall.
Fair attempts made by staff to clear, but due to the lack of drainage on site… nowhere for the water to run to.
Hotel corridors left in pools of water for days. Causing slip hazards, with no pertinent signage displayed to advise if the risk/ hazard.
*Swimming pools cold.
Visit dates: 29/11/25 - 05/01/26. Most pools on the complex vastly underused and empty. Apart from middle heated pool and indoor pool.
Yes, we visited out of season and I imagine the pools to be heaving in the height of a Moroccan summertime where a cooked pool would be more preferred.
But at this time of year; if you’re gonna heat one pool; why not heat them all? You can adjust the temperature on each.
Just seems a waste to be doing all the maintenance and daily cleaning of cold pools that are not being used.
*Mini bar not stocked up.
Claimed by the hotel (via the given documentation) that the minibar in the room would be restocked daily. Although only soft drinks: If you claim to do it; then do it. You claim to be a 5* resort; then work to the standard you claim to be.
*Power cut.
One night suffered a power cut in the room.
Granted. These things happen. We had heavy rainfall, and as mentioned earlier; the hotel does not have decent drainage system to deal with rainfall.
This affected the electrics to our room one night.
Which is fine; I called reception the next morning to sort. On return from breakfast, maintenance team had visited, and it was sorted.
Turns out, the electrics tripped, because of a water leak from the rainfall into the electrical cupboard.
However, the electrics got sorted, but the pool of water from the incident remained from the rest of our stay. No attempt to clear the hazard. Remained a risk and a danger to the hotel guests safety. Which the hotel; who knew about it, seemed happy to go along with.
Is this 5* service?
Facilities:
Although there is a team on hand; just not on top of it enough. Nods to the drainage and flooding problems earlier.
Location: far from Agadir (roughly 40 mins by motorised vehicle).
Hotel in the middle of nowhere in Taghazout, with no local shops or amenities.
If able, can walk into downtown Tagazhout via the beach path (steps involved), which takes 15 - 20 mins, to sample the local culture and people.
Obviously a run down and underfunded town, on the third world spectrum and not as glam as say for example a plusher resort of Sharm El Sheik (Egypt).
There is no bus / shuttle service offered by the hotel to reach anywhere.
*No robes provided
….within our room, yet room next door did.
It’s the little things that make the big things.
May seem like petty moans, but the detail is in the service.
If you proclaim to do it; then do it / provide it.
Overall scores:
Grounds: 9 / 10
Facilities/: 7/ 10
Rooms: 8/10 - although no doors on the bathrooms!
Food: 7/10
Location: 6/10
Entertainment: 4/10
Service: 5/10
WiFi: 4/10 - not consistently reliable.
Attention to detail: 6/10
Overall score: 6/10 (62%)
Would I come back?
Probable not; which is a shame, as this hotel shows glimpses of good standards, but falls down in many of these areas.
Has the potential to be a top hotel., but not quite there yet.
The staff are friendly and attentive, but not the bar staff who sit back and wait for the tipped work and only seem friendly / attentive if showing some Derums!"
