This a difficult review to write. The hotel has so many problems that I cannot award more than 3 stars, but we loved it.

It is an old palace built within Taroudant's city walls, with the walls actually forming one side of the hotel. There are numerous small gardens, fountains and the like, full of mature trees and shrubs.

We were advised to ask for a room in the Banana Court and as a result we got one of the old palatial rooms. This was essentially a suite, with a huge bedroom and sitting room, beautifully decorated with painting and carvings. The ceilings were about 7 metres high!!

The swimming pool looked uninviting, but it was November and all the outside furniture was a little tired, to say the least. Everything outside the rooms was a little grubby.

The breakfast consisted of large piles of stale croissants, with only the bread being fresh. We only ate there one night, and the food was very average.

In summary if you want a modern, formula hotel or a top notch chic riad, forget Palais Salam, but if you want a hotel with some history and character and are prepared to put up with a down at heel feel, ask for one of the big old rooms and enjoy. We certainly did and if we stayed again in Taroudant this would be where we would choose.

My wife and I have stayed several times at the Palais Salam over the past 10 years. For us, its setting in an old pacha's palace in Taroudant's city walls, the fading older rooms and its wonderful gardens give it a special charm. However, we sense it is on the decline due to management neglect and that it has become dependent on whistle-stop visits by tour groups bringing noise and buffet meals. The former private and informal atmosphere around the pool in danger of being spoilt by non-residents, mainly male Moroccans,using what has become a public bar and breakfast, an unimaginative buffet indifferently presented,is well below par for a hotel of this standard. Dinner by the fountains,however, remains a very pleasant experience when there are no groups about. Still a green oasis and refuge from the heat and dust but at risk of irreversible decline.

Stayed as part of a small group tour with VJV. On arrival the place looked great – built just inside the city walls with pleasant public areas.The gardens looked lovely with a variety of plants interspersed with pools and sitting araeas. However, the rooms are very dated – clean and tidy, but about what I would expect from a 2-star place – poor quality tiled floors, spartan furnishings (not even a chair to sit on), ancient TV, noisy old-fashioned fridge. Bathroom equally dated – last renovated 30 years ago, I should think. Restaurant very disappointing. Although we were booked in for a set meal, we waited ages for an indifferent semolina soup, followed by a pasta dish of indeterminate character, and a main course which would have been OK if it had been served fifteen minutes earlier when it was hot! The restaurant wasn't particularly busy, but service was very slow. Breakfast buffet equally disappointing..
There must be better places than this in Taroudannt! It's a real shame because this could be a real gem!
martyngs

Nothing but praise for the garden setup, the old almost medieval charms of the palace walls and corridors (kind of supercharged Riad), the friendly staff. And the nice main pool, despite some maintenance problems with a pigeon plague.
Restaurant was a bit more mixed: quite limited B'fast, decent dinner, but constant pestering by a crowd of begging cats. Our 'patio room' (ground floor) also showed the extremes. Quite spacious and luxury, with suite-like size and a lovely plush bed. But a bathroom that had not seen overhaul in 30 years at least; too small, and aging plumbing with noise and capacity constraints. Still great for 1-2 nights stay on a tour, also seeing the lovely Taroudant traditional city.