We stayed in a junior suite at this hotel on a half-board basis between 31 January and 7 February 2012.
The location of the hotel is excellent, about a kilometre south of the main town and towards the end of the strip of hotels fronting the ocean. A 20 minute stroll along the promenade or the excellent beach will take you to the main area of restaurants, bars and nightclubs. If you wish to visit the main souk, El Had, the price is only 20 dirhams by taxi.
Our room (2125) was large, airy, clean and in good condition and everything including the air con/heating and the fridge worked very well. Similarly the hotel throughout was well looked after and clean.
We were given exactly what we booked, with a good view of the pool area, gardens and the ocean from our balcony. All public areas, including toilets, reception, terrace and restaurant were always clean and tidy and the grounds were very well tended.
The food was very good for mass buffet style, with lots of variety and choice, with some dishes cooked on the spot – check out the breakfast beignets (doughnuts) with cinnamon and vanilla sugar! The staff were generally helpful, efficient and pleasant though it could take a bit of time to get a drink on the terrace during the evenings.
Good basic French would go a long way – like much of the area, the hotel caters mostly for French and German speaking guests. Having said this, the reception staff spoke English well enough and most other staff had some basic English, so we were able to get by.
Overall, we were very pleasantly surprised at the standards on offer and felt very safe and comfortable during our stay, both in the hotel and outside. We have no hesitation in recommending this hotel based on our (out of season) visit. The hotel caters well for families with young children, the elderly and disabled, and couples like us, neither young nor yet so old.
A few niggles:
We arrived around 3:00pm after lunch was finished and well before dinner at 6:30, and no refreshments were offered on our arrival. We found that light snacks and drinks were available from the pool bar, but as we were half board, these were chargeable. It took a while to work out what was not available to half board guests, particularly in relation to drinks, and most of the staff appeared not to know either (they tended to assume we were on all inclusive rates). We could have upgraded to all inclusive at the hotel for 150 dirhams per person per day, if we wished – had we booked all inclusive with the travel agent it would have been a lot cheaper. Worth bearing in mind if you intend staying in the hotel for all meals and especially refreshments.
TV reception was very poor, and we found only 1 English speaking channel (movies subtitled in Arabic). However, there is excellent 24 hour wifi reception in the lobby and terrace area.
There were no facilities in the room to make a hot drink – so if this is important to you take a travel kettle.
There is no ATM in the hotel, but there is one in the next hotel, Palais du Rose, a very short walk away. However, foreign exchange is available.
Finally, we noticed that our favourite tipple was not the genuine article, bit of a cheek for 70 dirhams!
Room Tip: Ask for pool/ocean view rooms. Junior suite is worth the extra cost
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
16 February 2012
Dear guest,
First of all we would like to thank you for your time and effort in writing such a kind comment about our Iberostar Founty Beach. It is a delight to read how much you enjoyed yet another stay with us.
Feedback like yours is very important to us, so we know what we can improve to reach an even higher and more exclusive service for our guest. We will certainly take in our consideration and we will do our utmost to improve these points.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your positive comments regarding our the amiability of our staff and the hotel facilities, both elements are of prime importance to Iberostar.
Yours sincerely
Online Reputation Manager
Iberostar Hotels & Resorts
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC