I'll start with a summary, for anyone not wanting to read the full review.
Good Cleanliness
The State of Building Maintenance
Acceptable Rooms
Pool (even though service is poor)
Bad The Service/ Friendliness of Staff (language is a beautiful thing)
The Shower Water Flow
The Room Aircon
Location / The Free Shuttle Bus
The Bar
Breakfast
My wife and I arranged bed and breakfast at the Ryad Mogador Kasbah via the Travel Republic website using EasyJet and transfers with Travel Hoppa, both of whom provided excellent service and value for money.
The Ryad Mogador Kasbah is situated in the Zone Touristique area to the south of old Marrakech, 2.3 miles from the main square. I was initially quite impressed with the hotel, especially as I had booked it "on a budget". The lobby was spacious and beautifully decorated (see photos). The terraced breakfast area looked appealing. The pool was adequately sized and looked well equipped.
The room was pleasant and acceptably spacious. The housekeepers did an excellent job everyday. The water flow in the shower and basin was well below par, the shower could just manage a fine mist (temperature variable). After 2 visits to the reception desk I gave up trying to explain my dissatisfaction. Even with the summer temperatures receding I did feel the air conditioning was struggling to keep pace with the late afternoon temperatures.
The dining room had an pleasant outside terrace, breakfast was served buffet style. Though the breakfast was adequate, we were generally disappointed with the meal. Every morning there was something different missing from the buffet. The tea bags, orange juice, tea cups, hot water and toaster regularly disappeared, fruit made a guest appearance on the first day. The hot food on offer was limited to omelette’s or soup (well it looked like minestrone). The croissants and pastries were of varying freshness. Need I go on.
The Evening entertainment in the lounge consisted of a keyboard player and a singer, singing traditional Arab songs, not my personal taste. There’s a large screen TV showing a variety of Arabic/ Engilsh / French language programmes. Skype calls were possible on the excellent Wi-Fi. (The Wi-Fi was available in the bar, reception and pool cafe).
We found the service abysmal. I've never been to a hotel where the waiters stay behind the bar and you have to go to them to order and then 15 minutes later you have to go and remind them of your order (I thought it was maybe a Moroccan thing, but found out that it wasn't). Elsewhere the service was painfully slow. This became very frustrating
We had one "rest" day by the pool. The loungers were reasonably comfortable and the pool itself is a good size, however I've never understood why hotels make them so deep, I could only stand on the bottom for about 25% of its area. There is smaller children’s pool. A Poolside drinks service didn't exist, though there was a snack bar on the adjacent terrace.
On this particular day the musical theme was French Trance Music, which increased in volume as the day went on. (To the point of being deafening). One point of note, there is a building site across the road from the pool, we didn't notice much noise (even between the disco tracks), but that might not remain the same.
As I said earlier, the hotel is well out of town, there are absolutely no other facilities close by. Fortunately the hotel has a free shuttle service to the city centre. Unfortunately, there’s only one every 90 minutes or so. AND it must pick up at at least one other Mogador hotel before reaching us. Additionally, you have to compete for the few (if any) remaining seats with other tourists (queueing was not an option). The return journey is even more of a scramble. The answer is just forget it. The taxis outside the hotel grossly overcharge for the ride into town and generally refuse to budge below 50 Dehrams (just over £4). But as a way of avoiding the Melee its the only other option. Two return trips a day into town added nearly £90 to our holiday costs over the week.
OK, that reads a fairly long - winded, gruesome review. I've tried to be as honest as I could without going into personal details. We are a fairly easy going couple and both felt it was a shame. Minor changes could make this a good hotel. If the staff could lighten up a bit, smile and get on with the job it would be miles better. The apparent language barrier made us feel unwelcome. The Transport difficulties were annoying. But having said all of this we still thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Marrakech and will return one day, but not to this hotel.
Please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions.
- Ryad Mogador Kasbah Marrakech
