I've just returned from a 3 day party trip to Marrakech to celebrate my 50th birthday,
travelling with my wife and 22 other guests. We were based at the Ryad Zouina, but held the main party at the Amanjena. Myself, wife and daughter have stayed 3 times before at the Amanjena and know that it's a wonderful hotel whch is why we chose it for my party. Of course ensuring my guests had a memorable time was very important to me.
To say that the staff at the Amanjena excelled is a massive understatement. Of course we had expectations, but they were exceeded by about 200%! It was the most amazing night.
Drinks first by the large pool and then dinner in the berba tent. Ok, that sounds a fairly so-so experience - you had to be there! - but the lighting, candles, bonfires, music, service, table decorations, wine, food, entertainment was simply incredible. If you're thinking of where to host a special occasion - take a look at the Amanjena - you won't be dissapointed. Thank you to Livio and Joy and their team. You're stars!
Shaun & Julie Power

Stayed at Amanjena for the second time. We love staying out at the Palmeraie for various reasons, the obvious one being that it is much quieter than staying in Marrakech itself. The rooms are spacious and very private. Each room is built as a separate pavilion with its own gazebo. I won't go too much into the room description as its internet portal does do the rooms justice. The pool area is very relaxed and staff are very helpful and responsive. We went horseback riding the other day in the desert. As it was a cloudy day with the odd raindrop our boots and chaps got very dusty and dirty. Upon our return those were taken from us and returned as clean as if they were new. Equally great and convenient is the car service the hotel offers; unless one goes on a longer tour the use of the chauffeured cars is free of charge. There is very little room for improvement in my opinion. One area might be the restaurants at the hotel, but that might also be down to our own laziness. Eating out when staying at the Palmeraie is a little of a hassle, hence, we prefer eating at the hotel. The Thai restaurant isn't that great and the food on the French/Moroccan restaurant can get a little boring as there is not that much choice on the menu; but then my complaint might also be due to the fact, that I do not really like Moroccan food.
One last thing, which is more in response to a previous post: We have taken the hotel's offer up to organise some tours; the horseback ride through the desert was a true highlight and truly magical; if you are an able rider, by all means do it; but - and this is a but written in capitals - we would never have anyone organising any trip for us with a guide going either into the Atlas mountains, a Berber village or the Medina. The possibility that one ends up at a carpet shop, or the guides aunt, cousin or other family member who is in possession goods that you do not want but they wish to sell to you, is just very very high. We had similar experiences not in Morocco and not at this hotel, and learnt the lesson.

What a stay. These are the most fantastic three days of my entire life. Of course the luxury was out of this world, but the most important was the warmth and extremely good service we felt from everybody at Amanjena from the moment we landed at the airport until we waved goodbye three days later. If we ever get the chance again we will go to Amanjena.

We were greeted by a driver and a hostess at the airport who whisked us off to a VIP area at the airport while they got our luggage and passports stamped. We were escorted outside to take a car to the hotel but the driver was late. We stood around for about 5 minutes. We took a luxury car to the hotel. They offered some cold towels and snacks in the car which was nice. Upon entering the hotel, we were greeted with tea. They remembered that my husband does not like mint so they offered him different tea which was nice. However, we were not given the option to sit down and it seemed very hurried. It was hard to drink hot tea so quickly.
The room was very nice. It was spacious and it had its own entrance like a private villa or riad. We had a nice fountain and sitting area outside. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom/shower area was spacious. We were provided with one free bottle of wine. Don't be afraid to try the local Moroccan wine, it is very good.
I had arranged several tours 2 months in advance. The next day, we were met by a tour guide and a driver who took us around Marrakech. All was going well until we were taken to a carpet store. We told the tour guide that we did not want to purchase anything but the store owner was very aggressive and told us to sit down while several workers started rolling out carpets. We were bewildered. The tour guide was no where to be found as we sat and were shown tons of carpets. The store owner insisted that they were already renumerated by the government and that the money spent would go towards the women and children making the carpets. We finally gave in and purchased the smallest carpet available which was $600.00 US.
We had told our tour guide before we left the hotel that we didnt want to shop. But he continued to take us to silver shops where he knew the owners. It seemed that the tour guide knew many shop people. As the previous poster from hong kong mentioned, it felt as we were being "HAD." It wasn't a good experience and it left a very bad taste in our mouths.
The next day, the concierge approached us before we could find him (in order to mention the previous day's bad experience). He started to tell us that we should use the hotel safe for our valuables. This was strange since I had our passports and expensive items already stored in the safe. I told him that all of our valuables were in the safe. I then told him about our uncomfortable experience on tour the previous day. We told him that we were fine with buying a rug if it went towards the women and children. He told us that he would check with the tour guide to ensure that it was a government run store and get back to us.
The next day, I approached the concierge because he had not gotten back to us. I asked him if the store was government run. He nodded and said yes and then quickly changed the subject.
This bad experience took away from the beauty of this hotel. The concierge talked down to us about putting our valuables in the safe although we already had. He did not get back to us on whether or not the shop was government run. What does this tell us? It tells us that he is trying to portray himself as being caring by telling us to take care of our valuables but in the meantime, he is misleading us to shops where we buy overpriced rugs so he can get part of his 'CUT."
Upon checking out, we were given baggage tags for our luggage. My husband had his first and last name written on his tag. I had my first and middle name written only. This demonstrates that my husband is called by his family name but I am not given the same respect.
All in all, it was an unpleasant experience. We are well-travelled people who were put in an uncomfortable, unsafe, position in a strange country by a shady concierge and his cohorts. Too bad since it is a beautiful hotel.