My sister and I stayed here in 2003. We were given a very large room in one of the villas. We were the only guests here for 2 of our 3 nights. We felt very pampered and the service was great. They really helped us arranged our tours with very skilled guides. We had massages outside by the pool one afternoon. We had a great dinner by the pool next to the fireplace our last night and had a couple ask politely if they coulld join us. We had a great time meeting new people over good food in a beautiful setting.

We are trying to get a family reunion together to go back to this hotel.

I do think most of the bad reviews come from Westerners that don't understand that traveling in third world presents some challenges, but they do try to give the best service possible.

Based on the outstanding reviews, I was very much looking forward to staying at Jnane Tamsna. The villa's are gorgeous, and if you are travelling in a group of 5-10 people I highly recommend them. Ishmael, a hotel employee, provided great service. Kind, attentive, and genuine, he is a true professional. And the food is absolutely delicious. In fact, it was the one aspect of this hotel that consistently met and exceeded our expectations.

For those travelling solo or as a couple (as I was), however, I would strongly recommend staying elsewhere. From a distance the room we stayed in looked nice, but up close it needed a lot of work. My impression is that the focus is maintaining the villas for wealthy travelers, and those of us looking to splurge or have a one-in-lifetime chance to stay at a "Boutique Preferred" hotel are carted off to rooms that are ill-maintained and just plain shabby relative to the price. Attached, for example, is a picture of the bathroom. I have had far better facilities at 3-star, $75 a-night hotels in Europe whereas this room was at least 4-5 times higher in price.

If you are going to stay this hotel below are a few suggestions:

1) Ask for a full-tour of the property and a list of services/treatments. It took two days to find out about the spa-type services or for that matter to find out how much our meals cost. You have to ask for every single little thing because this hotel is not designed to provide you information upon arrival and they have no information whatsoever in the rooms.

2) Communication is a problem at this hotel. Never before have I been hotel room that for a rack rate of 300 euro a night does not even provide a telephone. At first this was no big deal, but it quickly became an irritant. What do you do when you want to call for room service, book a massage, call for a taxi, or need a repair in the room, etc.? The choice is to trudge back to the main hotel (this is a 10 acre property and we were not nearby), run up international roaming charges on your cell phone, or email the owner (so much for turning the blackberry off). None of these in the end were particularly convenient and left little room for spontaneity. At 8am do you want to get out of bed and walk 5-7 minutes simply to ask for a cup of coffee? Or pay more than the cost of the coffee running up roaming charges on your cell phone? Needless to say I was not impressed.

In closing, unless you are travelling in a large group or money is no object and you can afford to pay for an entire villa, I suggest taking your money elsewhere. Overall I felt ripped-off and was disappointed that I spent so much money on this hotel when for half the price I've had far better accommodations in other places.

While lovely to look at and in a lovely setting, we found it to be overpriced for the lack of service and the food is rather mundane and cooked by a cook and not a proper chef, but still at prices rivaling the best restaurants of Marrakesh. The staff forgot about booking bicycles while we were there and we overheard several couples complaining about similar issues with prices and mix ups with service.

Our taxi driver was similarly surly and unfriendly.

A marvellous place to relax or have a fabulous wedding ! Plenty of grounds to enjoy away from the bustle of life. and this includes no tv, no radios and no phones in the room (although there is wifi). The hosts are so totally welcoming. Enjoy !