Great stay at the Dar Naïma! Loved the place. Compared to other riads, it's large and has a lot of charm. The best? The roof terrace. Tremendous view and: sun, sun, sun!!!
Waoh. Came like vanillia, left like a cooked lobster.
Nice thing also: fluant English speaking. Not so often around in Marrakech. The room was nice. In fact, you feel like staying at friends place, not in an anonymous hotel.
Highly recommanded!
Ben

My spouse and I had a wonderfull time in Marrakech at the Dar Naima. This is our second visit. The riad has a lot of charm and Laura & Stefan were very friendly to us. They gave us good indications on restaurants, excursions (thank you to Yassin - I think) and traps to avoid with taxis and youngsters "pretending" to help you finding your way in the street.
The Riad is the gathering of 2 authentic and ancient houses. This gives a very large space on the ground floor with: 2 patios, a dining room and a living room. We particularily liked sitting in the blue patio in the evening with soft ambiance music.
The terrasse offers a tremendous view on the Atlas mountains, the roofs of Marrakech and the Koutoubia. I'm not sure if all riads offer this view but lying facing the sun in a deck chair with the Atlas as background is just unbelievably pleasant.
I've noticed Laura & Stefan are renovating the riad. That's a good point.
I highly recommand the Dar Naima!

Great atmosphere at this riad, if a tad underlit/rooms v small. Our room was unavailable for the 1st two nights due to an electrical problem. The French owner acted as though she was doing us a favour,giving us a bigger room for 2 nights, but we would have preferred one or other. She became more unfriendly as the days went by-perhaps because we didn't avail of the evening meal on offer. On the last day, as we sat on the roof terrace, she had a HUGE row with,I think, her partner, and there was screaming, sobbing and door slamming for all the world to hear. Not very professional. It's a shame because it is a great situation, and charming building. No hot water in second room shower, but we could cope with that were the management welcoming. Her husband/partner was charming as were the local staff. I don't imagine she would be easy to work for! I would stay elsewhere next time, but at New Year prices are high so that had a bearing on our choice.

Good things:
1. Location is very close to the city centre (approx 5 mins walk from Al-Fana square) and easy to find
2. The moroccan staff especially ILham is exceptionally helpful and polite and makes fabulous Tajine and Coscus (15 euro per meal but a lot nicer than restaurant's food- definately worth tying at least once!)

Bad things:
1. I had to pay full amount in cash on my arrival and I wasn't allowed to see my room before a full payment is made.

2.The french lady who manages the Riad has a very bad temper both with the staff and customers. One day I was surprised when she told me to go to my room only because I spoke to Elham briefly regarding a meal. She thought I was distracting the staff. Even if this was the case she could have said it in a nicer way.However her husband Stephen was very polite and helpful but she seems to be the one in charge of everything.

3.Whenever I wanted to eat in the Riad, The french lady had to decide on the day and time when I should eat beacause she thought that the staff was busy with other things of higher priorities which clearly wasn't the case.
4. The rooms were very small, the blankets weren't clean and there was a smell of dampness in my room (the superior room-Btisam). The rooms are quite different from the photos.
5. Most of the room services mentioned in a long list simply do not exist, e.g. No coffee or tea in the room, not even a kettle, the safe wasn't working,and one day a female guess was looking for a hairdryer but there wasn't one! no Wi-Fi, No Hammam, No massage..etc.

6. In one occasion I invited a female friend for dinner in the Riad. We sat in the lounge for 30 minutes only and we left the place as soon as we finished having our dinner. The french lady kicked up fuss because she thought the girl might come with me to my room!

Will I go back to this Riad? Definately NOT.

Dr Al-Nakib
England