Hotel Transatlantique claims it is a 4 star hotel but the rooms are really 2 marginal stars. I was really surprised at the quality of the rooms. Dark, dated rooms with old furnishings. There were only 2 small light bulbs -one next to each bed- to light the entire room so it seemed like a cave at night (and sometime during the day.) Basically, it looked like a room from the '70s- dark wood, yellow checked bedspread, poor lighting, and bad paintings.) However, it was clean.
The remote for the tv didn't work and the reception on the tv was poor.
The bathroom was better. It had nice pristine tile and looked like it had been renovated in at least the last few years. However, our shower was broken the whole time and we notified them 3 times, including immediately after we got there. They did nothing to fix it. (there seemed to be a problem with the fitting on the showerhead so that 90% of the water gushed from the showerhead down the cord and 10% trickled out of the showerhead).
The people at reception were fine but spoke limited English. Also, they were not really helpful about sites or getting around. They seemed confused that we wanted to go to the Roman ruins at Volubilis, which is odd since it seemed to be one of the major attractions in the area. An apparent manager eventually ordered us a grand taxi, which was helpful.
The wifi is really not great. The hotel one never worked so we picked up another one.
The hotel pool was nice relief. Also, the lobby was comfortable and well decorated.
Breakfasts were so-so. Croissants and other pasteries, OJ and coffee.
It does have a nice view of the medina - but the drawback is that you are not close to the medina and it is not easy to pick up taxis there (the desk will call one for you, but it takes awhile.
We got a good deal on this place online ($70/night) so even though it was not what it was billed as, we still were fine overall with our stay. I would just caution people to set their expectations lower.
- Transatlantique Hotel Meknes
