Our visit to Hotel Balima began with the rates being substantially more then the website advertised. 1100 Dh for a four person room instead of the advertised 800 Dh. They then gave us a hard time about passports and took the copy of one of ours that was the only copy we had for our current travels around Morocco. Promising to give it back the next day we checked in. Later that night we tried to go to the bar that was supposed to be a hot spot in Rabat. It was across an alley down a dark flight of stairs, full of smoke and prostitutes. When we came back to the hotel we found out that a man who had a key walked into our room on the one of us who had stayed behind (this was at 11PM) the manager on duty was unconcerned and had no explanation but we could easily have been robbed or worse. We did get him to change our rooms after a great deal of argument. The next day the reception had misplaced the photo copy of the passport they had insisted on taking. Very, very bad experience.

We've stayed several times at this hotel for short breaks over the past 20 years, most recently in Sept 2011. The rooms have been renovated recently, which is good, but still have dark wood furnishings, which give an old-fashioned feeling, which I think is nice.
During one stay (Dec 2010) we found ourselves in a room where the previous occupant's tobacco smoke still hung around for several days. The chambermaid tried to air the room during the day, but because of the weather could not leave the windows open. Suggestion to Balima management, if you read this: consider designating one storey for smokers.
Reception staff are always friendly, and staff seem professional. Breakfast is OK: if you are staying for several nights and get bored with the same thing every day you could go out to one of the cafés close by for a better choice.
The hotel doesn't have a car park, but we always manage to park close by in spite of the fact that this is the city centre.
Clients seem to be a mix of Moroccans, foreign tourists travelling independently, and package hols.

Simple rooms, nice terrace outside, very close to the railway station, decent breakfast.

I stayed 3 nights at Hotel Balima in October 2010. The hotel was not on my planned schedule (neither was Rabat) but I spent the 3 nights there after I somehow got side tracked (literally) on my way to Fes and somehow found myself in Rabat instead. The hotel is just a block from the train station and walking distance from the medina or market area. The room was clean and the staff were okay. What I did not like was the noise from the nearby nightclub. I also had good wifi access staying at Balima. I give at 3 stars for average.