The guides and hotel staff at this hotel were wonderfully attentive. Elena, the owner, took every effort to iron out the details of our trip. We only had a limited time to spend and thus needed a customized trip. While Elena wasn't there the staff fortunately spoke enough english and we spoke enough broken french/spanish to get along fine. Our guide was english speaking so that wasn't a problem. Anyway, both elena and the staff responded quickly to problems. my wife and i are newlywed and this is our first post-honeymoon trip and our first trip to africa. we had low expectations for africa but this was truly a gem that surprised us. the hotel has a leisurely pace to it and the programs there are structured in a communal way which was great because it felt more like a bed and breakfast than anything else.

we were surprised to realize that this hotel is where many of the US embassy staffers in rabat stay when they visit the desert. we ran into one family there from the embassy that had their children down there on vacation. the staff was also very child-friendly so that would be a plus i think for people with families.

In temperate weather, with the right group of people, this might actually be a fun place to stay, but probably not. There is a string of hotels that, like Haven La Chance, sit at the base of the amazing Erg Chebbi dunes. One of them is certainly a better choice.

We arrived on a cold January day in late afternoon. We were the only guests other than a young couple staying in a Berber tent in the courtyard. There was no heat in the hotel, nor were there any lights on in the hallway to our room. It was so dark in the hallway that we could not even see the room number on the door. The heater in our bedroom was not turned on before we arrived, and it never adequately heated the room.

When the sun went down, it got colder, but no one turned on any heat. In fact, the outside doors were left open. My wife and I were in the lounge wearing our fleece and coats when one of the two young men who were managing the hotel came through. I was huddled over a candle seeking heat, and my wife said to him in French (no one there spoke much English), "It is very cold in here." With a casual wave of his hand, he replied, "That's normal." When he came back through, we asked/insisted that he turn on one of the several space heaters that were scattered around the lounge. He did and the heater made life much better through dinner.

When we went back to the room after dinner, we noticed that the room smelled bad because the toilet had not been cleaned properly. We also could not get any hot water to come to the sink. So, I went out into the dark hotel and explained the problem to one of the young men. Both of the young men grabbed flashlights and went away. They came back in a few minutes to report that yes, there was hot water. I replied, "not in our room." They went away again, and we let the water run and run. Still, no hot water. So I went searched for help again. The hotel was completely dark and no one was to be found, so I shouted, "turn on the lights." The young men appeared from their rooms, and eventually explained that in order to get hot water, the faucet had to be turned on full blast. When I complained about the foul smell, I was told that the chambermaid cleans the toilet every day. Even when I showed them the obviously dirty and foul smelling toilet, they did not offer us another room.

So we went to bed on a mattress on which springs on one side had worked their way to the top. And the pillows were hard. The next morning, we figured out on our own that the only way to get hot water to the shower head was to turn on the faucet full blast in the sink, which of course reduced water pressure in the shower to a drizzle. And the holder for the shower head was broken so we had to hold the shower hose with one hand and wash with the other.

We had prepaid for a camel ride and overnight camping trip into the desert that night, but we had lost so much confidence in the organization's interest in making our stay pleasant that we forfeited our money and drove to Fes a day earlier than planned.

In fairness, I should report that one of the directors of the hotel who lives in Spain planned to be there when we were there. Unfortunately, she broke her leg just before our arrival. I think her presence, or that of any other professional manager, would have made the service problems disappear. In fact, as we were heading toward Fes, our driver said he saw the director's partner driving toward the hotel. They had 13 guests coming in that day or the next.

Even if the service problems are corrected, however, I could not recommend staying at the hotel unless the facility is maintained better, including new mattresses and pillows, especially not in cold or hot weather.

very few, if any, of the other hotels in the moroccan desert will pick you up from the airport. the trip was fantastic. i went to spend new year's in the desert and explore some of the cities - meknes, fes, rissani. the guides were incredibly knowledgeable and courteous - by the end of your stay you felt as if they were close friends and sad to leave. while morocco is a great experience, these guides are able to show you the real morocco along with the normal tourist sights. the blue men of morocco hotel, haven la chance, is very well decorated and comfortable. it has an intimate environment where guests interact and get to know one another. the tour operators speak english, spanish, french, arabic, and berber.

for new years, there was a giant party. they brought in two slaughtered lambs from the neighboring village and cooked them in the oven pit at the hotel. at night, gnawi musicians led the guests to the pit - a ceremony overseen by elena, the hotel owner. the lamb was served as the main dinner course and dancing celebration ensued over a large bonfier in the foothills of the desert. elena has an entertaining personality and a fantastic hostess!

i booked our family for the Camel trek and one night stay in a bivouac through Elena, of Blue Men of Morocco, who owns this hotel..
the camel trek was the highlight of our trip ~ the camel men were just great and the food/water were more than adequate..
we were also given a room in this hotel to leave our belongings, and to be able to take a shower post-desert trip.. that feature was more than appreciated.. the room itself was adequately cooled and had comfortable amenities..
the hotel staff was friendly and accommodating too..
and best of all, Elena had made herself available through all my inquiries & requests about touring Morocco.. we are pleased..