Of the 6 hotels/riads we have stayed in during our trip to Morocco, this one is the most forgetable. From my observation, there are two parts to this place i.e. 1. hotel/motel 2. riad style rooms. We stayed at the first.

In Asia, it would fit the star rating of 2 stars.

The rooms are basic and clean. Nice clean hot shower. No design, decor whatever. Plain practical. The impression I got was that the cleaning lady took some drapes from her home and decorated the place.

The breakfast was average. The pool is average. The location is so so, depending on where you want to go. It is around the corner from the Kasbah but if you want to go to the night market etc, it is at least 20 minutes walk away.

Ouarzazate is the home of the movie industry in Morocco and we were told that some internationally known movie stars stayed at this hotel in the recent past. We were traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) and were given an enormous 2 room, 2 and1/2 bath suite for our one night stay. The rooms were arranged around a courtyard with lots of vegetation. The reception area was large and contained a small gift shop as well as a sitting area.

The rooms and bathrooms were clean and comfortable. The dining room served a buffet dinner with a large selection of salads, main dishes and desserts. Breakfast was substantial as well.

My experience of staying at the Riad Salam could not have been more different to the previous reviewer's. Of course, we were lucky: my friend and I turned up unannounced at the hotel late afternoon, having checked out two other options in Ouarzazate, neither of which we deemed suitable. Without any prompting on our part, we were immediately offered a reduction of 50% on one of their suites, which made it very affordable (normally it would have cost 1,400 Moroccan Dirhams per night, exclusive of taxes and breakfast - around 83 pounds sterling per night). The suite was superb and had a lovely terrace overlooking the pool area. The staff were extremely pleasant and helpful and we found the location of the hotel excellent. The only disappointment was the breakfast, which was in my view below par for a hotel in this price bracket: there was a very limited range of items on offer. We had one evening meal only at the hotel (in what I would describe as the coffee shop) and it was OK, but not especially exciting. There is, however, another restaurant in the hotel, which may be more sophisticated, though we didn't check it out. On the basis of our experience, I would most certainly recommend the Riad Salam.

We stayed here last minute when our plans changed during travels through Morocco. Ouarzazate isn't a destination we were interested in and our night and morning there confrimed that. Riad Salam didn't make the experience any better.

The room was extremely smokey, the bathroom was dirty (hair, dust and stains), upholstery worn with cigarette holes and dingy, and one of the pillows on the bed had fresh lipstick on it. Slept in my sleeping bag I was so grossed out.

Worst breakfast we had in Morocco over 3 weeks. We paid equivalent of 70USD.