Hotel Mira Palace Al Hoceima — Hotel in Al Hoceima

I must preface this review by saying that while planning our trip to Morocco, I had great difficulty deciding where to stay in Al Hoceima where we intended to take a short sea-side break on our road trip between Chefchaoune and Fez. The reviews on TA and in Rough Guide were not terribly enthusiastic about any particular hotel: all seemed pretty mediocre and none jumped out at me and said "Hello!" I had booked first at Suites Mohammed V, and then at Mercure Quemado, and changed my mind several times and finally settled on the Mira Palace (despite pictures of its horribly kitch, pitch-black granite clad, exterior, and talk of its being way out of the main town and beach areas - which it sadly is). It was not a bad choice, in itself, ignoring its somewhat sterile and alienated location, and it was very, very quiet. The hotel and the room itself were clean and spacious, with good aircon, cosmetics and linen, solid finishes but terrible lighting, and a highly slippery shower floor (both of which latter complaints are not uncommon in Morocco in general). There is every type and style of chair in the lobby, textures of every hue, a real décor cadenza, including a sofa on which one member of staff slept during the night and which I had to wake him up to allow us to leave! There is also a beautiful, blue, cold, large pool which I had all to myself. Of about 30 rooms in total, I believe there were only 1 or 2 other occupants on the 2 nights we spent there (early October 2017) - there was a feeling that we had arrived in some newly built, wealthy seaside town, which could have been anywhere in the world, out of season for some sort of business trip. The staff complement was reduced to a skeleton of 2 or 3; everything and everyone were rather slow and drowsy. We only had one breakfast (reason apparent in a minute), served in the empty dining room on the pool level: it is obviously buffet style, but because of the lack of guests, there was nothing at all laid out - we were surrounded by empty vessels, pots, platters and coffee jugs ... it felt like we were ghosts passing through ... and the coffee, now that I recall, was nothing short of putrid and tasted of over-boiled milk. The rest of the breakfast was poor - someone had taken, reluctantly, a few ailing cold meats and cheeses out of a fridge somewhere and aimed them at our table, where they settled disconsolately, as if by chance. The bread was fresh; that much I can say. Wirth so few guests, you just cannot serve breakfast in such a room. Make another plan. No one gave any of this any thought. We were simply numbers in a machine.||The view from the room, over the pool, a parking lot, some apartment blocks and finally, a distant bay of blue sea, was all right, but strangely alienating ... the whole place, being in the middle of a sort of up-market suburb, was sorely lacking in LIFE ... of which there is so much to see in Morocco in most other places.||We tried to go into the Suites Mohammed V to see what it looked like. From the outside it resembled a building for public administration or a sort of military academy, with police and soldiers milling around and guarding the entrance; no idea why. We were denied entry, and so, needless to say, if we ever return, we would not stay there. The best sandy beach is undoubtedly Quemodo itself, right in the town, on which we spent a pleasant morning, with stunningly clean blue water and excellent swimming (no waves, of course - I do not compare this to beaches in the southern hemisphere; I am talking by domestic European standards, as pathetic as they are); and the Mercure Quemado, although arrogantly built practically on the beach itself, is without doubt the best option for Al Hoceima: wisdom with hindsight as this may be. That is where I would stay if I visited the town again, which I probably would not, since once is enough, until I am very old ... That said, it was fine for what it was, I do not regret it, and the beach and the swim made it worthwhile, and there is some surprisingly dramatic natural beauty around the town which is also worth seeing. The main square of the town, just above the beach, is rather sterile, but the town itself busy and lively, with fresh sea breezes; there is no food in the town worth talking about (as far as we could find) except a fish restaurant, at not the cleanest of spots right inside the harbour, called Club Nautique which is well nigh impossible to find ... but persevere! We ate at the Basilico as well which was mediocre and quite over-priced.||So, all in all, Al Hoceima is very refreshing for a day or maybe two, but (unless you're there on business, perhaps or for a conference or something like that), the Mira Palace would not be my choice again. Reasonably priced at around E100 per night, for 2 pax, with the...

The location of this hotel was great – we were able to walk all over town and get where we needed to go within about 20-30 minutes, even to Quemado Beach. It is also a convenient 5 minute walk to the supermarket. It overlooks the West coast of the city (we had a lovely view from our window) and was a pretty easy drive to the national park (although the potholes, one-way streets, and dead-ends were some obstacles along the way). The hotel was gorgeous and upscale and the room and bathroom were modern and spacious. The bed was extremely comfortable and exactly what we needed after days of driving. We were also able to park out front and come and go, no problem. The layout is a little confusing and it wasn’t really clear where the pool and restaurant were (there is a separate building right next to it with another pool and restaurant that we confused for our hotel) so we didn’t get to experience all the amenities but they did seem nice when we finally did find them. Some of the staff didn’t speak English that well so there was a bit of a language barrier at times but we were able to figure...

This hotel was likely the best in town when it first opened, but it is now understaffed, badly maintained, and going downhill.||||It is a modern property with large rooms, in a quiet location well away from the center of the city. But, the heating did not work in my room, 3 light bulbs were burned out, and the refrigerator was broken. I was moved to another room, where the heating worked, but this time 2 light bulbs were burned out and the furniture & desks were dirty.||||The restaurant is extraordinarily expensive (about double what you would pay for the same food in a good restaurant downtown). Service in the restaurant was inattentive, even though I was the only customer that evening. The food itself was mediocre.||||Until there is a management change at this property, I suggest...