Hotel Riu Palace Tikida Taghazout — Hotel in caïdat de Taghazout

I stayed at Riu Palace Taghazout for my birthday and unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience.

When booking, my friend requested room decorations (rose petals, a card, etc.) as the hotel had promised for special occasions, but nothing was prepared. The room itself was clean but not really suited for couples, as it was just two single beds pushed together instead of a proper double.

Food & Restaurants The food was consistently poor throughout the stay. Most dishes tasted bland or unpleasant, and the meat was either undercooked or overcooked. I ended up surviving on chips from the buffet despite not being a fussy eater. • Krystal Restaurant (birthday dinner): This was especially disappointing. We were the only table without a cooler, our drinks order was forgotten multiple times, and they even forgot it was a birthday booking. They awkwardly decorated the table halfway through and brought champagne despite me saying I was pregnant—then poured me a glass as a “joke.” The food was cold and inedible, and by the time we left, the buffet was already shut so we went hungry. • Moroccan Restaurant: This was the best experience, but even here the mains were unevenly heated and desserts were the same bland pastries recycled from the buffet. • Steakhouse: Most of my group enjoyed this, but my request for salt was rudely ignored, and once again, dessert was cold pastries passed off as an “apple crumble” with frozen ice cream. Drinks & Bars Drinks were very inconsistent—depending on which bartender you got, the same cocktail could taste completely different. Some staff were friendly, but others made me feel uncomfortable for asking for virgin cocktails and I had to keep explaining my pregnancy. Mocktails were often watery, warm, or full of ice shards. The coffee bar was unhygienic—I saw milk being re-steamed and the steam wand not cleaned between drinks. Cleanliness & Maintenance This was one of my biggest concerns. Door handles across the resort were covered in green mildew/mold, which was worrying as I’m severely asthmatic. Food was often left uncovered for 24 hours, attracting ants and flies. Dirty plates were being put back out for guests to use. Pools, including the jacuzzi, were absolutely freezing and unpleasant to use. Spa & Privacy Issues I booked a “pregnancy massage” for 700 MAD (£55), but they clearly didn’t have the right facilities. I had to lie uncomfortably on my side while the masseuse insisted on unclasping my bra without offering a cover-up or privacy. It was awkward and unprofessional. Worse still, a housekeeper walked in on me naked even though I didn’t have the cleaning sign up. Instead of leaving, she stayed in the room asking if I wanted it cleaned while I tried to cover myself. Another day, we found feces in our toilet after housekeeping, even though neither of us had used it, and some of my personal belongings went missing. Pool Area & Beach • The swim-up bar closed at 4pm (even though the pool stayed open until 6pm), and staff were visibly annoyed if you arrived close to closing. One bartender even made my friends collect strangers’ dirty cups before serving them. • Sunbeds were a nightmare—reserved with towels all day despite the policy, and staff would accept tips to “hold” them for guests. Towels themselves were old and worn, and replacements often ran out. • On the beach, sellers were extremely pushy, approaching every few minutes and even placing jewellery on me despite repeatedly saying no. Other Issues Requests were ignored repeatedly—such as laundry bags (never provided) and fresh bathrobes (ours were taken away and never replaced after I asked if a bigger size was available. Overall, while the rooms looked nice, the poor food, lack of cleanliness, unprofessional staff behaviour, and disregard for guest comfort completely ruined what should have been a special birthday trip. For the price and the “Palace” name, the standards were nowhere near acceptable. I would not return and cannot recommend this resort, especially for couples, special occasions, or anyone with...

My wife and I stayed at the RIU Tikida Palace a few months ago, expecting a 5-star experience, but sadly, we were met with disappointment at almost every turn. This hotel is severely misrepresented as a 5-star establishment, and our stay was filled with problems that tarnished what should have been a special trip.

Upon arrival, the room was in a terrible state. The balcony door was broken, the duvet was ripped, and the phone didn’t work properly. We waited until nearly midnight for maintenance to fix the door. Worse still, the room was not cleaned properly; there were hairs in the sink, and the bathroom floor, as well as the area outside the door, was soaking wet—serious safety hazards that no hotel, let alone a 5-star one, should overlook.

The food at the hotel was incredibly disappointing & often left us feeling incredibly sick, and the restaurants were fully booked for days in advance. Here’s a breakdown of our experiences: Le Musk (Moroccan restaurant): You would expect excellent local cuisine in Morocco, but the food was extremely poor and far below the standard one would expect at a 5 star hotel. Crystal: We ordered the beef, but both my wife and I could only manage one bite before we left the restaurant. It was completely inedible. The Steakhouse:Given the poor reviews we had heard about the steak, we decided to play it safe and order the burger, but it turned out to be disgusting.

To add insult to injury, the "premium" champagne they served turned out to be a bottle that costs only €3.40 called “Dubois, sparking wine”, a price you wouldn’t expect to find at a 5-star resort.

Due to the shockingly poor food and service, we ended up eating at the Fairmont several times (Morimoto, Le Tapa, and their Italian restaurant). This added a significant, unexpected cost to our trip—something you shouldn’t have to do at a 5-star all-inclusive resort.

The service at this hotel was appalling, particularly at reception. After repeatedly requesting an iron for six days, I was finally given one only after threatening to get a taxi to Agadir to buy one myself. The staff even mocked me when I said it was ridiculous for a 5-star hotel to not provide an iron. It took six days of asking daily before anything was done.

We tried to address our dissatisfaction with the hotel’s service on the first night, but we were laughed at by reception staff. We also witnessed other guests being mocked and laughed at by the front desk staff, which was beyond unprofessional.

If you want a sunbed by the pool, be prepared to wake up at the crack of dawn. By 7 a.m., almost all sunbeds were reserved, leaving little chance to relax by the pool unless you were prepared to get up early. Half of the beds that were reserved were then not used until late afternoon.

There was no room service available, and the “mini bar” in the room consisted of just a few soft drinks, which were not replenished until our ninth night. Again, a far cry from the 5-star luxury we were expecting.

The breakfast and lunch buffets were chaotic. Staff were running around disorganized, with managers visibly and verbally scolding them in front of guests. There were never enough knives, forks, or glasses on the tables, making it a struggle just to eat.

It’s worth noting that a lot of the glowing 5-star reviews on Booking.com seem to be from people with RIU partnerships. If you take the time to dig deeper, you’ll find that international travelers' reviews are significantly lower, which speaks volumes about the inconsistency in experiences at this hotel.

RIU Tikida Palace is not deserving of its 5-star rating. I strongly believe that senior management at RIU should consider sending secret shoppers to this property to assess the true level of service being offered. A review by the relevant governing body of hotel ratings should also be conducted to reevaluate the hotel's 5-star status, as it is currently misleading travelers.

This was supposed to be a special trip—but it was overshadowed by constant frustration and disappointment. This hotel is a joke of an...

We have just spent two weeks at the hotel and had mixed feelings.

The rooms are big, massive beds, TV with a good range of channels, large balcony’s, everything you’d expect from a 5 star hotel. One bad point is that the mini bar fridge is restocked every 3 days (x6 cans of soft drinks and that’s all) plus x2 bottles of 1.5ltr water - which, when you can’t drink tap water, is pretty poor. You have to go to a bar to ask for more water.

As mentioned by many, the pool beds and cabana situation is bad. You are lucky to find anything after 6am and guests are leaving towels and kids inflatables on beds the night before which aren’t cleared. The pools themselves are decent enough, our last 2 days involved the heated pool having building work being completed though for the eroding slabs on the sides.

Staff we found really mixed. Our highlight was having Zakaria waiting on us on the outdoor terrace each morning and evening, he was brilliant. Generally waiters were all good. The bar staff, especially around the top pool bar, was awful and they would actively avoid serving anyone for as long as possible and engage in loud arguments between themselves which was very unprofessional. Main culprit of this being Abdullah.

Drinks wise, there is one lager beer available, soft drinks on tap are watered down and all are served in small cups/glasses meaning you order double the amount which gets annoying and isn’t ‘5 star’. The spirits are branded at the inside bars.

Food quality overall is good, plenty of choice and although the options didn’t change frequently it was tasty. I’ve read other comments and heard guests complain about lack of variety and taste, but also witnessed those same people sit with a plate of pizza and chips for dinner. There is Moroccan food options every night, and this is authentic.

My partner did become ill from the food, which does also seem a common theme. This happened 5 days into our stay, without eating anywhere else and temperatures in the early 20s. I’ve seen the hotel get defensive about guests getting ill from food on other reviews, but it is happening regularly and an issue they are denying rather than addressing.

The beach area of the hotel isn’t great, just a few beds fenced off. You have to walk 100m back into the hotel for the toilet or get a drink. Other hotels have proper beach set ups so you don’t have to spend your time going back into the hotel. The beach around the hotel is full of people trying to sell things, camel rides being forced on you, and although isn’t the hotels fault, it puts you off going onto the beach and isn’t relaxing.

Previous reviews raise issue about cats, of which there are a lot around the hotel and restaurants. I really can’t blame the hotel for this when cats roam free around Morocco like this and it’s the guests actively feeding and petting them at tables which attracts them in more.

The entertainment team were very poor in our first week, however there seemed a very marked improvement in our second week. The evening shows aren’t great but seemed to improve. The daytime activities are lacking but again as our time went on, there was a noticeable change in the team making more of an effort - seemed like they had been given feedback or told to improve.

Overall the entertainment around the hotel isn’t great. There are large bar areas, large empty communal rooms, huge grass areas with all the space to have games (5 a side football, archery, tennis etc) as well as having no where to watch sport (Euros for example) without having to go back to your room.

We found cleanliness being very good, we saw a couple of cockroaches in communal areas during our stay so they are around but never saw one alive and being sensible with our room keeping doors closed and only having the patio doors only open when we were sat on the balcony etc, we didn’t get anything in our room. Maybe it’s other cleaners, but we had no complaints on our room being kept clean.

Overall a good stay, but plenty of area to improve on. Certainly not a 5 star hotel but...