Heure Bleue Palais : Relais & Chateaux — Hotel in Essaouira

When you stay at a Relais & Chateaux hotel, and especially one billed as the best Riad in Essaouira, you expect a certain level of comfort and attention to detail. Whilst this property is undoubtedly very good, it did not meet our expectations. On the positive side the hotel is beautiful inside and the staff are certainly friendly and well trained to look after the guests; always a smile and very willing to help with anything. The standard of cuisine is high, as expected. However, we booked a deluxe room with a balcony and I would say it was a little more shabby than chic. On arrival, we mentioned that neither of the sets of curtains was working and one was hanging off the rail. Someone very quickly attended to make sure the curtains were closed, but no repair was carried out during the five days of our stay, it was more like a third class hotel each time we looked out of the windows. After the first night, the manager asked if we had any issues and whether we had slept well. I mentioned that the room was very noisy with traffic outside the medina, the clattering of rubbish from below when the bins were emptied and lots of children playing into the night. It was shrugged off as the sort of thing one has to expect during Ramadan. Unfortunately, the problem persisted and for five nights we were frequently woken in the night due to the noise of traffic, bins, motorcycles racing around the car park outside, children playing and dogs barking. We were pleased to leave for a quieter hotel. Perhaps this is problem with the deluxe rooms with windows to the outside, rather than the standard rooms with windows only into the courtyard. When prompted, I mentioned it again to the manager after the fourth night and he offered to change our room, but this was impractical with only one night left. It's a shame he did not offer this after the first night. We had looked forward to having some relaxing spa experiences, but even here we were thwarted. The fan in the Hamam treatment area is so noisy that you cannot relax in the Hamam itself or the treatment room beside it. Needless to say a relaxing massage became a bit of an ordeal. I mentioned this to the staff and one of the managers came to me the following morning. All she could say was that this was the normal noise of the Hamam steam and that I could have asked for it to be turned off. We did not return for more treatments. To end on a positive note. The hotel has a wonderful pool on the roof, with panoramic views out to the sea and really comfortable seating areas to relax in. It is also spotlessly clean and very beautiful internally with a gorgeous courtyard that is used as the breakfast area. Bathrooms are lovely with very high...

We wanted to love this place but unfortunately had some issues. In general it’s a nice hotel but not 5 stars.

The overall hotel needs upgrading in lots of places - chipped wood on furniture, table linens looking old, scuffs on skirting and walls - walls in bedroom could do with a coat of paint to refresh.

Our overall issue was with our room. It was very dark and loud & noisy (at night- although this seems to be a theme in the reviews). The aircon also created a smell in our room, which was unpleasant and not ideal. It also was more “mild air” rather than standard aircon most people are use to these days, another upgrade needed on this. All of this just gave us an overall impression of it being a little grubby.

After asking one of the staff if we could move room the next morning, to improve our experience, I was informed that we had already been upgraded (which no one had told us at check in) and they could offer me two options - move room but be downgraded (at which he showed me the room - half the size and still just as dark), or upgrade to larger room but at extra €120 a night. He didn’t offer to show me the larger room (so not sure if it was brighter) as I mentioned we weren’t able to pay any more money, as it was already a very expensive hotel rate. After double checking that was the best he could do for us.

Honestly, this wasn’t the service I was expecting and it all felt quite defensive. We had hoped for more! As we had booked through a members club travel specialist we got in touch with them and gave them some feedback and then decided to go enjoy the rest of the day.

By the time we returned that evening, we knew we wanted to check out early in order to enjoy as much as possible our holiday. We were informed after coming back that night that they now could offer us an upgraded room at no additional cost due to the agency getting in contact. They could have offered us this in the morning time when I myself in person enquired. At this stage our mind was made up.

The only saving grace we found at the hotel was the rooftop pool, enjoyable & relaxing. Again though if you looked, for example, at the toilet on the rooftop pool I don’t think you would call that 5 star Relais & Chateaux worthy.

In the UK we would rate this a 3 star hotel, and after coming from an amazing hotel in Marrakech and onwards to another 5 star, I don’t feel like this hotel offers a 5 star experience or value for money. All of which we conveyed to the General Manager as we left the next morning who was open to hearing the feedback.

Just to note - we were a younger couple, it felt like the hotels clientele was more...

We stayed here for four nights during our 15 day tour of Morocco last month.|There were some good and bad points, which is why I have to give an "average" rating.|Our first night was one of the worst we have ever spent in a hotel. The building is surrounded on three sides by busy medina streets/alleyways and we suffered a group of locals partying below our window until 2.00am. (Plus bins and bottles crashing around at midnight). We complained the next morning (as did other guests) and were offered a similar suite on the fourth side, overlooking the open space to the east, then a large car park and busy city street beyond that. We took it and worked out that despite the traffic and more distant background noise, the walls are quite thick, and if we stuffed the external windows (which are tiny) with every spare pillow and cushion we had a quiet room and had three good nights sleep.||The central courtyard area was much cooler, smaller and darker than we expected from photographs. It is full of trees and greenery which have become quite tall now in a 4 storey building so not the warm/sunny area that we had envisaged. There is no outside space or views or sun terrace/space at ground level.|The dining was quite formal. We only used it once. |I understand previous reviews which say the place is a bit tired. Our second room (32) was better than the first (35). Maybe more recently decorated. The first room only had one bedside working bedside light. The second was broken and hanging on its flex.|But all quite clean.|The rooftop was the best bit. A very pleasant (and sunny!) rooftop lunchtime menu and plenty of sunbeds and shades. But we went back especially for lunch on one day and it was shut without any warning or notice. One guest thought they "had another event on somewhere". We went back downstairs and were told it was due the the previous night's rain. So we had to have lunch in the cool shaded courtyard. The next day (and after another night's rain!!)...it was open again!!.|The location is very good, just inside the medina and I don't think there's any comparable alternatives until you get over by the port area. And I'm not sure what there is there. So for a fairly safe bet in Essaouira, L'Heure Bleue will do the job. |Maybe we caught it in less than perfect weather and the shaded cool central courtyard area would be great in the...