Riad Fes Maya Suie & Spa — Hotel in Fez

Dangerous location for travellers. Entry to the Medina from the east is blocked by the river with only two entry points through long winding residential areas. They know you need to exit via "derb majmaa doula" to easily navigate back to this part of town. If not, you are met with the river or a series of winding unnamed roads in the souk. For this reason, you will be followed all day by the network of vendors and people on the street communicating via text. You will be harassed and misdirected by tens of locals at every corner and followed all day.

It is dangerous to navigate back to this riad independently after sunset.

My wife screaming "la, la, la" (Arabic for no, no, no) saved us on more than one occasion. This would not work after dark or on Friday when most shops are shut.

We stayed in another riad in the west on another trip and had much fewer issues as it is easy to navigate via the two main roads and you will not be followed via the network of vendors collecting information on you across the city: "where are you from?, "first time in Morrocco?", "how long have you been here" and other revealing small talk. They get a cut from your robbery later.

We were greeted at the riad by a 30 minute long robotic sales pitch full of lies by the 'kindly' manager. Those giving reviews saying that the manager was kind, must either have exceptionally deep pockets and afford to lose hundreds of dollars in scams, or were incredibly naive as to not notice their deception. Those who believed the lie that it is a "real palace where all the features and furniture are original" should see them installing it a few years ago on Instagram or google the furniture which is all modern.

At least it gets you accustomed to being lied to without shame, which is Fes in a nutshell.

The manager genuinely leapt for joy at my wife's admission that she was from the USA and said something patronising about Americans being explorers. People from the USA are generally trusting, and tip habitually, which makes them easier targets for scams.

The other con was the "free guide". In the small print this is for the first 2 hours and €20/h for every hour after that. It's a 30 min walk to the centre, so there is no way you will be seeing anything in that time and get back. If you stop after 2 hours, you'd be in the centre of Fes and left to navigate back out on your own. The Riad owners don't care as they get a cut from this guide, as everyone does in this lawless town.

When we left, the same manager begged us for a 10 star review, and forced my wife to "promise", despite everything. It was honestly stomach churning and I have no idea how she sleeps at night.

I would strongly advise to avoid this hotel, and any place south and east of the river as they are genuinely unsafe. Far from caring, the workers at this riad just use the unsafe location as a tool to extract more money from...

WARNING: do not let them find a guide for you or show you where to buy souvenirs unless you prefer to be ripped off an UNGODLY amount.

The riad is great and all, and everyone was very nice. However, they found us a guide who took us to Tresor Mirendes, where I was charged an ungodly amount that shocked the Fassi friends I’ve made since I’ve recently returned to Morocco. Like we’re talking $800 for 6 small painted plates (marked at roughly 3-7 € in a few stalls in Fes or Marrakech), 2 painted knick knack boxes that fit in the palm of your hand (nothing special about them), a painted bowl (again, less than $20 in other shops), and a lamp that is not high quality—I was told the $800 was the “group price”, and they were shady about itemizing things for me when the price seemed unreasonable. I was told it would be $700something without the lamp. I was initially told 800 dh ($80 for the 6 plates). Had it not been late at night and we’d had time to visit other places during our trip, I would have never paid this.

I suggest finding your own guide instead of one they suggest. The one they suggested is untrustworthy and KNEW how much I was being overcharged while he stood there and happily looked on.

Beware whom you trust in Fes and in Morocco in general. Unfortunately, a lot of people care more about the money than about visitors having a good experience in the country, and it’s under the guise of “hospitality”.

If anyone is “generous” enough and offers to show you around, don’t trust them. There’s a price. If anyone personally takes you to a shop, don’t trust them. They get a cut. If anyone suggests changing your plans for a substitute they offer, don’t trust them. It’s probably not a fair deal. If anyone offers directions, they might expect money. If they help you in any way, they probably expect money—unless they’re [Moroccan] tourists as well or a shopkeeper you ask for directions. I wish I could say I loved this country and its people more, but after being scammed by the guide Riad Fes Maya suggested, another faux guide I found wandering the streets on my own, and a man who put my luggage in his cart and pushed it a little ways to a different riad before asking for 100 dh ($10), unfortunately, I do not trust the Moroccans who are genuinely good until they have repeatedly proved it.

A good rule of thumb is that IF SOMEONE COMES TO YOU and offers help, advice, directions, a guide, etc., it’s best to decline. From the Fassis I’ve talked to, the well-meaning, self-respecting Moroccans are the ones going about their lives around you but will help if you ask, not the people who seek you out...

We stayed there for a night when we visited Fes. The whole experience was not particularly pleasant. Anna and her team were welcoming at first, but then there were several important areas for improvement.

1. Slippers and towers were missing in our room. Anna promised to send new ones to our room, but they never arrived.

2. We did 1hr spa (500dh per person) there, but the whole experience lasted only 50mins (the treatment was originally 45mins, we were convinced to pay extra for another 15mins). Possibly they started counting when the therapists arrived, but we were informed to first wait for the riad slippers (as said, they never arrived and at the end we gave up and wore our own shoes to the spa centre).

3. We were told that breakfast started from 8:30am, but then there was no one at 8:40am. Eventually the breakfast was ready at 09:10am.

4. Due to the late breakfast, we needed rush to check out (for a long day driving to Mezouga). When we left the riad, we found out that we forgot a charger (when several usbs attached) and a shirt in the room. After communication, Anna kindly promised that they would help sending it by post and she understood that we would leave the country the following week. Nevertheless, after a few days, when we contacted again, she said she still could not make it to the post office because she’s too busy. Well, I guess if we did not call, we would never know and could never made other arrangements.

5. What was worse was that a piece of my jewellery went missing. We realised right after we contacted them for the charger and shirt. They told our driver that they could not find the jewellery, but there were only two possibilities: 1. It’s with the spa therapist who took it off during spa and forgot to give it back to me 2. It’s in my bathrobe. The team said they would do their best, but I have never heard back. Til this moment I received no direct response in WhatsApp.

We understand that we were also responsible for not taking good care of our belongings but the way they handled and responded surely could have been better. We must acknowledge that during the stay, Anna and her team were cheerful and friendly, and the food was tasty. However, due to the points listed above, we did not throughly enjoy our visit here.

This is only our experience at this riad and we hope your experience would be better. Thank you for reading this...