Atlas Medina & Spa — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

Beware of Crooks in the Medina!

After we finally made it to Marrakesh we have to admit that, from our touristic point of view, this place seems to be a completely overrated destination. Not really much to see. Two days will completely do. We decided to stay at the Atlas Medina Hotel & Spa which is not even in walking distance from the city’s medina. While the local public transport does not approach this hotel one can find taxis right behind the property. Unfortunately, different taxi drivers tried to cheat us on several occasions so you better be careful. The Atlas Medina Hotel & Spa will impress you with its modern architecture and colorful front and a spacious lobby richly decorated with traditional and modern art objects. Public areas and our guestroom were clean and tidy but the restaurant was not. Especially during the breakfast service the buffet and most tables were a real mess and we had to ask the waiters repeatedly to clean up a table for us before we could use it. And these guys were not really excited about our request as they had to interrupt their private conversations with others first. The breakfast buffet was permanently incomplete, juices diluted, cheese out of stock, no boiled eggs, no fried eggs available. Canned vegetables. A sleepy restaurant manager did not care at all. Well, this does not go with a five star hotel but these things happened every morning. To be fair we probably should add that a kind young lady did her best to make a delicious omelette for us. The trendy spa’s menu offered pretty much of standard treatments, their staff were very kind and friendly but their service was completely overpriced which is probably why only a few guests decided to use it. After all, we were disappointed by the waiters who obviously tried to charge us twice for the dinner we had in their restaurant the night before our departure. We had paid in cash for our meals and drinks (no receipt given) before we left the restaurant but we found the amount on our room bill as well. It took us a lot of time and steady nerves to expose these financial irregularities before we checked out. No one made an excuse though. Would you want to come back...

The Atlas Medina & Spa is a luxury hotel in Marrakech with grand entrance, reception and public rooms with very tall ceilings.

I was to have stayed here, and had a room that proved to be unacceptable. And the hotel is somewhat isolated and not close to any shops or attractions, so I moved the first day to another luxury hotel with sunite and two baths in Gueliz, near the Carre Eden shopping mall.

My room at the Atlas Medina & Spa at first looked fine, but after close scrutiny I noted that the sofa was hard and not comfortable, a chair was wobbly and the air-conditioning in the room and hallway was minimal. It would only work when set on heat (in very hot August), and if the sliding door to the terrace was not completely closed, the air-conditioned would suddenly turn off. The room had a view of three pools and gardens, but it was noisy as the children were making loud noises.

The deciding factor to change hotels was the isolated location and my portable telephone and personal WiFi and another telephone kept "searching for signal" so I was unable to make or receive calls.

I am sure it could have been fine but I found another luxury place with excellent buffet breakfast, excellent air-conditioning, soundproof windows and doors, and it was close to many shops and...

Wish I was prepared by reading previous posts from several days, weeks and months ago. Seems like there are major service problem here. Despite location and nice oil and bar, there isn’t a towel to be found in the place! After countless calls, trips to the from desk, we discussed drip drying in the lobby just to get the attention needed for bath towels. Granted the room offered 2 robes but it is difficult to dry hair when one is wearing the only absorbent terry available. Besides two days of relentless towel searches, there has been no AC so we too slept with an open balcony door with one of us keeping watch for scaling bandits. Maybe we have too much NYC in us, but where we come from doors are double locked, windows never open, so sleeping with an open patio door while groups of men are playing on street corners through all hours of the night....doesn’t quite fly. We have loved our Morocco trip and Marrakech is an amazing city. However, pick another hotel if you like to dry off after your shower w towels and sleep in a...