Dar Housnia — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

We stayed here for four nights in the family suite with our two kids (6 and 9). The accommodation feels quite palatial - lots of stairs though and the swimming pool is right next to the family suite with the door left open, so don't think I'd recommend it for much younger kids necessarily. Mustapha and Ali were great. The other staff don't speak brilliant English and although I can sort of get by in French (I got an A in my GCSE years ago!), it was tricky sometimes when they weren't there. If felt like there were people going in and out of the suite a lot of the time - didn't feel very private, although I was grateful for e.g. somebody to turn the million lights out!

We had dinner the first night which was good though arrived at 7.45pm when we asked for it at 7pm and our kids were starving and tired by then. Breakfast, which was fantastic, is served in the suite and I learned to ask for a bit earlier than we needed but ultimately would have been nice if things had arrived a bit more on time.

Location-wise, it wasn't the greatest location for most of the site-seeing places - the wrong end of the medina. Without kids, I don't think it would have mattered, but it did feel like we spent an awful lot of time walking and maybe I'd have gone somewhere nearer the square etc. instead if I were picking somewhere again.

The main thing that slightly spoiled the experience for me was my experience of the hammam. Apart from starting half an hour or so late, I felt I was a bit harrassed the whole time to spend more money (on a longer massage, buying oil, and was asked about ten times if the rest of my family wanted to book a session and for what time even though I kept saying that I needed to ask them) which made what should have been a relaxing experience not relaxing. Marrakech is a mad place with everybody hassling you for your money, and you want your riad to be an oasis from that! I also tried to ask the riad staff in advance about tipping for the hammam but couldn't get a proper answer and would have like to have clear expectations there. Somehow my experience of the hammam soured my whole experience of the place when it should have...

Our first visit to Marrakesh and we booked Dar Housnia after extensive research. The initial arrival at Marrakesh’s very smart airport is impressive. Into a taxi (arranged by Dar Housnia) into town. I discovered all Riads in the Medina are inaccessible by car and involve some walking for the last part. The last 200 yards to Dar Housnia are along a very busy narrow street with motorbikes going in both directions and lots of people rushing backwards and forwards. However once navigated you turn down a small alley and a couple of turns later you are at the door of the riad. The door opens to a different world, beautifully restored merchants house over 3 floors, with a roof terrace and a pool.|Abdul looked after us really well, the breakfast is delicious and my wife had a hamman in the hotel.| The rooms are well decorated lots of hot water and lovely sheets and towels.|Navigating round the locality does take some practice, it’s easy to become disorientated. Our first couple of hours was spent exploring the local area and we fell prey to a gentleman who offered to show us the tannery (definitely not recommended) then onto his friends leather shop for some pressure selling we escaped lightly with a belt!|The area is a bit daunting at night but I felt quite safe there are two very good restaurants locally Le Foundouk and Le Slimana. I used le Foundouk as a reference point when getting back to the riad using google maps. |If you want to but a locally woven scarf opposite Le Foundouk are 2 hand weavers the one furthest away is the best, good quality and nice colours. If you decide to eat out in another part of town be careful getting back as the souks shut at 9.30 ish and you can get locked in.|Lots of places to go and see all itemised in many guidebooks. Half a day with a guide is...

As much as I wanted to like this riad, I just couldn’t. The main issue - its location; secondary - the non-renovated amenities.

As many first-time visitors of Marrakech, I wanted to stay in the Medina (old city center) for the authenticity, etc. This riad does not have direct access to the road, one must walk 4-5min through a covered food market and side streets. After my 5-day trip in Marrakech I believe this to be one of, if not THE, worst neighbourhoods of the Medina: dirty, smelly, sketchy during the day and downright unsafe at night (even when with my partner). Wearing dresses and/or heels for dinner was not an option, so all expectations of “magical” evenings were gone.

As for the riad itself - it is nice, no doubt. Refurbished, walls redone and painted, quite elegant. But our room only had a big (big!) bathtub in a non-renovated stucco-type material, all the cracks made it look dirty and it was really cold due to glass-less windows (typical in Marrakech). The owners solution was the tiny electric (in a wet space??) heater next to the bug spray on the floor.

We decided to leave to a hotel after the first night and voiced our opinions to the concierge, who called the owner. She insisted that rooms were clean and that an influencer she recently had invited thought the bathtub was nice and did photos in the riad (because, yes, paid-for influencers give unbiased opinions).
 She refused to refund any part of our 3-night booking.

If you do decide to go - the concierge was top notch, really sweet and understanding. The breakfast is simple, but nice and fresh, albeit not on time. The service and communication provided were kind and felt genuine. Be aware - the instagram and website photos are nicer than...