Hotel Riu Tikida Garden — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

AIRPORT|Party of 10, On arrival to Marakech, airport stuff asking about what our jobs were, at passport control one of our family members was told the job he did didn't pay that much ? How did he pay to get here . Thought it was rude. Please becareful when collecting your bags, the bag orderleys take them and want paying. When we was told to go to the area for our coach, the baggage was already full 6 of our party was already on board, 30 minutes waiting as then the tui guides thought about putting the suitcases by the back door, no one was communicating, I said this wasn't happening as it's dangerous to other passengers, we said we would get a taxi, but they sorted a minibus for us. ||HOTEL GROUNDS |On arrival the grounds and reception are truly stunning, well maintained and looked after. Walking around the grounds totally stunning it's an Eco system they grow and eat the produce here, the palm trees are full of dates and are lovely. Takes about 10 minutes to walk around the complex.|Outside is a residential area, and has a shop called Mo's get your taxis booked here. |THE ROOMS|The rooms to be honest are in need of painting, plastering, and regrouting, ceiling fans need securing as they make loud noises when on.couple in our party was moved due to air-conditioning not working, ceiling fan was also fixed, so they were good on that. Full length mirrors are definitely needed, they have a mirror that's a tv wasted you had to stand on the bed to see what you looked like. No iron in room, hairdryer is like a travel one lights are not bright in the bathroom for woman doing makeup. ||Beds are so hard and pillows like bricks sleep lacked with everyone.|Bathroom towels need new ones 1 hand towel and a shower towel extremely thin and old. Bring your own.|Fridge on arrival has 2 bottles of water, but go to the inside bar to get your water.They offer a laundry service tbh way to expensive to have your laundry done.|Shower, water pressure is pretty dire too.Rooms are cleaned every day bring a pair of shoes slippers as after shower your feet are dirty. It states it's a 4 * rating personally a 3 at a push.|RESTAURANT |As an all inclusive its buffet style, helping yourself, variety of foods 1 in our party is vegan, they spoke to Head chef Rachid to be honest all what was available was salad. Though he made a tagine which was good, only once.Pretty much 2 weeks they have eaten salad, fresh fruit daily but needs changing there are more fruits than just melon, apples and grapes oranges needs more variety All of us at some point has had upset stomach,1 in the party 5 days please becareful. The thing with all inclusive is it is trying to appease everyone but it is monotonous, theme nights would be a good idea a change from every day foods. |In the resturants the labels are awful it will say a word in English and then in other languages,but not what the ingredients is. Worrying if you have intolerance s, that needs addressing. Meat is next to vegetables, fish also, contamination is clear, we have to remember this is not at a level that we have in the UK it's very much meat based, and catering for vegans is not here. On the second week they give out customers surveys, the waiters can't do enough for you which is funny, and they want to be tipped at the end of the 2 weeks. |MEDINA|We went to the medina when they drop you off at the medina gardens, breathe through your mouth, the horse and carriages are based here but the smell of urine, will take your breathe away. It's about a 10 minute walk, the hotel shuttle bus will drop you off and collect but you have to book it. We went into the souks, it was an experience I highly recommend, wear good walking shoes and barter never take the first price they offer you. If you want trips download Getmyguide, cheaper and exactly the same as what is offered just charge you more from hotel .|POOL|3 pools as a big group we wanted the music which is at the back end, getting up at 5.30 to secure a bed is no joke, maintenance is not good in the pool slipping from oil when standing up, getting out on a step ladder is the same full of oil and slip. Around the beds need to be swept and hosed down daily, a drink was spilt, 10 days you can still see , the stain, alot of kids around the pool area maintaining it. Table tennis table is broke they keep pushing it up but needs a new one. Dart bord the darts are bent so when throwing they drop as they are bent. If the up keep like the gardens was the same as the hotel it would be 4* and above. |TUI |Reps always on hand to offer help and assistance.||The hotel offer things to do during the day from exercise to cooking etc, evening entertainment sorry but it's the worst like a butlins weekend, they try but it's terrible, don't go 2nd week of September like a saga hoilday truly. ||7 to 10 days is enough. Would we return No, for the price we thought it was expensive. Going for dinner out of the complex is like London prices yet your in Morocco a vast comparison.|8 mins away is a shopping mall has papa Johns and Starbucks a few shops but a welcome cool breeze. |Sunshine 30 to 39 most days one day over cast weather is fantastic.|||AIRPORT|You will leave the hotel about 4 hours before flight, have to say we have travelled all over this has to be one of the worst Airports we have endured. Checking in ran smoothly, it was then the amount of checks that were proceeded to go through, and not even 5 steps in front of the last check, atleast 10 of them. Duty-free is more expensive than UK Airports so buy snacks before you go in, you can't use Dirhams inside the terminal so don't take it with you, unless you want to go to the currency exchange which is in the opening of...

Sadly just returned from a week here for the first time - we definitely wanted to stay 😔 Read the reviews beforehand and was a little apprehensive to say the least - I definitely needn’t have worried. The hotel set in the most glorious, well kept gardens. The gardeners work incessantly to keep it looking this great. Outside areas are all also really well kept with 4 gorgeous pools (albeit a little too cool for this time of year), oodles of sun beds and even wonderfully comfortable day beds. Never had a problem finding free sun beds at any time of the day. One tiny negative, and tbh, the only negative I felt I encountered all week was the attitude of the gentleman giving out the pool towels. I had participated in an enjoyable Aqua fit session with wonderful Hassan and my towel was so wet. It wasn’t warm enough for the towel to dry on the sun bed so I returned it to request a new one for the day. The man was quite rude to me and made me feel really awkward. He tried to say I could only have one a day and had to return it overnight by 7pm & not during the day. I tried to explain that I’d kept it the previous evening but his attitude was not one I appreciated or expected from such an establishment. I cannot stress enough that absolutely every member of staff (apart from the pool towel attendant) was incredibly polite, helpful and very friendly. A big shout out to Amin, Mohamed and Tariq who served us in the restaurants. They all went above and beyond. Amin, especially, had the kindest soul and showed such initiative and will go far, to be sure. We found a little tip was certainly well deserved as the staff in Morocco aren’t highly paid. They really do appreciate this extra little bonus and they truly deserve it. Food was plentiful. We’ve had better and more choice in other hotels of same rating but tbh, we were certainly never hungry. Always lots of salads and vegetables and usually some fresh fish and meat dish. We also enjoyed 1 meal in the specialist Moroccan restaurant. A good change to be seated and not have to wander around the buffet stations. The Moroccan soup was particularly tasty. For our accommodation I requested a high floor room and this was honoured. We were in 378, overlooking the main pools and central courtyard and this benefitted us with glorious afternoon sunshine on our balcony and the most amazing sunsets. Our room was very comfortable with everything we needed. No bath but a double sized shower instead. Having your own coffee & tea facilities in the room is always a bonus. Our cleaner was so friendly and worked so hard all day. Indeed, all the cleaners work their socks off to keep all the areas so pristine. All the toilets around the hotel were immaculately kept and the cleaners were constantly doing the rounds to keep them like this. The Tui team were all extremely helpful and friendly. Darren & Hassan were like a dynamic duo and we only briefly met Sam (who left after a few days for her new position in Cape Verde) & then had a little chat with Chloe who took over for Sam. Chloe was really friendly and I’m sure she will have a successful season in Marrakesh. Evening entertainment revolved around the bar area. There was a resident singer, performer who was excellent and other events such as bingo music, juke box requests and there were African performers. Down to earth entertainment and nothing too exciting but ok. The bar staff worked hard to ensure everyone had the drinks they wanted and always tried to honour any specific requests. Cocktails were pretty basic. Airport was about 30 minutes - no other stops too, just a bus for each hotel. The airport was very thorough on arrival and departure so be sure to have all your current documents (including test results, vaccination details and passenger locator forms) all at hand. It’s fine to have evidence or screen shots on your phone. Flight delayed an hr on way home and it was a little disappointing to have no information about this and no apology at all. I only knew as I do a flight tracking app. Would I return? - most definitely!...

We stayed in RIU Tikida Garden for 7 nights from late May to early June.

The Good:

The hotel looks very nice and this applies to both the indoor and outdoor areas. The bedrooms are spacious and air conditioned and there is a good selection of pools and Cabana sun beds. Some of the hotel staff were very nice. The Tui Blue staff (Khaled, Darren, Chloe, Hassan, Jemma) were very friendly. Some of the sessions you could book through their app were great (we enjoyed tea making and the tagine demonstration). There was good evening entertainment on a couple of the nights.

The Bad:

There were problems with the overall service e.g. suitcase not being delivered to room (it was just left in reception for 1.5 hours until I came to collect it) and no extra pillow given despite asking for it twice.

The rooms were very basic. There were no toiletries (just soap). I requested toiletries on the RIU app and didn’t get anything.

The mini fridge was empty (there was not even water in there) and they said it’s because of COVID which is not a legitimate excuse - there is no reason they cannot stock a mini fridge when cleaners are entering the room daily anyway, even if it is just once before check-in. There was also no alcohol available in the rooms.

The a la carte restaurant generally felt unprepared/rushed. The food was the same as what you can order in the buffet so there was no point in going.

Some of the waiting staff were rude. Once I said I didn’t want a hot drink at breakfast and about an hour later I asked for a coffee. The waiter gave me attitude and said he asked me earlier and I said no so why do I want it now? He looked at me as if I actually had to explain myself to him before he would get me the coffee.

The food options were limited and repetitive. A lot of things were unlabelled. For every meal the buffet options were essentially a tagine, the same pizzas / pastas and salads. There were occasionally new options. One day there were mussels at lunch which I made the mistake of trying… this led to me getting food poisoning which affected me for the final four days of the holiday. I had not eaten anything outside of the hotel kitchens and the onset of symptoms was several hours after having the mussels. I was extremely unwell and actually considered going to hospital on the first night. This clearly affected the rest of the trip significantly and put a massive downer on our stay.

The lady on the spa reception was rude and was watching things on her phone with earphones every time we saw her. They shut for an excessive two hour lunch break each day which meant you cannot use the gym which is unnecessary since it is unmanned anyway. This may be a third party to the hotel but since it is on the hotel site they should surely take some responsibility for a service they make accessible to their guests.

Main reception staff were also rude.

In the middle of packing we left the room to grab a water and came back 30 mins before check-out to find the cleaner cleaning down for the next guests despite us paying for late checkout so we had to hurry through it and wait in reception rather than the room we had paid for.

Some of the toilets by the pools had no hand dryers / towels so you could not dry your hands and the tennis balls were old/damaged and need replacing. Prosecco is not included in the ‘all-inclusive’ unlike other RIU hotels we have stayed in.

Only those who tipped the waiting staff received table service / friendly faces. We instead prefer to tip at the end of the holiday but this leads to worse service throughout.

As you can see, whilst there are some positives, there is an extensive list of problems. Perhaps many of them are excusable or can be ignored, however, poor food hygiene and food poisoning completely wiping out four days of the holiday is not acceptable under any circumstances. This is the kind of thing you hear happening at cheap, low star-rated hotels, not Tui blue RIU all-inclusive ones....