Les Deux Tours — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

The main points from my longer review (written before my food poisoning!) below:||- Beautiful rooms and landscaping make for a relaxing setting generally|- Pool was gorgeous but full to the brim up with (up to 20) children screaming jumping and divebombing which staff do not police, meaning it's impossible to relax |- Showers in the room (junior suites) took 10 mins to heat up|- Service is slow, but many of the staff are friendly and helpful|- Food over all was pretty good at breakfast, lunch and dinner (including the sushi bar) apart from:|- We ate all four days in the hotel (and nowhere else). I received a very severe case of food poisoning on the last night before we checked out, being violently ill for over 24h. I've only just recovered in the UK now three days later - travelling home was hell. This also effectively took away a day from of our short break as we weren't due to leave to the airport the day after until the evening. . The manager did remove my food bill for that day as an apology and offered me a room to rest in, but ultimately refused to take responsibility for it. He suggested that my illness was just due to a change in diet or perhaps even the sharp orange juice at breakfast! This was the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had, so that was insulting and bordering on gaslighting. The hotel needs to do a thorough investigation into this.||------||The sun is beating down. The rays are reflected playfully in warm terracotta tiles which guide you a pristine white suite dressed in classic mosaics and stain glass windows. Dry heat fills the air with a heady scent, part-smoky part-herbal, thanks to the abundance of trees and blossoms which populate the grounds. Whistling away lazily in the wind, there’s a beautiful natural symphony created which combines with birdsong and the cries of the hotel’s resident peacocks to magical effect. ||Only twenty minutes away from the centre of Marrakesh, the hussle and bussle of the busy medina is a distant memory. You sit down to enjoy your first lunch: a perfectly cooked sole and cool glass of Chablis (one is immediately grateful for the French clientele here) overlooking the long pool. ||These are all things one hopes to find from browsing the hotel’s website. The perfect ingredients for a much-needed break from one’s hectic work schedule. This should be a relief. And yet it isn’t. Why? There’s a central aspect of the culture at les deux tours which is at odds with the website’s marketing depictions of sweet serenity found amongst artfully manicured jardin's: that this is predominantly a family oriented hotel. Would -be tourers should be made aware that the single peaceful pool on offer - if you’re lucky to bag a sun bed that is - will be populated from dawn till dusk by no less than 20 children at a time, playing, running and screaming . What one might hope is a pool littered with spritz and Moroccan teas - perfect surroundings to wile away the days with a good book - is instead littered with barbie dolls and arm bands. Any attempt at a peaceful swim will be interrupted by splashing, dive bombing or the chanting of nursery songs. Similar attempts to be absorbed in a book you'd been dying to read are also made in vain. In short: Those who pick the hotel for the promise of a peaceful retreat outside city walls will be sorely disappointed. (Unless of course you usually find frequenting a public swimming bath during the school holidays peaceful, in which case I take it back). ||The bottom line is that the hotel does not attempt to cater equally to all of its clientele. If les deux tours is serious about retaining its status as a higher end getaway for all, an adults only pool somewhere in its large grounds isn’t merely desirable but essential. ||Then there are smaller things which hint at slightly lacklustre hospitality; things which make it stand out unfavourably next to other hotels with similar high end aspirations: expect to wait a long time (upwards of 20 minutes) for a drink by the pool, expect that several dishes and the best wines on the menu are going to be unavailable, don’t worry when the service at breakfast, lunch and dinner is consistently on the slow side and be prepared to wait for 10 minutes while you wait for your shower to heat up. Make use of the spa, but don’t be alarmed when the masseuse is sniffing and sneezing the whole time. (Deep tissue with a side of Covid? Well at least she apologised). ||The thing that prospective tourers need to made aware of is that, if our stay is anything to go by, children and family time are the primary focus of one’s experience at this hotel. The reality is that they’re not what everyone wants as the focus of their holiday. More crèche than calm and charming, holiday goers who fall into the later camp would do well...

WHAT I LOVED:||Entire staff is lovely, accommodating, and genuinely wants you to be happy.||The grounds are lush, beautiful, and natural, with little to no pesticides used.||Throughout the large property, there are lots of comfortable and beautiful indoor and outdoor seating & lounging areas, places to work, read, take photos, or chill.||Even the Classic Rooms (basic) are VERY large, high ceilings, comfortable, lots of natural light, and have a work desk. ||They have a large organic garden where they grow a lot of the produce and herbs they use.||The food is fresh and well prepared, menus aren’t that innovative but there’s enough variety. They Americanized / Europeanized the Moroccan dishes a bit (toning down spices, etc). I would’ve preferred more authentic, but I think they’re doing what most of their guests want. ||Everything is clean and well-maintained, and the entire property is quiet, serene, and relaxing. ||The gym is small, but the equipment is new, and it’s plenty for vacation workouts. ||Most spas at 5-star resorts have overpriced sub-par services - this one is priced right with solid service providers. ||||WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE:||When I arrived at my room, there was perfume in the air. I discovered that unless you request otherwise, they automatically spray their “signature scent” all over your room. I’m sensitive to toxic synthetic fragrances, so I had a reaction to it. They aired out my room, changed the sheets, and brought in the cleaning staff and instructed them to only clean my room with vinegar. The manager handled the situation very well. ||Synthetic fragrances are bad for everyone’s health (contribute to infertility, hormone disruption, etc), so I highly recommend requesting that they don’t spray that in your room. There’s even a warning label on the bottle saying it should NOT be sprayed anywhere that’s not well ventilated and it’s being sprayed in rooms with closed windows and doors because of the heat. Fortunately, it’s not sprayed anywhere else on the property that I found - the rest of the property is quite natural and fresh. ||My guess is that some marketing person sold them on this “signature scent” idea, which is a terrible idea, especially for a natural, serene escape. ||For water your only option is to drink $5 microplastic water all day. And the plastic bottles are of course exposed to heat and sun making them toxic. It would be much better if they simply filtered their water and served filter water from refillable glass bottles to guests free of charge. ||Offering complimentary Reverse Osmosis water service to guests would be much better for marketing than spraying synthetic chemical fragrance in rooms. If needed, they could raise their room rates by $10 a day to cover the water service. ||There are no prices on the dinner menu except if you’re ordering the prefix, and the prices are a bit high in my opinion. Not crazy, but on the higher end. The staff doesn’t know the prices, so you just blindly order and then get the bill. ||The staff is accommodating and hardworking; however, their wait staff could be better trained to look at their tables and guests. They all tend to walk around with their heads down, so you need to work to get their attention - they’re not actively looking around to see who may need something, which is a training issue. ||With a few tweaks, Les Deux Tours would be an ideal serene...

This hidden gem, a charming hotel with 40 rooms and suites, exceeded our expectations. We booked months in advance, and the communication from the booking team to the reception team was excellent. Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed by Wafa, the customer experience manager, who provided her WhatsApp number, gave us a guided tour, and set the stage for a wonderful five-day stay. Mr Hejjag, the General Manager, also greeted us during check-in, offering another warm welcome. Throughout our stay, both were highly visible and clearly focused on ensuring all guests had an enjoyable experience.|We stayed in a premium suite, the one featured on the website, which had its own courtyard garden with a day bed and seating for four. The suite was extremely comfortable with a shabby chic feel, adding to its authentic Moroccan charm. Outside our door was a small pool shared by just the rooms around a small courtyard, making it very quiet. Each day in our garden, the only sound was birdsong, creating a wonderfully tranquil and relaxing atmosphere. Housekeeping was excellent, providing bottles of water daily for the kettle and drinking.|The food at the hotel was wonderful. Breakfast was à la carte, offering a good selection of eggs cooked in various ways, cold meats, cheese, fruit, and great coffee. Entertainment was provided by Pol, the resident peacock, who should have his own Instagram due to his love for the camera! We had lunch at the Pergola restaurant for four days, enjoying a great choice of dishes, and they were happy for us to share a dish due to the large portions. One day, we had room service for lunch, which arrived hot and nicely presented. The evening offerings at Salammbo were just as good, with a two-course menu featuring plenty of choices at reasonable prices. The chef is very accomplished, and the wine list includes a mix of French and Moroccan wines, all at good prices. We were pleasantly surprised by the Yoshi bar, where we had a wonderful supper.|The staff were exceptional. After a few days, we started to recognise them at breakfast, and they always greeted us warmly. Although they didn't have name badges (perhaps something the hotel could consider?), they were all courteous, helpful, and very professional.|Some posts mention families with children, and the hotel is indeed family-friendly. If you prefer a holiday with only pre-school children around the pool, do your homework before booking and avoid British and French school holidays, half terms, and bank holidays.|Would I recommend it? Absolutely. We are currently looking at booking flights for a winter break, and our hotel will definitely be Les Deux Tours. Thank you to the wonderful team for a truly restful and superb trip. See you in January!|Catherine...