Riad Vendome & Spa — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

We stayed at Riad Maroc for 4 nights Sat 6th to Weds 10th August 2011 with 2 of our teenage daughters, 15 and 18, our visit was during Ramadan. We knew it would be too hot (it was!) and that Ramadan may impact us (a little) but Riad Maroc made our stay perfect. We continued on to Essoiria for 6 nights which is an ideal combination in the hotter months.||||At the end of a winding street, "just another 2 corners" said Jalil with a huge beaming smile (he had met us at the airport) as we twisted and turned some more, and we stepped inside to a sanctury. Exactly how you expect a riad to be, bright paintwork, wonderful tiling (some repaired in a charming higgledy piggledy style) and purple bougainvillea cascading through the central atrium. That's what we loved, not overly manicured but extremely comfortable and in keeping. The berber shaded seating area on the roof top, perfect in the evenings after sundown. Interesting books on the bookshelves.||||The house was so peaceful and fresh, we spent quite a bit of time there, venturing out in the morning and evening to cope with the heat, try the food stalls in the main square, great fun. If you join in with the banter and bartering it is not aggressive, just keep smiling, and speaking some French helps a lot. In fact we found Marrakech to be less aggressive than our only other visit just over 3 years ago. ||||Jalil and Amina are the kindest, most professional and welcoming of hosts, they do not live at the Riad but visit daily, so you wake to a superb breakfats, freshly squeezed Orange Juice, crosissants, eggs, Morroccan pancakes, fruit and yogurt, we didn't need lunch. On the first night we had arranged to eat in, and a marvelous Chicken lemon tagine with about 5 salads were waiting for us, eventhough Jalil and Amina didn't eat or drink all day, that did make us feel bad! One daughter doesn't like tagine but she loved Amina's, by far the best we had all holiday.||||Our 15 year old also had a cooking lesson on our third day, again in sweltering heat Amina was fantastic, the two of them made lamb and apricot and walnut tagine for our dinner and salads, and Amina also showed her how to make Morroccan pancakes, that we had for breakfast the next day. ||||Booking the whole house is even more economical for 6-8 people, some people may find the bathroom/bedroom arrangements in a small riad not private enough if fully booked, but that's the riad style and it doesn't bother us.||||For a budget price we had a luxury holiday and experienced a little of real Morrocco, superb value for money, 10-15 minute walk from the main square but an incredibly quiet location is the reward.||||We highly recommend Riad Maroc to everyone who wants to experience the real Marrakech but in comfort (but perhaps not those with small children or...

ATENTION!

We went 7 people from Madrid to spend several days. When you book the hotel through a booking website, a famous "Eric" writes you down WhatsApp to tell you to cancel the reservation and they will give you a discount, tells you that you will negotiate the price when you see them in person, that there is no problem. The problem is THAT WE NEVER CAME TO "Eric", in 4 days with his nights we never got to know him. Of course, when we were going to talk to their mates at the hotel, they did not know anything about the discounts we had been told and we paid the full amount of all the reservations.

We had to pay for the whole nights, when we were told that it would be less money, the transfer (vehicle that takes you from the airport to the hotel) and the excursions.

Transfer: 30 Euros, much higher price than in a European city, for example Excursions: this is when the total deception comes. We paid 70 euros per person for one night in the desert, I say night to say, just a few hours. We spent more than 12 hours in a bus. In the middle of the way a man got on our bus and made us do 2 stupid trips without anyone having hired him. Everything was illegal obviously because when the police stopped the bus the man hid under the seats so they would not see him. Throughout the route I was commenting that we did not have to pay him, but it would be nice to give him € 2.5. After seeing the scam we were suffering no one gave him anything and went to the bus to demand the money, claiming that he had been working all day. Of course, nobody gave him anything. He took us to eat at one of the worst restaurants I have ever seen. We watched the sunset from the van, stood on a platform and saw it in the saddest way possible. When it was already dark at night, we did not see the desert, the "men of the desert" were all the time with the mobile and at 6 o'clock in the morning, we were getting back on the bus with another 6 hours back. Everything has been truly pitiful. Hotel staff: a perfect attitude. They were very friendly and everything was great. They were charming but they had no idea of ​​anything at all. They just smiled and gave you ice or what you asked for. They did not even know where the desert was.

Hotel: fantastic. Very nice, rooms were perfect, had terrace, pool and jacuzzi. Also all perfect.

The worst of all has been the deception of the famous "Eric" that we never knew. It promises you discounts you never make. Of course, we complained repeatedly to his fellow hotel guests and they always said: I'm going to talk to "Eric" and give you an answer. We never got anything. Close the prices before you...

Not honest... Booked via Booking.com, got a confirmation and all looked good. Shortly after got a Whatsapp message from Eric, see screenshot, saying I can get a discount if I cancel with Booking.com and book direct. Preferred the safety of a confirmaed reservation with Booking.com so left it and was prepared to pay more for the peace of mind, that and alarm bells started ringing. |As I had left it this obviously upset them as they were probably expecting me to cancel and go direct so they said my credit card would not pre-authorise and that if I did not update with another my booking wouod be cancelled. Updated my card with another and shortly after received another email from Booking.com sayong my card had been declined again... This being a card we had used while travelling the work for six months and had never ewver had a problem with it.|Contacted Booking.com to let them know what was going on, lady was fairly helpful, not much resolved other than I asked her to seee if she could canel our booking, which thankfully she was able to and we will be going elsewhere.|So be careful with these guys... I was in the hotel industry for 23 years and have seen and heard of these sorts of scams before. Main one being the overbooking, whereby hotels overbook then do everything they can to cancel your booking because they are receiving more money form nother client so boot you out. Usually they should book you to a similar or better hotel but this is often not the case. The credit card pre-auth is a classic ploy to be able to book you out. SOmetimes they will even book you out to another hotel wheree they get a better deal on it so they are even making money on your book out.|Can't say for certain but this all felt like a bit of a scam and glad we cancelled. |Booking.com you really need to do something about these guys as they have obviously done it before, judging by another guests experience, and will definitely be...