Riad Zaki Marrakech — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

I need to warn other travelers about our experience at Riad Zaki before they decide to book here. We had a difficult time in Morocco (to say the least) and sadly I have to say that Riad Zaki directly caused about 90% of our problems there.

Prior to booking, we read reviews about how the owners of many riads in Marrakech were incredibly accommodating, and happy to help their guests arrange bus rides, camel tours, transportation, etc.

Two months before arriving in Marrakesh we asked Riad Zaki to help us do three things:

Arrange transport to the Riad from the airport

Help us obtain bus tickets to Essaouira (an extremely popular trip, where tickets sell out quickly, ideally be purchased a day ahead of time and can only be bought in person)

Have information for us regarding Sahara desert overnight camel tours.

The Riad promised us in writing that all of the above would be arranged. They did none of these things.

After arriving at the airport, our driver was nowhere to be seen and we had to ask a local man standing outside to call Zaki to send their driver. This despite me receiving a confirmation from the Riad that they were aware of our flight’s arrival time more than 24 hours earlier.

Upon arrival at the Riad, the front desk person had no clue about the bus ticket request. We had planned on going to Essaouira the following day, knowing that tickets often sell out a day in advance. I provided the exact date we wanted on numerous occasions, and received confirmations by email that they would help us. In the end, the owner Zaki was unable to secure the bus tickets and instead booked a “private” driver for us (for nearly double the price of the bus).

We let Zaki know first thing upon arrival that a camel tour was something we wanted to do, and asked for him to please provide information about different tour companies offering this trip. Despite having 2 full days to do so, Zaki did not call a single tour company, until 11pm the night before we were about to check out. In the end, he called only one company at 11pm, giving us no options and no time to make a decision. We had no choice but to go with his one option.

After our camel tour, we came back and spent 2 more nights with Zaki (we spent 4 nights total, with a gap in between for the camel tour). We had no Wifi during these last 2 days, which Zaki never bothered fixing

Additionally, Riad Zaki does not take payment at the time of booking, but at check out. Despite it saying on that this property accepts credit cards for payment, Zaki’s credit card machine did not work. This was not because there was no internet access; we checked out twice, once before the camel tour and a second time after the tour. There was internet access the first time I tried paying with credit card.

I haven’t even mentioned the birds, which were allowed to hang around inside the Riad (ourselves and other guests complained about them, but Zaki said he couldn’t do anything about it, which I find very hard to believe – just shoo them out of there!). The birds began calling at 5am each morning in the courtyard of the riad, and did not stop for hours. The shape and openness of the courtyard was such that the chirps echoed and amplified. We used earplugs, but the chirping was so loud and so close to our rooms that they barely did a thing.

Finally, on the days when we needed breakfast served in a timely manner (the mornings of the tour to Essaouira and the desert), Zaki forgot when we needed to leave (after confirming the time with us the night before – in fact, only 7 hours before, in the case of the camel tour) giving us only minutes to eat before we had to take off each time.

In summary, Zaki is generally pleasant, and I’m sure he means no harm. But he and his staff are extremely unreliable, and I could sense they weren’t willing to put in any effort to meet our needs or address our concerns. Marrakesh as a whole was not an easy place to vacation for us, yet our only regret about our time there was putting too much trust...

TLDR: this is a riad located by a busy road, your room quality can possibly be as of a prison cell, all rooms have super thin walls which can impact your sleep. the management won’t be helpful. I would not stay here if I come back to Marrakesh.||I stayed in Riad Zaki for 3 nights. This Riad was booked by my tour guide and not my initial choice. After 7days of traveling around Morocco I was hoping to have a comfortable and relaxing accommodation in this Riad. Upon arrival, my friend and I received 2 separate rooms. My friend’s room was normal sized, nice decorations, windows toward the inside yard. However I received a really small room facing toward the busy street and door opening up to the main stairway of second floor, no windows toward the inside yard, the shower didn’t have a door so water spills in the washroom when you have a shower, super small room with one desk that was about to break. It just felt like a dark small storage room. I brought the noise complains to the management and they said all their rooms are booked and they can’t help me (meanwhile we were walking around and saw at least 2 empty clean rooms which were supposed to be filled later on that day, and I spent the same money to book my “storage box” as those bigger rooms). Management suggested to close the only window existed in that suite to reduce the noise. I ended up staying in a prison cell type of room with windows closed for 3 nights. Even with windows closed, you could hear people talking on the street, bikes using their tiny bells, cars horns which made sleeping here really difficult. For my last night of stay, the management offered to change my room but I declined since I was supposed to depart from Morocco in the morning and short on time to pack my bags. I didn’t have extra time for another packing and unpacking to change the rooms. |To be fair I will mentioned the only benefits of this riad: |1- it is located in walking distance to Jemaa el-Fnaa square (similar to another 100 riads in that area) |2- there was a young gentleman who worked in the afternoons and night and prepared breakfast who was friendly and kind. ||Overall, I would not recommend staying in this Riad if you care about your sleep or basic standards...

TLDR: this is a riad located by a busy road, your room quality can possibly be as of a prison cell, all rooms have super thin walls which can impact your sleep. the management won’t be helpful. I would not stay here if I come back to Marrakesh.

I stayed in Riad Zaki for 3 nights. This Riad was booked by my tour guide and not my initial choice. After 7days of traveling around Morocco I was hoping to have a comfortable and relaxing accommodation in this Riad. Upon arrival, my friend and I received 2 separate rooms. My friend’s room was normal sized, nice decorations, windows toward the inside yard. However I received a really small room facing toward the busy street and door opening up to the main stairway of second floor, no windows toward the inside yard, the shower didn’t have a door so water spills in the washroom when you have a shower, super small room with one desk that was about to break. It just felt like a dark small storage room. I brought the noise complains to the management and they said all their rooms are booked and they can’t help me (meanwhile we were walking around and saw at least 2 empty clean rooms which were supposed to be filled later on that day, and I spent the same money to book my “storage box” as those bigger rooms). Management suggested to close the only window existed in that suite to reduce the noise. I ended up staying in a prison cell type of room with windows closed for 3 nights. Even with windows closed, you could hear people talking on the street, bikes using their tiny bells, cars horns which made sleeping here really difficult. For my last night of stay, the management offered to change my room but I declined since I was supposed to depart from Morocco in the morning and short on time to pack my bags. I didn’t have extra time for another packing and unpacking to change the rooms. To be fair I will mentioned the only benefits of this riad: 1- it is located in walking distance to Jemaa el-Fnaa square (similar to another 100 riads in that area) 2- there was a young gentleman who worked in the afternoons and night and prepared breakfast who was friendly and kind.

Overall, I would not recommend staying in this Riad if you care about your sleep or basic standards...