Hotel Sahrai, an SLH Hotel — Restaurant in Fez

Hotel Sahrai|------------|This review is long only because of a rather frustrating experience that we had at Hotel Sahrai in December 2024. First, the good part. The included breakfast buffet is really quite extensive in its offering and the hotel lobby and restaurant areas have a typical a 5-star hotel sort of clean feel. The restaurant food is good too. But, that's about it. Barring few staff members, most came across as rather cold and unhelpful. The staff seems to have no agency, including those waiting tables in the restaurant below. I asked for some honey as I was having a scratchy feeling in my throat, and one of the waiters in the restaurant first said "no, that's not possible", only to then go on to say "ok, let me check with the chef", and then "ok, take this [few milliliters of honey]". You've got multiple restaurant kitchens running and getting someone not feeling too great some honey is such a herculean task. Come on, show some degree of warm hospitality. Note that this hotel is also 10 mins by taxi from the medina and other areas with no shops or corner stores around it. So, relatedly, unless one has a car, it gets a bit frustrating too as one has to constantly be waiting for a (likely dusty) petit taxi to come even though the frontdesk helps in calling one. As for the rooms, those are a different story altogether. Yes, most travellers know that there is this strange trend in hotel interiors of having glass partitioned bathrooms (or even open bathrooms without any doors with the bathtub being an object to be admired, as if in a musuem). Another weird trend is to have open shelves and hooks, not closets for clothes. It's another matter as to why this trend in hotel interiors does not die, but at Hotel Sahrai you"ll get to witness the Ferrari of this nonsense. You get both these features but the bathroom bit is epic and hilariously annoying. Allow me to explain. Firts, the toilet thankfully has a door, but without any wash basin to wash hands after attending to nature's call? The wash basin is instead inside this monument of a glass-walled bathroom that occupies significant percentage of the room's area. What is this monument? It's an elevated marbled platform with all-glass walls covered by thick curtains on the outside (not inside). You also have a string of led accent lights at the bottom of the raised marble platform, much like one sees various booths at trade expos. Think how a new model for a car is unveiled by car companies. They open the curtains to show-off their latest. Sadly, here there's nothing to show here except a unnecessarily massive bathroom with a dispropotionately small shower area partitioned by an ill-fitting glass half-partition, and a long unnecessary marble shelf with two wash-basins. Why could one wash basin not be in the toilet room instead so two people could do what they have to in-full, simultaneously?. Not to mention that the bathroom floor is polished marble, which means that one can have a nice slip and fall (brilliant choice of stone for a bathroom!) And, why won't one slip and fall when the shower area throws water onto the side that is supposed to be dry but is not because the glass partion is not placed correctly. If not because of that, then the wash basin is over-designed--just as the entire bathroom is--to be so shallow that tap water bounces off on to the marble floor. In all seriousness, be careful when using the bathroom, especially senior citizens. All that said, there's also some fun to be had. Why not? Consider the bit about accessing the bathroom to use the wash basin or take a shower. You do so by sliding open a thick curtain on the outside to reach and open the glass door that is in the center of the glass wall on which the curtain is drawn. However, once inside, you now have to draw the curtains on the outside if you are two or more people using the room. How do you do that? Option A: Keep flinging the curtain from the bathroom doorstep, hoping that the curtain rings slide thru to the end of the glass wall. What a cool game to play when one just wants to use the bathroom. Or, consider option B, which is what we landed up doing: just as kids hiding behind curtains, the best way imo to enter this goddamn bathroom is to draw the full curtains out first, then get behind them from one end of the glass wall to find your way to the door in the center in complete darkness. Wow! But, hold on, there's more. Consider that it's the middle of the night and you've sleepwalked your way to the toilet, which of course does not have a wash basin but you need to wash your hands. In this case, you come out of the toilet, do the kiddy thing of getting behind the curtain, find the door to the bathroom, enter this monumument, walk on the polished marble floor hoping that it's not wet and slippery, and somehow reach the opposite end to find the light switch on the only wall in the bathroom 'cos sure you can't have light switches on glass walls, can you? Great. But, then, once you turn on the light switch, all lights in the entire glass box light up. No, you're not going to get a night light. Nope. You either get no lights or all lights that make the bathroom shimmer like a jewellery shop! Try sleeping after you've been shocked into all lights, camera (may-be?), and action (for what?). Whosoever designed this bathroom space deserves an award for violating the idiom, "do not fix what's not broken." It was supposed to be just a goddam bathroom but it makes you wanna laugh and cry at the same time. If the hotel managers ever read this, please do something about this nonsense bathroom situation. At the very least squeeze in a tiny wash basin in the toilet room! Else, this is thoroughly mad. Also, housekeeping is no great shakes. Dusty phone wires in the room, cigarette smells, bad ventilation, and no slip-ons provided even with a marbled bathroom floor gets cold like anything in December. And, if the hotel managers are reading this, then also tell your staff at the front desk to be a more flexible to guests' needs. We asked for an extra hour while checking-out (1 pm instead of 12pm). The woman at the front desk said No first without even hearing me out. Check-ins are 3 pm so there was ample time for the room to be cleaned for the next guest. After insisting a bit, she grudingly said ok. And, then to our utter surprise, at 12:55 pm, just as we are leaving the room, she calls to tells us that "they will be disconnecting the lights at 1 pm", clearly concerned that we may not leave by the stated time. All this, while knowing that we had a train to catch at 1:40 pm and would certainly be out by 1pm as we had asked her to call for a petit taxi. Which too was a blunder. We nearly missed our train because the petit cab that the same woman on the frontdesk called for, never came. We kept waiting for it anxiously, asking her anxiously to call again and find out, but all she said in a rather unfazed manner was to just wait for 3-4 mins, and that the taxi will come. When? It never came. And, so, if not for the very gentle and nice Khalid at the door who ran with our bags to the road down the hill to literally block the road and hailing down an empty taxi coming his way, pressuizing the driver to take us to the train station even as the driver did not want to go there, we most certainly would have missed our train. To be sure, the hotel offers pickups and drop-off. We had taken it from the train station to hotel upon arrival at Fes. But, it comes at an absolutely exorbitant price of 2500 Dirhams (25 Euros) for a 5-7 min drive, which otherwise costs no more than 300 Dirhams (3 Euros). If your hotel is far away from the city center, then at least offer an affordable transportation option and not seek to scam guests by over-charging like nothing.||In closing, the Hotel Sahrai needs to think from the perspective of its guests. Show some magnanimity and warmth first of all. Asking for some honey should not be met with bad facial expression as if one has asked for the sky or the moon. If your guests are asking for just an additonal hour for check-out try to make that happen instead of just saying No. And, no for almost everything. It shouldn't be that one starts to wonder if humanoid bots would be better to deal with instead. A good cozy riad in the medina or elsewhere is clearly a better option to Hotel Sahrai that is only posturing...

I wish this was the 5 star hotel that I'm used to, but it really wasn't. This hotel masquerades as 5 star but is 4 star at best. I could write so much but I'll summarise some key points. On check in, the front desk staff was completely useless. Forgot about us after checking in a previous guest until I asked if we'll be checked in (we were the only guests in the lobby...). Then, didn't give any information at all about the stay; literally just took passports to scan and credit card to take a deposit (didn't even mention how much will be taken). The amount of words exchanged must've been less than 10; I've had better treatment from 2 star hotels.

The pool is tiny and not overlooking the city as the pictures show, it's covered by big bushes/trees; deepest part was 145cm, don't be deceived. There aren't many sunbeds so it gets packed quickly (especially by guests who place their towel there before opening and don't come back for 3 hours). The "Poolside" restaurant was unclean and messy; though empty there was food on the floor attracting ants. Speaking of ants, there were some found in our room, my body has been bitten in dozens of places.

The room itself was nice an spacious, the bed medium/firm and the bathroom a decent size with a rainfall shower and bath. Aqua Di Parma amenities looked watered down but it is what it is for a hotel. The bathtub drain wasn't working when wanting to take a bath, water kept draining rather than staying. After telling the same incompetent front desk staff about the issue it wasn't fixed; they somehow tried to fix the sink drain which didn't have any issues? It's frustrating because I went down twice to make sure I was clear. I spoke to one of my friends and he said he had the same issue with his room. Though, should you want to take a bath you can sit on the drain (a little painfully) to prevent the water from draining. The toilet is separate to the main bathroom and has a bum gun (washer hose). The plaster on the wall looked poor after what looks like some damage to the toilet roll holder; unbecoming of a 5 star. The TV channels are pretty poor and you can't connect your device. What made this "5 star" experience even better were the typos on the hotel information section; I know I'm being nitpicky but this isn't what a 5 star should be like.

Breakfast spread is good, lots of choices. There's an omlette and pancake station too. All is well until you bite into egg shell from the scrambled egg. In fairness, the breakfast staff was very apologetic and replaced the whole batch of scrambled eggs at my request.

Room service menu was overpriced and didn't have any drinks on it. Staff come twice a day, once to make up the room and again as a turn down service; they bring 2 small bottles of water but you forfeit these should you not be in or have the do not disturb sign up. Usually other hotels place them outside the door.

We tried to visit one of the restaurants once to find that only the bar was open and the restaurant side was closed. People were smoking inside the bar which was unpleasant. Though inside, the seating area was closed because it was "too hot"; if it's inside surely AC can be switched on?

Location is pretty depressing, you drive through a decrepit residential area to get to the hotel which is far away from everything where nothing is walkable. You need to rely on the hotel transportation which is about 3/4 times more expensive to get the Blue Gate or 6/7 times more expensive to get anywhere else. There is no Uber or anything and this hotel isn't nearby any other taxi ranks.

Honestly, if you're willing to experience what a fake 5 star hotel feels like, come to this place. Otherwise,...

Needs improvement asap! Honest critic!

Parking lot is crazy tight and crowded ! If you arrive with a rent car , check the car out daily !

BEST IMPRESSIONS

SPA AND MASSAGE ! Fantastic ! Try Fadouda! She knows what shes doing , ask for hard massage , not soft !

Staff welcome you wonderfully , each of them ! Always smiling 24/7 and kind and respectful! Always on time with your requests!

Hotel Lobby smells fantastic! Needs more of it for each floor!

Beautiful modern design and architectural ideas to see! Big glass windows and plants and zellige pools! Just stunning !

AC works well !

Water runs good , we never used the bathtub but people say that there is a leaking . Yes we have the same problem but it was not too bad. SHOWER comes with a great design but not for everyone ! NO PRIVACY if ur staying with a friend or colleague. Consider twice ! Be aware of that. Toilet is separated from bathroom.

The Layout & Temperature of the pool is amazing ! Not too warm Not too cold But kids pool needs more often cleaning because of the trees around.

Weekends at terrace there is a live music and DJ! Very mixed crowd around!

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Negative impressions from us

Today is a sand storm day I guess , we got to inside , pool got dirty within a minute by dust and leaves, strong wind ruined everything ! Welcome to Fes ! impossible to swim or stay outside ! No lounge area inside of the hotel except rest chairs when the weather is not in your expectation

2 Cleaning Ladies were extremly loud while cleaning, they woke us up after our sleepless night trip!

ROOM SERVICE doesn’t work after midnight!!! , we had to order food from outside with delivery fee. I was so hungry and could not even find a mini yogurt from the kitchen of the hotel. Thats a shame! $450 for a night ! Think about it ! Save your sándwiches from breakfast!

BREAKFAST needs improvement!! All the food waits in the cups for hours so they do not look fresh at 9:30 am ! Cheese olives salami they waits for hours warmed up melted unshaped and flying flies around ! PLEASE KEEP THEM IN A FRIDGE SHELFS ON COUNTERTOP as the other 5 starts hotel do !

There is no Iron & board in the room , you should ask for it. Hair dryer is like around $10 and stops after 2 mins. They replaced it thankfully with a request. Coffee machine was broken !

MENU AT RESTAURANT ( moroccan down stairs )

Fish is very delicious but portion is way too small! As if they forgot to bring the other half. Sea bass cannot be served as a single fillet.

Rack of lamp was not tasty at all. Its Sauce ( delicious) just supported it well. Thats all!

The BURGER !! Omg came out cold ! Cold bun is not acceptable ! Mc do makes better burger! Right by the hotel if need burger.

No nuts / chocolate available for along the drinks

We dont think we would go back, so sorry ! Wishing you guys a good luck...