Kasbah Agafay Hotel & Spa

Een stukje paradijs op aarde Mooi kader, vriendelijk en hulpvaardig personeel

Niets

*Updated 26May** i had a call from the owner who has since refunded me for our stay and discussed improvements that are in process including a refurbishment and change of management, the latter which has already been actioned. He was very keen to take onboard our feedback and is looking to make significant improvements in the coming months. My original review is posted again below for completeness and i have increased our rating from 1 to 2 out of 5 in acknowledgment of the owners desire to improve this hotel and in recognition of the refund he has since provided. I felt compelled to write my first ever tripadvisor review after staying at this hotel for 2 nights in April. We booked a two night stay at the last minute as part of a quickly constructed road trip following cancellation of our family Easter trip East (cancelled due to the Middle east conflict). A family of 5 always means two rooms and a lot of expense but K A appealed due to the presidential tents which could comfortably sleep our family. The website looked amazing, Hotels.Com (where we booked) gave it an ‘excellent’ rating. We have stayed in a lot of 5 star resorts across the world, and a lot of budget resorts too. So we have a good perspective on a range of quality. On paper KA ticked the 5 star box and we plugged in a 2 night treat towards the end of our holiday before a one night visit to a budget place in Imlil, then ending on a high at Kasbah Bab Ourika. Having the perspective over even just this holiday, comparing Kasbah Agafay to Kasbah Bab Ourika for example, this compelled me to have to give people fair warning before booking Kasbah Agafay. There simply was nothing 5 star about K A. alarm bells rang the moment we checked in. so much so, I quickly checked for any new reviews on Google/tripadvisor/hotels.com and this made us really nervous to be staying at this hotel after reading the most recent reviews. - The hotel is not maintained, half of it is derelict (tennis court, garden/outdoor kitchen area, patio areas) and the gardens are not maintained despite clearly having a lot of beautiful planting from it’s history as a good hotel. - The staff seem untrained and seem to be incentivized only to sell you dinner, excursions, cookery classes and other upsell opportunities. At no point did any staff member interact with us except to try and sell us something like a desert trip or cookery class. After reading the most recent reviews, we avoided even engaging on this and stayed clear. - One example of this lack of service quality was the day we arrived. We wanted lunch after a long journey from Essauira. We were not provided a menu, just told that the option was ‘chicken skewers, morrocan salad and chips’. After a long wait, we ordered that, plus drinks. After around 1 hour the food and some drinks arrived. The young water spilt one of the soft drinks and after some persuasion took it away and brought a fresh one (see more on the ‘bill’ below). We waited for the remaining two drinks but they didn’t arrived so when I asked about them the staff member said other guests had been ordering desert hence the delay. Obviously wasn’t reality (we saw maximum 4 other guests in the entire hotel) and they had forgotten. - The staff do everything possible to not show you the pricing. This strategy is all about you building a bill that is then demanded as you leave. One example of this strategy is that their menu (which of course they have to share with you eventually) shows 350MAD per person for dinner. But their chef told us it was 450MAD with tax (at this point we had already decided we were not spending another penny in this place). Even that didn’t make sense as tax seemed to be 20%. All very strange. - Prices are unreal. For reference, the two nights we stayed there, we had the driver we had used to get us to Agafay take us out to dinner at two local places (one was Restaurant Chouf L'Or on the way to Marrakech, the other a local pizza place called La siciliana in Dar El Ain, both found on google maps and really good). The return trip cost 800MAD each time (around 80 Euros) and it was still cheaper than eating in the hotel and the food quality much better. - The wine list had the cheaper local wine – Cuvee President – for 650MAD a bottle (around 65 Euros). The same wine in Kasbah Bab Ourika (an amazing truly 5* place) was 190MAD! - At checkout, you feel under pressure to simply agree to the bill. I refused to do this, even for just a few pounds, as I was not willing to pay for a soft drink that the hotel waiter spilt. The response from the man at checkout was ‘we cannot remove it, the system will not let us make amendments’. I argued that that is incredulous, they must be able to correct mistakes. I said they need to resolve it and their offer was to give me another can of softdrink. What! I refused and in the end had to tell them that I was not paying for it and they had to take it off before we would pay. In the end, they agreed not to charge us for the drink that their waiter spilt but it still showed on our final invoice for some reason. - I read one review explaining how they felt threatened and ‘extorted’. Travelling with young children, the only comfort we had was that we had arranged a driver ourselves, not via the hotel, so we could escape for evening dinner and I felt that if it kicked off at check out our local driver would step in. checkout felt slightly intimidating with more staff arriving as the discussion progressed on the spilt drink, but with our kids in the car waiting i felt comfortable pushing back. - Breakfast was very poor, with fruit served up as 3 whole apples between five of us, plus some sliced orange. On day 3 we were served 4 egg dishes between 5 and had to ask for a 5th. Coffee was cold and disgusting. On both mornings we were there, we were the only people in the breakfast room. On the second day we asked for some water with breakfast, I pointed to a half used and obviously chilled large bottle of water on the table at the side of the dining room. The staff member instead went in the kitchen/a room off the dining room and appeared with a half drunk unchilled bottle to give us. I pointed again at the chilled water and finally was given that but instead of pouring it for the whole table, he poored one glass and took it away again! It was just very haphazard, disorganized and we just felt very uncomfortable. - On the day we checked out I used the toilet cubicles near the pool and went to close the door to the toilet and the handle just snapped off in my hand. - There is no ‘poolside bar’ despite it being advertised. - there is not 2 restaurants as billed. there is one room but it isn't really a restaurant as they forced you to book food 3 hours in advance if you want to eat there. - Wifi was intermittent and unreliable. - Breakfast is advertised as 8-11am but i went at around 8.30 our first morning and they said it starts at 9am - I did not see any TV in communal areas - The rooms were very tired (see pictures) and had limited toiletries and were not clean (I found a pair of underpants belonging to a previous guest when we checked out as I checked under the bed for anything we might have left) - Our shower head fell off the shower on day one. To be fair they did replace this, but it took 24 hours. - We booked via Hotels.com and asked for a refund which they could only give if the hotel agreed. They refused, saying the only issue was the shower head and that was fixed. I looked on Google earth using the historical image function when we got home to see if I could see how this hotel had evolved to what it is today. It clearly has been neglected in recent years. It clearly has once been an amazing place, but seems a lack of investment and poor/limited staff is letting it down and they are still trying to live of it's past glory. 100% avoid and go elsewhere if you truly want a 5* experience.

Je viens de passer 4 jours merveilleux, véritable havre de paix, l'accueil et le service étaient exceptionnels. J'ai été choyée par Hamid et monsieur Noureddine, merci pour leur gentillesse et leur bienveillance . Hâte de pouvoir revenir.

Si possible de mettre dans les chambres la carte des soins et une carte des menus ?

De authentieke sfeer, super vriendelijk personeel en alles was netjes!

Niets!

EL EDIFICIO ESPECTACULAR

HOTEL CADUCO. NO SE CORRESPONDE CON LAS FOTOGRAFIAS DE UN PASADO GLORIOSO HACE 30 AÑOS.ESPERABA UN HOTEL DE 5 ESTRELLAS. NO HAY SPA.NO PISCINA CLIMATIZADA. LA BAÑERA ESTRELLA DE LA TIENDA SE EMBOZA Y LA DUCHA NO VA. UNA MANTITA FINA PARA LA CAMA NOS MORIMOS DE FRIO.EL RESTAURANTE UNA RUINA CARISIMO Y CON 4 OPCIONES. UN PLATO CON ARROZ BLANCO Y DOS PINCHOS FRIOS DE CARNE QUE EN MARRAQUECH O EN VALENCIA SI LO PUSIERAN EN ALGUN SITIO VALE 2 € ALLI 20 €. NO APTO PARA ALERGICOS AL POLVO O A LOS ACAROS.

I felt compelled to write my first ever tripadvisor review after staying at this hotel for 2 nights in April. We booked a two night stay at the last minute as part of a quickly constructed road trip following cancellation of our family Easter trip East (cancelled due to the Middle east conflict). A family of 5 always means two rooms and a lot of expense but K A appealed due to the presidential tents which could comfortably sleep our family. The website looked amazing, Hotels.Com (where we booked) gave it an ‘excellent’ rating. We have stayed in a lot of 5 star resorts across the world, and a lot of budget resorts too. So we have a good perspective on a range of quality. On paper KA ticked the 5 star box and we plugged in a 2 night treat towards the end of our holiday before a one night visit to a budget place in Imlil, then ending on a high at Kasbah Bab Ourika. Having the perspective over even just this holiday, comparing Kasbah Agafay to Kasbah Bab Ourika for example, this compelled me to have to give people fair warning before booking Kasbah Agafay. There simply was nothing 5 star about K A. alarm bells rang the moment we checked in. so much so, I quickly checked for any new reviews on Google/tripadvisor/hotels.com and this made us really nervous to be staying at this hotel after reading the most recent reviews. - The hotel is not maintained, half of it is derelict (tennis court, garden/outdoor kitchen area, patio areas) and the gardens are not maintained despite clearly having a lot of beautiful planting from it’s history as a good hotel. - The staff seem untrained and seem to be incentivized only to sell you dinner, excursions, cookery classes and other upsell opportunities. At no point did any staff member interact with us except to try and sell us something like a desert trip or cookery class. After reading the most recent reviews, we avoided even engaging on this and stayed clear. - One example of this lack of service quality was the day we arrived. We wanted lunch after a long journey from Essauira. We were not provided a menu, just told that the option was ‘chicken skewers, morrocan salad and chips’. After a long wait, we ordered that, plus drinks. After around 1 hour the food and some drinks arrived. The young water spilt one of the soft drinks and after some persuasion took it away and brought a fresh one (see more on the ‘bill’ below). We waited for the remaining two drinks but they didn’t arrived so when I asked about them the staff member said other guests had been ordering desert hence the delay. Obviously wasn’t reality (we saw maximum 4 other guests in the entire hotel) and they had forgotten. - The staff do everything possible to not show you the pricing. This strategy is all about you building a bill that is then demanded as you leave. One example of this strategy is that their menu (which of course they have to share with you eventually) shows 350MAD per person for dinner. But their chef told us it was 450MAD with tax (at this point we had already decided we were not spending another penny in this place). Even that didn’t make sense as tax seemed to be 20%. All very strange. - Prices are unreal. For reference, the two nights we stayed there, we had the driver we had used to get us to Agafay take us out to dinner at two local places (one was Restaurant Chouf L'Or on the way to Marrakech, the other a local pizza place called La siciliana in Dar El Ain, both found on google maps and really good). The return trip cost 800MAD each time (around 80 Euros) and it was still cheaper than eating in the hotel and the food quality much better. - The wine list had the cheaper local wine – Cuvee President – for 650MAD a bottle (around 65 Euros). The same wine in Kasbah Bab Ourika (an amazing truly 5* place) was 190MAD! - At checkout, you feel under pressure to simply agree to the bill. I refused to do this, even for just a few pounds, as I was not willing to pay for a soft drink that the hotel waiter spilt. The response from the man at checkout was ‘we cannot remove it, the system will not let us make amendments’. I argued that that is incredulous, they must be able to correct mistakes. I said they need to resolve it and their offer was to give me another can of softdrink. What! I refused and in the end had to tell them that I was not paying for it and they had to take it off before we would pay. In the end, they agreed not to charge us for the drink that their waiter spilt but it still showed on our final invoice for some reason. - I read one review explaining how they felt threatened and ‘extorted’. Travelling with young children, the only comfort we had was that we had arranged a driver ourselves, not via the hotel, so we could escape for evening dinner and I felt that if it kicked off at check out our local driver would step in. checkout felt slightly intimidating with more staff arriving as the discussion progressed on the spilt drink, but with our kids in the car waiting i felt comfortable pushing back. - Breakfast was very poor, with fruit served up as 3 whole apples between five of us, plus some sliced orange. On day 3 we were served 4 egg dishes between 5 and had to ask for a 5th. Coffee was cold and disgusting. On both mornings we were there, we were the only people in the breakfast room. On the second day we asked for some water with breakfast, I pointed to a half used and obviously chilled large bottle of water on the table at the side of the dining room. The staff member instead went in the kitchen/a room off the dining room and appeared with a half drunk unchilled bottle to give us. I pointed again at the chilled water and finally was given that but instead of pouring it for the whole table, he poored one glass and took it away again! It was just very haphazard, disorganized and we just felt very uncomfortable. - On the day we checked out I used the toilet cubicles near the pool and went to close the door to the toilet and the handle just snapped off in my hand. - There is no ‘poolside bar’ despite it being advertised. - there is not 2 restaurants as billed. there is one room but it isn't really a restaurant as they forced you to book food 3 hours in advance if you want to eat there. - Wifi was intermittent and unreliable. - Breakfast is advertised as 8-11am but i went at around 8.30 our first morning and they said it starts at 9am - I did not see any TV in communal areas - The rooms were very tired (see pictures) and had limited toiletries and were not clean (I found a pair of underpants belonging to a previous guest when we checked out as I checked under the bed for anything we might have left) - Our shower head fell off the shower on day one. To be fair they did replace this, but it took 24 hours. - We booked via Hotels.com and asked for a refund which they could only give if the hotel agreed. They refused, saying the only issue was the shower head and that was fixed. I looked on Google earth using the historical image function when we got home to see if I could see how this hotel had evolved to what it is today. It clearly has been neglected in recent years. It clearly has once been an amazing place, but seems a lack of investment and poor/limited staff is letting it down and they are still trying to live of it's past glory. 100% avoid and go elsewhere if you truly want a 5* experience.

Location and facilities were excellent. Nice garden, room, terrace, pool etc. Staff very supportive and friendly.

Everything was perfect here.

An amazing Kasbah, the decoration is traditional and extremely beautiful. The staff makes you feel home, and will ensure you get a fantastic service. The food is next level good: best tajine ever ! Gorgeous room with very good bed. (We never sleep that good !)

Really hard to review this property as we arrived during unseasonably cold and wet weather. I can imagine that on a balmy, night, the lovely gardens, grounds and outdoor facilities are great, but not so much in the rain. There was a log fire on arrival in the Kasbah and that was nice. And the staff tried really hard.

Pool was advertised as heated - it is not Bath in our (otherwise nice) tent did not work at all, and shower was poor. Road noise - not much could be done about this, but a consideration if staying in one of the tents. Food - not bad, but expensive for what it was. Nice glass of wine though.