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by billmoy
Chicago, Illinois
December 18, 2002
The layout of the hotel room blocks attempts to emulate the local homes of Morocco, which have an emphasis to look inward towards an interior courtyard rather than having a fancy external public facade. Indeed, the design of the hotel entrance area seems to have been a complete afterthought. The hotel assumes all guests are arriving by motor vehicle, so it is fronted by a free parking lot. The hotel is located on a prominent intersection, but while there is a large sign here with the hotel logo, there is no entrance there! One has to walk along the fence and enter and exit through a guarded entrance ramp a few yards west of this intersection. After passing through the nondescript front arcade, you enter the spacious and colorful lobby, with a few exotic design elements. There is plenty of space here for the tour groups who stay here. The gentleman checking us in asked us if we needed an official tour guide for the next day, but we declined.
The hotel was built in 1971 and handsomely remodeled in 2001. The 5 floors of 271 rooms are organized to surround the cheery interior courtyard. This leads to long walks down interior corridors if your room is on the far side of the square. The fragrant courtyard contains the outdoor pool, and plenty of trees and lush plants. The standard room with two double beds was spacious and very comfortable, and we were pleasantly surprised by a complimentary fruit basket and mineral water. Most rooms have balconies facing either the courtyard garden or the city. Our room was on the first floor, so our porch door opened directly into the courtyard. Other fine amenities include a large TV with many stations, roomy bathroom, plush bathrobes, empty mini-refrigerator, but no in-room safe. The interiors show little Moroccan flavor, but you can get plenty of that in the old medina.
The hotel has five restaurants featuring various cuisines, and also business and meeting facilities if you are not really on vacation. There is a gift shop that sells stamps for your postcards, but you may be paying a bit more than the correct postal rates.
From journal Bill in Morocco - FEZ (FES)