Stay Report: Le Méridien N'Fis (Marrakech - December 2011)

Stay Report: Le Meridien N'Fis
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

In my continuing travels around Morocco, I was planning to visit Marrakech and was looking for a hotel that was walking distance to the main Square, but not necessarily next to the Square.  Since I was traveling with a group, I was looking for something modern and nice, but also had the Moroccan feel so I choose the Le Meridien N’Fis Marrakech.  The hotel is very grand and nice on the o utside, and has beautiful gardens and landscape on the inside that provides a nice and tranquil atmosphere.  The same grandeur and niceness cannot be said about the rooms, which were not updated nor were very comfortable.

Both the exterior of the hotel as well as the entrance to the hotel are very grand and elegant; it provides a good first impression of the hotel.  The first room you encounter when you enter into the hotel is the lounge/relaxing area of the hotel.  Further ahead, to the left, is the check-in counter.  There was a hallway next to the entrance to the hotel, and this led to the hotel restaurant and meeting rooms.  On the other side of the check-in desk was the entrance to the courtyard.  I checked-in, received the keys for the 2 rooms I had booked, and proceeded to my rooms.  The rooms surrounded the courtyard and in the middle of the courtyard were gardens and a pool.  Next to the pool was the spa and fitness area. 

I had booked two rooms, each with two beds, and the rooms were laid out in a similar fashion.  As I said earlier, the rooms itself were not that great as they did not look updated nor were they very comfortable.    As you entered into the room, on the right hand side was the bathroom while on the left was the closet and storage area.  The bathrooms contained the standard facilities of a sink, tub, and toilet, and the bathroom was a decent size but looked older and needed to be updated.

Further ahead into the room, on right side were two double beds while on the left was a TV, a chest with drawers on it, and a desk.  The beds were not as comfortable as I expected, and the whole ambiance of the room did not feel updated, warm, nor welcoming.  The ambiance felt as if it was developed in the late 80’s/early 90’s and had not been updated since then.   The rooms were of decent size, not too big but not squeezed in either. 

The hotel is full-service so there are many facilities for the guest to enjoy.  There is a restaurant, a pool, spa, and complimentary wifi.  The restaurant was decent, a bit pricey, but provided a nice Moroccan experience with tajine food, a belly dancer and nice Moroccan music.  The spa was also a bit pricey and didn’t provide the greatest service.  It was decent, but not sure I would go out of my way for the spa.  The hotel also provided a bellmen and concierge services.  The bellmen were very good at hailing taxi and negotiating fare rates that were fair to both sides. 

In the end, the positives of the hotel included the nice exterior, the lovely landscape and gardens, the good customer service especially from the bellman, and the close proximity to the Square (was a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel to the Square).  The negatives include the high prices for the services plus the rooms which had not been updated.