Dar Zitoune

Where to begin, the grand entry with carved doors to the 2 swimming pools and jacuzzi. The grounds are beautiful. The garden with orange trees, lemon trees, and variety of local plants are maintained. The bungalows are comfortable and private. I prefer a softer bed and pillows, but my husband liked the firm bed and pillows. You can dine on the deck or eat at a lovely dinning room inside. We had meals both inside and outside. The kitchen has an amazing chef. I am on a no salt diet and prepared all my meals without any salt. We stayed two nights and all our meals were delicious. Reading by the pool was both relaxing and energizing. I had a massage and facial one evening. The masseuse has magic hands. A 45 min massage was about $30. Same for the facial. I only wish I had two extra days to enjoy staying at this lovely resort. The staff are friendly and helpful. Our waiter had a wonderful sense of humor. I would give our stay a 5 star rating.

An experience never to be repeated. Poor service, dog poo all over the grounds, young rottweiler dog keen to play ripping up seat covers and jumping up at the dinner table, cigarette ash all over the table, chairs stacked up on the couches, plug sockets hanging from the wall, unclean bed linen, in-edible breakfast, non-existent hospitality, shower running cold and not attached to the wall, out of order pool with treads from the ladder off, manager smoking and watching television in the "lounge".....I could go on. We were the only people staying and it felt like we were an imposition and the only guests to stay here for sometime. Whilst I love dogs, we didn't appreciate being chased around the grounds by a puppy who was keen to grab our wrists with his jaws and kept guard outside the room through the night, barking at passing insects! Having already experienced outstanding hospitality throughout our stay in Morocco, we were disappointed to spend our last evening in Dar Zitoune (make sure you understand which of the three Dar Zitounes this is!) Its location is good with fantastic views over the nearby village and desert beyond but that is where any positive experience stops. We arrived and were shown to our rooms - and that was basically the end of contact with person working there. We had to ask for drinks, evening meal and he was still in bed when we came down for breakfast. Do not taint your experience of Morocco by staying here. If you want to stay in this area choose an alternative and read the reviews for this one with caution - visitors have mistakenly reviewed Hotel Dar Zitoune under this profile.

When a hotel is recommended by trip advisor I guess you have high expectations. When we arrived at Dar Zitoune I thought it was beautiful. Decor is gorgeous, garden lovely, view absolutely breathtaking. But looks aren't everything. Initially the owner was really charming, but he soon disappeared after we had ordered an evening meal (hotel is quite a way from anywhere so this seemed a good option). However as evening drew in and it got cold, and our room started to smell of drains there was no one to be found anywhere! When another younger man appeared, he said there was a leak in the drain, sprayed air freshner and instead of lighting the stove (I chose this room because of photos of an open fire, but the stove would have been ok) he just brought an electric heater (begrudgingly). The meal was equally as un-atmospheric - no fire, bollywood on the telly and a tagine that was burned and meatless - the worst we'd had in Morocco for 300dh. However worse was to come, when we returned to our room the drain smell has got worse. We asked to be moved, he huffed and puffed, showed us the room next door that was equally smelly. We stuffed a wet towel over the drain and opened bathroom windows and shut the door... still be were woken at 3am with the smell. I actually think it was really unhealthy - sewer gas poising is a reality! We both slept really badly -bad dreams... feeling ill. In the morning after an uninspiring breakfast (not even fresh bread) we decided to leave, but as we had booked two nights the man said we needed to pay for both. At that point I lost it and said I needed to speak to the owner. When he appeared he was again charming and apologetic, charged us for the one night (the least he could do). My advice is don't book this hotel in the next few days unless they say drains have been fixed.