Kasbah Agafay Hotel & Spa

*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.

Our stay at this hotel was extremely disturbing and sometimes even threatening. While eating breakfast we found worms/caterpillars in the food. I became so sick that I threw up. When we brought this to the waiter’s attention and showed him both the photo and the worm, he simply took the worm, crushed it and said it was “not bad.” After that he became very unfriendly and aggressive. The accommodation was also completely empty – we were the only guests. The rooms do not correspond at all to the pictures. They are very dark and seem more like prison cells. The pool, which looks very nice in the photos, was heavily polluted and not usable. The whole facility and furnishings are totally run down, as you can see from the pictures. Unfortunately I can't upload videos, Then you would also be able to see that the sanitary facilities are not using, are rusted yellowed dirty really very gross everything. When checking out, the situation escalated. Suddenly, staff demanded €190 at checkout, claiming it was about breakfast or any upgrades. The manager came and said we could leave and not have to pay anything we didn't use. When we also mentioned that only cold water came when showering, he also said that was a problem and therefore we should not pay anything. Shortly afterwards, however, another employee called – presumably the owner. This man obviously came drunk or under the influence of drugs (red eyes, aggressive behavior). Several men surrounded us and became increasingly aggressive. The owner himself then suddenly demanded even €300 out of anger. We were put under a lot of pressure. Since the premises can only be left via a gate that has to be opened by the staff, we were very scared and felt practically detained. We felt like we couldn't leave the hotel if we didn't pay. That is a very clear coercion! Fearing the situation, I ended up having to pay the money, even though there was no justifiable reason for it. We felt threatened and forced to pay just to leave the premises at all. This experience was extremely scary for us. We couldn't just leave the hotel because the gate has to be opened by the staff. Under the circumstances, we felt completely insecure. Type of tripHoliday · Families Room1.0Service1.0Location2.0 RoomsThe rooms we book are more reminiscent of a prison than luxurious accommodation, as praised here and in other portals. Dark scruffy. In the beginning, even the so-called manager himself admitted that he himself did not feel comfortable in this room because they were too dark. Activities nearbyThere are the mountains, respectively desert areas nearby. Offer and whole area is really very monotonous. SafetyIn the plant itself, it is by no means safe. We were coerced, threatened, as already written in the Review. Therefore, I cannot exactly say that we felt safe, just the opposite is the case. Walking distanceNot within walking distance, contrary to the ad and many descriptions, no way to get away from there. No bike rental available, no yoga available. Food and drinksAs you can see in the pictures, in this hotel you have to take advantage of the fact that you have a caterpillar or other vermin in your food and have to eat it. Even the quality at dinner was below average and by no means comparable to other facilities and hotels! The only thing that is positive, if this is possible at all with all our experiences, were the pancakes at breakfast. NotableThe pool was very dirty. No pump has been running you are lied to in this hotel from the beginning. It's just a rip-off. Keep your fingers off it FRAUD COERCION

Stay out of time! Thank you for allowing us to stay in an authentic kasbah where the beauty of the place surpasses understanding. The friendly staff, the comfort of the bedding and the quality of the meals go beyond a 5-star service. The renovation of this historic building is a true tribute to Moroccan traditions and craftsmanship. A magical place...