“Beware at check out. Unprofessional staff. Special note for Canadian travelers.”
My boyfriend and I stayed in the hotel for one night before boarding our flight to return home. On arrival we were not given the room we paid for so we returned to the front desk for a room swap. The lady at reception was wonderful and helped fix the mistake promptly. We also ate dinner in the Moroccan restaurant that night and found it good. Our room was ok although the bathroom needed an update. So far so good. More than adequate for a one night stay.
It was in the morning where our problems started.
First, I want to warn you that breakfast will come to over 50 Canadian Dollars. It's nuts when you consider what you pay for food in Morocco. The coffee machine was broken but the buffet spread was great. When we tried to check out using my boyfriends Credit Card, mysteriously it stopped working? Really? We used this card through out Morocco and we stayed in some remote places. As a side note - Canadians should be warned that Depit cards are not reliable in Morocco. Many banks didn't recognize our cards. We found one called BMCE Bank that almost always worked, so we stopped there when ever we had the chance. Unfortunately, we did not have cash on us in Casablanca as this was to be our last night. We insisted that reception try our Visa card again but it was rejected! Now we knew there was no issue with our bank because they were informed of our travel plans and hadn't turned off the card. Reception told us we needed to withdraw CASH from an atm. How could this be? We booked the room with THAT credit card. So now my boyfriend had to run from bank machine to bank machine to find one that would fork over cash. Also, our flight time was fast approaching! This went on for far too long. My boyfriend returned defeated from the local bank machines as expected and we insisted that they find a way to use the credit card. Reception called their "center" and rudely stated that the card was rejected. Now we were really late for the airport and out of options. How could this happen in a large hotel chain and not in a small riad in the Atlas mountains? I would love to know who their "center" was because they were completely incompetent. I dug in my bags and found my American debit/visa (these are normally the more unreliable cards) and the "center" accepted it. At this point I asked for a hired car to rush us to the air port. Reception said it would cost 300D. Fine, I just wanted to get out of Casablanca. So the hotel driver gets us in the car knowing we are late and stops on the way to the airport to get gas. When we arrived he demanded 400D. How much more unprofessional can this hotel be? Does the hired driver need to gouge us more? I told him NO and that I already agreed on a price with the desk so he backed down. We just made our flight because of this gong show of a hotel.
The best part? When we landed in the UK, my boyfriend strolled into a Pret and payed for a sandwich and juice using his CREDIT CARD! So I guess the hotel "center" is not reliable. I was willing to forgive the hotel for the stress if his card had really been turned off. But as expected, it was working perfectly. What a terribly shabby place. I will never stay in a hotel that is part of this chain again. I let all my friends and company know as well as they do a lot of business in Casablanca.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.