Upon arrival we were welcomed with mint tea & pastries and a demand for more money!
We had paid for our holiday in full at the time of booking and had a receipt which confirmed this. They insisted that we had to pay another 25 dirhams per person per night as a local "tax", previous reviewers have commented on this. On reading the notice in the room it appears to be the commission which the hotel pays to the booking agents. At the end of our stay they did not ask for the money as we had made our position clear. The description of the riad showed satellite tv, only the cables were present in the room. There were 3 hair driers to service all the rooms which took a number of requests to obtain. The staff were friendly but if you are expecting modern hotel standards this is not for you. There were no facilities to make a hot drink and the safe was small and easily portable & not even secured to the wardrobe shelf. The bed was the hardest and most uncomfortable we have encountered anywhere and the slope made it evident that the mattress had not been turned for some time. Washbasins were cracked and the plumbing basic, the taps were more like valves and the spouts were bent copper pipe The room was dark and the rugs faded. The positive is the location within a couple of hundred metres of the main square however this means a long trundle down alleys with the cases avoiding mopeds.

Dec 2012 we had the junior suite for four nights. The room was lovely looking with two sofas, sunken bath/shower, mini fridge and tv with satellite. There were also built in wardrobes and plenty of cupboard space.

Location was fantastic, three mins walk to the main square and all its attractions and despite being in the middle of the city it was remarkably peaceful and relaxing.

We didn't eat at the hotel; apart from breakfast which was the standard Moroccan fare of hard boiled eggs, fruit juice, yoghurt and an assortment of bread based products and preserves.

Reception area and courtyard were very pretty and the spa area looked nice and smelled wonderful. Hammam and various treatments were available but hubby and I are not too keen so didn't try them.

The roof terrace was furnished with a couple of loungers, plenty of low chairs and tables and a high table we used to play cards in the morning sun.

Wifi didn't work in the room but if you put your wifi device on the open widow sill it worked fine or better still sat on the rooftop terrace.

The pool is on the ground floor, behind the courtyard and is very small, more of a plunge pool than for swimming. We didn't fancy a dip as there were only upholstered chairs in the courtyard to sit and dry off on. So we guessed you had to walk, dripping wet back to your room. No fun with a winding uneven stone staircase but the pool did look very attractive.

Likes:

Location
Sunken shower
Large bright and airy room
Roof terrace

Dislikes:

Incredibly hard bed that was dome shaped
Only one plug for TV or Satellite neither work without the other but I don't think the satellite works anyway

Great and friendly Raid, two minutes away from the main square. Brilliant location. An oasis of calm. Very attentive and friendly service. Food amazing. Each mornign we were served fresh orange juice, bolied egg, youghurt, crepes and Moroccan bread with butter and jam. On our last night we ate a meal the Raid we had ordered a tangine but they brought out a 3 course meal of fresh salad an melon and grapes for afterwards. The riad also has a massage parlour and I had a really good massage! The staff do speak some English , was really useful that I spoke French too! Definitely recommend a stay.

Lets start with the location - if you want earthy, local experience then this has it all - inaccessible by car, a chap with a wheelbarrow took our luggage down the side streets, the last being too narrow to get down other than on foot. A 5 minute walk from the main square - great in the day, if you dodge the mopeds, but a bit scary at night and I could have done without being offered hash for the umpteenth time outside the riad. The welcome couldn't be faulted and we had a lovely cup of tea before being given the "tour". It's rustic. The 'pool' we were shown was marginally bigger than 3 domestic baths shoved together. The place was clean and tidy enough. The roof terrace was compact shall we say but it looked all very lovely. Our room was just not for us - I think we had looked at the better room pics on this site and assumed that they would all be as nice - the WC and bath (the interior of which was mud brown in colour) were separated from the bed by a curtain; sorry just not my idea of a nice experience. The previous guest had taken the one key with them so our room was insecure, there was a safe so at least our small valuables could be locked away. The following day some workmen were replacing the lock when we returned to our room after a walk.
Breakfast was very nice, and the staff helpful - their spoken English not great but then why should it be, our poor French was worse, but between the two we all got by. We decided that it really wasn't the place or the location for us.; fortunately the free wifi was just that so we organised another hotel with more European amenities & standards for the remainder of our stay. We left mid morning but there was no one of any standing to speak to as we left, as we didn't want to give the impression that there was anything wrong per se. But we couldn't communicate that and so departed, leaving a bemused member of staff behind.
In summary if you want it raw and traditional, then I'm sure you'll like it; but if you want something polished, then no, I'd give it a miss. And as for 4 or 5 stars, I'm sorry I couldn't conceive of any scale where more than 2 or 3 would be an honest reflection.