I have just returned from a week spent at El Andalous with a friend, and highly recommend it.

Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that this '4 star' hotel is 4 star by local Moroccan standards - it is not the same quality or service you would get from a 4 star in Europe or the US. We went with this assumption and were pleasantly surprised that the hotel exceeded our expectations. We found this place great value for money, and between myself and my friend, we spent less money staying 5 nights at this hotel than we would have for one night in a 4 star in London. Some other 4-5 star hotels nearby cost twice as much, and for this you may well get closer to EU/US standards. Essentially, you get what you pay for.

The rooms and common areas were kept very clean (if a little tired looking), the air-con worked perfectly and the showers were hot all the time. We experienced no difficulties with the staff - they were all very helpful and courteous, and it was nice to be able to change money at the hotel. there was also a cashpoint facility which was handy. The pool area, again. was spotlessly clean, and whilst we were there, was pleasantly sleepy. Our only complaint was that occasionally people would bring their own speakers to the pool and play some dreadful novelty rap or similar musical obscenity, but i cant really blame the hotel for this.

Food-wise, we decided to stay only bed and breakfast, as we preferred to head into the medina in the evenings (only a 15-20 min walk away). As such, i cant comment on the quality of food on half or full board basis. I can say the breakfast was adequate if not amazing, and the snacks and meals from the pool bar were absolutely fine. The pool bar was a little sad in terms of selection of alcoholic drinks, but this is to be expected in a country where most places dont sell alcohol, and if you are looking to sit next to the pool and get sozzled all day then im not sure Marrakech is for you. At the hotel the mineral water worked out at around £1.80 for a 1.5 litre bottle, which was expensive by local standards, but really very reasonable by UK standards. For the sake of £1 or so there seemed little point in buying water elsewhere and then trying to sneak it in.

The 'discotheque' in the basement was a nice place to have a drink in the evening, although the drinks are quite expensive by UK standards. It did get a bit loud after around 10.30 though, and after a couple of nights we found other, much nicer, places to have a bottle of wine on the Square.

All in all, a fantastic hotel for the money we paid, and i would definitely recommend it for a relaxing holiday in Marrakech.

Me and my friend have just returned from a week in Marrakech staying at this hotel. Although it's not a luxury spa hotel (like you can get nearby) for me it represented great value for money. If you have a realistic view on what the star system is like in Morroco (this would be more of a 3 star UK hotel). For the price we had a clean room with two double beds, good power shower (over bath) big bathroom and seperate toilet, a safe at no extra charge, air conditioning and balcony. The pool area was always clean and we always got a sunbed - the pool bar staff were pleasant and attentive. The food slightly lets the hotel down both in terms of breakfast and at the bar, but you can get basic good food relatively well priced. it is only a short walk from the centre of Marrakech but when you feel like escaping the madness feels a world away! If you have more money to spend and your looking for a bit of luxury then this is not the place for you - but if you are looking for a clean, relaxing hotel outside of the city where you can relax at a good price then it's worth a stay.

Let me explain why i rate this hotel as terrible. I'll try and be concise without babbling on. (2 of our friends were 5 minutes down the road at the Sofitel opposite Casino De Marrakech and it was only £50 per person more for the full stay. 10000x better as a hotel and service!!!!!)

I'll be as fair and forthcoming as I can. First of all the 4 star rating is extremely misleading. I would give the place 2, maybe 3 stars at most. However for the price you pay that is to be expected. I'm sure back in the 80s or 90s it may well have been 4 star, but it has had little or no upkeep and has deteriorated. However as i said, you could do a lot worse in terms of the building and rooms itself. I think the 4 star rating applies if you're a local resident who is not used to the regular standards of any international hotel as most of the other guests seemed locals who were more than content (also probably helped that they could communicate with half of the staff who speak a mixture of french and arabic).

We reserved rooms for 10 people and paid upfront via lastminute.com however when we arrived at the hotel in the blistering heat, we were made to sit around for 90 minutes because the room wasn't ready. Fair enough - no issues there. Because of the blistering heat (48 degrees outside) I asked at reception where I could get some water. I was told the 'pool bar'. I went there and found a little hut next to the pool with 3 liqueur bottles sitting there that looked as though they were older than the hotel itself. The man after some back and forth opened a rusty old fridge and pulled out some bottles of water and small money box. Having come straight from the airport i pulled out a 200 dhirum note (the smallest i had) to which he replied he did not have change and thus could not serve me. I sacrificed the 200dhs and let him keep the change out of desperation for some water. Over the coming days I saw this repeated excuse all over the hotel restaurant including at the hotel reception! Finally when i refused to pay at reception after making a phone call....hey presto! They pulled open another drawer with some coins in it and the change I was due! Anyhow at checkin we were half board so were entitled to lunch, but when we turned up at the advertised time they didn't serve food until an hour later. Even then the food was questionable. It was difficult to distinguish vegetarian from non veg ( apart from the salads which looked like they had been prepared using local water ). The buffet was reminiscent of some plates you would put out and leave for the animals to come and feed and leave. One of my group became ill after the first lunch and was unable to come out with us for the remaining 4 days of our entire stay in Morocco; the rest of us barely touched the food. Enough said.

Anyway that first day we headed up to our rooms ( they only gave us 4 because lastminute.com reserved 2 of the rooms to have 3 people for some reason. The hotel then said they dont even have rooms with 3 beds. To keep it short:

-1 room had no working AC because there was no remote to turn it on
-1 room had a broken shower which after complaining (extremely politely) for 2 days with no result I managed to fix myself. In the mean time my friends had to use my shower.
As for the missing bed in the '2 bed room for 3 people', i pleaded with the hotel and finallly got them to agree to bring a 3rd bed in (as they wouldn't give an extra room even though we'd effectively paid for it). They agreed but only brought it up 8 hours later after having the receptionist hang up on me 3 times and 4 individual trips down to the reception desk.

Even then the hotel room maid who again didnt understand us when we asked for 3 towels for the room refused to let us take towels from her trolley. Fortunately I had brought my own and had to suffice using that the entire stay as we were only ever permitted 2 towels per room.

All of the above can be forgiven. I just wanted a place to crash overnight while we explored the city during most of the day. It is the extremely bad attitude of the staff, sheer rudeness and lack of care for their job that made me give this place a bad rating. They genuinely don't give a crap about anything. Half the time when you ask for something you get the impression they are cursing at you in their native tongue and amongst each other. I'm really tolerant and never once lost my cool with them. I even tried to be extra polite so as not to give them a reason to get mad at me as their frustration grew at my simple requests for air conditioning and a bed to sleep in.

The story gets worse. After the inability to order ANY room service via the phone ( every time i tried to ask for anything the housekeeping would hang up and nothing would ever come ) 2 of us went out to the local supermarket to buy snacks and water for our rooms and the days out we had planned ahead ( in 48 degree centigrade you cant afford to dehydrate ).

I got back to the hotel with about 6 bags of shopping ( for 10 of my group who were staying at their hotel ). The doorman saw us ran into the hotel before we reached the main door and we were redirected to the reception desk to speak to two men, one of whom seemed to be the owner and another the manager. They told us that in Morocco it is not allowed to bring food and drink from outside into a hotel. I asked where on earth i was supposed to get it from after my experience at the hotel on the first day. They refused to let me bring it in even though i told them it was for our trips out to the town and activities in the coming days. 600dhs worth of water and crisps, etc; they made me leave it outside until i offered to pay the hotel 100dhs. They then said I have 4 rooms, so 100dhs per room had to be paid. I negotiated down to 200dhs and they finally let me bring the supplies up to my room. They claimed "this is a hotel, 24 hours room service, restaurant, bar is all here". I couldnt believe the nerve and cheek. They refused to listen about my experience with obtaining supplies at the hotel. It was too hot and i had no desire to continue my conversation with a brick wall so i paid the Tax they had imposed on me and headed up to the room.

On a more positive note, in the evenings the hotel has an awesome bar and shisha lounge in the basement. Great music, entertainment and Service! Though you may pay a bit of a premium for it, its a wonderful escape from the main hotel itself and i wouldn't be surprised if it was owned and managed by someone other than the hotel. It's called La Casa and i recommend checking it out one evening.

Anyhow, as I said the hotel venue is not 4 star but its more than adequate if you just want a place to stay and explore the city most of the time as we did. However the staff are scary, rude, unhelpful and some of them con artists. For me a hotel should be a safe haven/sactuary. Hotel El Andelous in Marrakech is anything but unless you can avoid any interaction with the staff!

We stayed at El Andalous for the last nights of our great trip through the south of Morocco. After having slept in nice Riads and small family hotels this was a bit of a step back. Nevertheless a reasonable price value proposition. The hotel is right in the middle of the Hivernage quarter so a 40 dh taxi trip to Jma el Fna square and go for it!