We went to Marrakech for a short 4 day break as we wanted something different.
The reviews on this webiste were terrible for most of the Hotels in the area, so after carefull research, we picked the Hivernage spa.
The hotel has a lovely reception area which isdecorated in moden purples and browns. We had a nice welcome with some Turkish tea and everyone was very polite. We had to wait over an hour for our room so we just sat in reception and had a drink.
Our room was really nice. The bathroom was the best part. There was rose petals scattered around and some nice towel art. The tiles were all green and brown clay and we had robes and slippers. We had twin beds which didn't push together well and no view. The TV doesn't have any English channels except CNN and the mini bar (we just drank the water) was very expensive.
We arrived late so just went for a swim and had dinner in the restuarant. The spa pool was great. Its very small but warm with oranges on the side. The first time we used it, we had it all to ourselves whichw as really relaxing. However, it is used as part of treatments so the next time there was a rather large lady 'running' around the water, panting and making strange whistling sounds. Very odd. The restuarant has lovely food although we were made to feel very unwelcome, had to wait an eternity to pay and the bill was HUGE!
The part that ruined out stay was the excursions. We booked to go on 2 trips; atlas mountains and sahara desert. We were RIPPED OFF.
The first trip we thought was ok at the time as we were in-experienced. We went on a long journey stopping at lots of shops where people, mostly children, constantly begged you to buy anything from them and followed you around constantly begging you to buy something. When we got to a village, that was it, tour over. Anti-climax, unless, you climbed up to a waterfall. We had a nice climb, huge health and saftey issues and still people begging all the way up to the top. When we came down, the guide held his hand out and said that part was extra. We then went for lunch as had pre-paid as advised bu the hotel. We were the only ones, all the other tourists were cross with us as they wanted to go back. So they sat. We had to spend ages looking for the driver to confirm we had paid and then had some dodgy meat (which was raw) to eat. The other tourists were moaning so had a free lunch of our oranges.
The next trip we had was a 4 hour bus ride, and that was about it. We went to the edge of the desert and surprisingly stopped at a 'herbal doctor' who tried to sell us everything. We were literally all shut in a room with him. One tourist remarked that each bus driver seemed to have a lot of cousins. Then we went for lunch and everyone had pre-paid this time. It was nice but on the way back as the driver was driving so fast around a bend and sheer drop on the road, my partner threw up his dinner. When talking to the tourist, we realised we had been charged about £20 more each than everyone else. "That's what you get for staying 5*" said one.
We asked about this striaight away when we returned. The man said we had a 'special rate' I queried how could paying more be special when we received exactly the same as everyone else. He said he would phone the company but wasn't happy. All the staff looked at us like we were awful. He phoned us later in our room and said the tour opperator would give us about £20 back. I said what about the rest and he said, if they must, the hotel would take it out of their own pocket. Which of course, i agreed to.
After that, we received dirty looks and rude service until we left.

Tips:
Everyone thinks you are rich because you are a Westerner and will try to get money from you.
Do not let anyone give you directions as they won't leave you alone until they get money.
Marrakech feels very dangerous and intimidating for the inexperienced travellor.
When you go out, expect the meat to be raw and bread to have had flies all over it.
Go to the new town at night for nice restaurants.

We booked our 4 days stay in hivernage hotel and when i read all the negative comments about the hotel and its staff i was quite upset with myself, that i should have checked this before but decided to go a head with the booking as their wasnt much i could do.
To my surprise, the hotel was great. The beds were ultra comfortable and the room was nice, clean with all the amenities. The staff to our surprise were very helpful as well ( may be they have finally taken action to all those complains) very friendly and co operative. The boy at concierge helped her book excursion to atlas mountain and our trip to essouira. They helped us in changing our travellers cheque and everything else we asked for.
I would definitely go back to this hotel!!!

Overall it was an ok place to stay although there may be similar places for better value.

On arrival, the reception staff were efficient there were no problems checking in. However, don't expect them to go out of their way to help you or give you service with a smile though! The concierge on the otherhand was very helpful.
The rooms are lovely and maintained to a high standard, and the decor, furnishings and finish of the hotel as a whole are very good. This was definitely the best point about the hotel and we were comfortable at all times.

The pool area was nice, clean and well-maintained, but there is a distinct lack of sun loungers and we shamefully had to resort to laying down towels on our way to breakfast in order to get the best ones (the ones near the toilet and shop get the most sun!). It is completely true that the sun doesn't reach the pool area until 11:30am and if you're in the right area you will get the sun until 4-5pm. TIP: don't order food from the poolside menu - throw something on and nip out through the breakfast room to the cafe / patisserie for drinks / snack / lunch - it's cheaper and there's more choice.

The bar area was nice, but the service wasn't great. When you sit down in the reception sofas it's very difficult to get someone to take your order. One day I tried to order a cafe latte and was told they had run out of milk (!!). Ridiculous for a "5-star" hotel???!!!

Breakfast was ok - fruit was fresh and very nice, and there were all the basics. If you like to be a bit more adventurous and eat a large / varied breakfast you won't get that here. The main waiter was annoying to the point of harassment by deliberately speaking in arabic to two clearly non-arabic-speaking people when he was more than capable of speaking in french or english to us as he did for other non-arabic-speaking guests.
For dinner the restaurant and patisserie were very nice and popular. Food was reasonably priced and of good quality.

The spa was quite pricey but was ok. The receptionist was ridiculously rude - when trying to book treatments using an all French booklet we asked her for information. She began to explain some details but when someone walked past she would be distracted and talk to that person and ignore us. Also we were probably short-changed on time for our massages - you could get better for a similar price in the UK.

All in all, a lot of negatives, but in the end we were grateful for a nice hotel to stay in whilst staying in Marrakesh as there was nothing to do apart from stay in the hotel. Do NOT go on the sightseeing tour bus - 1 out of the 3 buses do not have the audio tour, and the ones that do describe the sights out of sync with that you're actually seeing. Oh and about 7 of the "sights" that you see are hotels! We had no problem with noise - there is a hotel being built next door but no-one was actively working on it during our 5-day stay in March. If you're going into the Medina, there is a temporary road due to the casino being built - it's not very nice walking along here due to lots of people and inconsiderate and busy traffic so it's worth paying 20dirhams for a taxi. The hotel became very busy on Friday for the weekend visitors, which was our last day luckily - I doubt the pool facilities and inefficient breakfast staff would have been able to cope with this number of people.

So my advice is to find a nice hotel for your stay in Marakech (you'll need a bit of luxury after your ventures into the Medina or the new town) but shop around and see if you can get anything for cheaper.

Great website, unfortunately the reality when you get there leaves you feeling like you've been duped.

The Bad:
A good 3 star, certainly not a 5 star hotel. Way over priced. The Concierge / Front Desk were rude, arrogant and not accommodating. They lacked desire to assist you in getting around Marrakech. The pool only receives sun from 11.45 to 16.00 and is not a swimming pool it' a plunge pool; not heated and you can only stay in it for 30 seconds before it gets unconformable. With 85 rooms they only have 15 sun loungers so it is back to the old days of putting you towel out before breakfast or befriending the pool attendant. Either way you will be disappointed at least 4 out of the 7 days and that was in low season. Early stages of Building works/drilling in a neighbouring hotel development is grating when you are trying to relax. The Spa is farcical, staff lack experience, you are rushed and they dont have all the right tools for their trade. WIFI can be gained in a 2m sq of the lobby.

The Average:
The hotel food (breakfast/restaurant) is average no more, no less. Fortuante there a couple of good restautants around the corner.

The Good:
Well located with some good views if you are on the left side and on higher floors of the hotel. Serving staff, once they got to know you were polite and helpful.

Overall:
Sadly, the whole experience for my wife and I was very disappointing, like others (of differing ages and cultures) that we got talking to when we were staying there.