We have just come back from wonderful Morocco but I'm afraid that our stay in Marrakech was spoilt by a few days staying at Riad Catalina.

We had a nightmare with this riad from the time that we booked it and had seen a previous poor review. I must admit that I did not help matters by not having the address of the riad with me when we arrived at Jeema El Fna after a 10 hour bus journey from Fes, but when I tried to phone the riad to ask for directions, both phone numbers on their website were not working. After nearly an hour of walking around the square trying to get our bearings we found the riad and checked in.

When we walked in I was immediately disappointed, the photo's on their website must have been expertly taken ! The riad is not up to the standards of other beautiful riads in Marrakech. The interior reminds me of an hostel or cheaper hotel. Our bags were taken to our room by the staff, but we were just told that our room was just up the stairs above the main door. When we opened the door to the room we were shocked to see that the room was tiny, there was no space around the bed to put our bags and the bathroom was very small too.

There was no ventilation in the room, there was a window in the bathroom, but this looked out over the patio and was locked. There was an air conditioning vent but this was very noisy and it was either too hot or too cold.

After a 10 hour bus journey we were exhausted so we thought that we would stay there the night and hopefully things would look better the next morning. Thta night I was woken up about 10 times by the noisy front door that when shut shook our room and the noise of people passing our room. The breakfast was not worth waiting for either, it was a baguette with jam in a small plastic tub.

We thought that we would look at the roof top swimming pool and terrace "with views of the Atlas Mountains". The pool was maximum 1 metre deep and about 10 metres long, so your knees would scrape on the bottom when you tried to swim. And the mountains where no where to be seen.

Due to it being Easter and with a shortage of accomodation in Marrakech, we stayed there 1 more night, the breaking point was being woken up at 7am by door bell which echoed in our room by the baker delivering the baguettes. We checked out that morning. We had no discount from the riad and we were charged 30 dh for a map of Marrakech which only costs 15 dh in the shops and really should be free in this type of riad. The only time when I saw the owner was when she was having a stand up argument with her husband in front of her guests ......... says it all really.

There are many beautiful riads in Marrakech run by loving caring owners, this is not one of them. I'm afraid that we can not recomend this riad

We stayed at the Riad Catalina at the end of November 2005. We were on a tour that was supposed to be In style and Luxury the prices certainly were. On arriving we all put our foot down and wanted to move. Not doable as Marrakech was full due to the film festival. This Riad has a good web site that makes it look better than it is. We had room 206 see picture on web site. This fails to capture the bed cover although new are coming apart, the mold in the miniscule shower, really dirty floor, they did come and wash it on request, the staff were very friendly. Glasses full of what appeared to be toothpaste, was changed and towels that are hung to dry and be re used. The rack rate was 113 Eruos approx 113 US. Food adequate although breakfast very very petit dejeuner and we had had some fantastic food along the way. The manageress was a charming women doing the best with what she had. This would be fine for a budget experience. It is a short walk to the square.