After reading the reviews about Hotel des Iles I was dreading spending 2 nights there as my friend had booked us in.
I was expecting the worst but was pleasantly surprised. we stayed in one of the bungalows - 222. The room was clean and a heater was warming the room. No sign of any cockroaches anywhere during our 2 night stay. Towels changed, and maid service daily.
Breakfast was simple but ok - bread,jam, cereal, pastries, nice orange juice and coffee.
All staff were very friendly and helpful and we managed to keep our room for an extra few hours with no charge.
Our first night we did venture into the hotel bar after a fairly late arrival. It was very interesting... All Moroccan male clients with a few Moroccan ladies busting out of tight red jumpers and working the bar. Drinks were cheap and no one bothered us as 2 foreign females so we were quite happy to live and let live and watch what was going on.
The following evening we found ourselves in a big annexe room off the hotel with dj and most of the late night population of Essaouira. As a guest in the hotel you would never know this is there - in my view a good thing and no disturbance to hotel residents.
It was too wet and cold to use the pool but the pool attendant was still mopping and cleaning around the pool.
All in all,a good if basic hotel which does not deserve the awful reviews written about it. The next time I want a cheap base in Essaouira I will happily stay here again as its also a great location 2 mins walk from the medina.

We just returned from Morocco and had the great displeasure of staying here for two nights.
The hotel looks OK on first impressions but then if you look a little further and scratch below the surface it is very dirty and generally very poor.
We stayed in one of the rooms by the pool - the "chalets" are exactly like a Butlins holiday camp. They are grey, concrete and depressing. Our room was shabby and dirty. When we entered I pulled back the sheets and found two black hairs in the bed. The sheets looked freshly washed and clean but had old marks and soils. However the bedspreads were dirty and crumpled and looked like they had been picked up off the floor. The chairs and curtains looked dirty and dusty and needed a good clean - so much so that they were unnappealing to touch let alone sit on. The french doors had streaks of dirt all over.
When I did touch the curtains to pull them back and see the "patio" area.................there was a huge dead cockroach behind them. I know you can expect this maybe in hot countrys, but considering the room had just been "cleaned" prior to our arrival......................? The "patio" area is a grey square of concrete - the umbrella was up to provide some shade from the sun - I put it down, and saw that it was absolutely covered and caked in bird poo. The pool area had cigarette butts lying around it - and to top things off, the "barbecue" had some dirty remnants of charcoal, but other than that was crammed full of old used cigarette butts.
We also found more cokroaches in our room and had no hot water for the two days.
In summary, it is shabby, dirty and old and I would never recommend it - we had it booked for 6 nights but moved after two as it was so bad! We travel a hell of a lot - three/four times a year and have been to basic places in Egypt/Thailand/Greece as well as 5 star luxury in the Carribean/Dubai etc - this is the worst place I have ever come across and would never recommend it. I am sure anyone could find somthing much better for the same price.

I have to compliment the painstakingly honest and meticulous gentleman at the front desk, who found us the best price for a car to Marrakech. He saved us from the vulture-like behavior of the travel agent that he hired and I'm sure there was no room in the price for a commission for him. The hotel was extremely clean, the help very reliable. This is a great deal, although it reminds me of a 1950's motel.

My friend and I, two American young women traveling in Morocco, made a reservation via hotels.com for this hotel for two nights. We arrived to Essaouira via bus late at night. The hotel did not have a record of our reservation, and would not honor our printout from hotels.com stating that we had already reserved and paid for the room. Even though there was availability at the hotel, they refused us a room saying that an advance reservation was required -- nevermind that we had an advance reservation!! They also refused to let us stay there, and try to work out the issue with hotels.com in morning. They refused us help in finding another hotel, refused us use of a phone, and we ended up at a pay phone on the corner at midnight trying to call every hotel in our guidebooks to find another place to stay. Additionally, they informed us that even if we were to stay there, the pool was closed (something that was not on the hotel or hotels.com website). In addition to not having our hotel reservation, the staff at the reception desk was rude, and outright mean. We could not believe that they refused to honor the reservation, and refused us any help whatsoever. Never stay at this hotel, and never use hotels.com. I have e-mailed hotels.com twice regarding this matter, and in five days have not yet received a response, even to say that they are looking into the matter.