We have just returned from a 4 night stay at Branson's mountain retreat, and felt slightly underwhelmed by the experience. This was the first leg of our honeymoon and although I had informed them prior to our arrival that we were on our honeymoon there was no mention of it. I felt slightly awkward and deliberated whether to pursue the point I decided to leave it and enjoy the honeymoon regardless.
We were then shown to our "deluxe suite" I was convinced there had been a mistake the room was small and seriously under equipped for the price range. Half of the sockets in the room were unsafe wobbled when trying to plug something in, there was no facility to make tea/coffee, we also struggled get enough hot water for 2 baths. I have been lucky enough to stay some lovely suites over the years and this would definitely be one of the poorest for the price. This would be more tolerable on a city break when you tend to be in the room for the bare minimum of time, on a retreat holiday you spend a lot more time in your suite. On the plus points the service was excellent, all the staff were friendly and and well trained, and the general manager was a charming and engaging man.
The food was of course expensive and in the main was of reasonable quality, ambitious but sometimes fell a little short. The BBQ was a huge disappointment the chicken thighs were under cooked I suggest the purchase of a temp probe (http://www.nisbets.co.uk/ETI-Food-Check-Thermometer/CF964/ProductDetail.raction) to ensure the correct core temp. The soups however are delicious and the chocolate pud was scrummy the breads are excellent and the full English breakfast a great start to the day. The omelette I ordered was wet, a lovely puddle of juice oozed out which from a top kitchen which this is claiming to be, is seriously poor.
The views are magnificent and the pools lovely if you can afford it upgrade to the Berber tents far better then the deluxe suites if not I would spend less and take a room.
My last comment would be concerning the Bike tours which is so ridiculous it is almost laughable.
The wife popped to reception to ask if we could book a half day bike tour, she returned to the room saying the price was over £120 each. I laughed and said she surely made a mistake,the quad bike tour was only £50 each. So of I popped to reception as obviously the wife had be misinformed, nope that was the price and the reason for this price? they have to hire a pickup to drive from Marrakech to drop of the bikes and then pay to return them, I joked that it would be cheaper to buy the bikes, the conceriage agreed. The reason given was that a guest fell off a bike some time ago as the bikes were left out for their use, so the hotel made the decision to get rid of the bikes. Might I suggest a chain and lock on the bikes then when a guest would like to hire one they are on hand at a reasonable price.
Anyway I hope this was informative and don't let it put you off,the place is epic in many ways but it need a bit tweaking to be truely special.

We stayed at Kasbah Tamadot for four nights as part of a week-long November break in Morocco, and really enjoyed our stay. Both the setting of the hotel and the hotel itself are really gorgeous. Everything is in extremely good repair, from the lovely infinity pool, to the surprisingly good (fake grass) tennis courts, pool table and table tennis table. There are loads of lovely nooks and crannies - we had the best of both worlds in that it was hot during the day, but cold at night, so you could sit outside with lovely views during the day, but sit cosied around log fires in the evening.

We stayed in two different rooms - we were initially in the first level of suite. The room was huge, and very well decorated. However, it was right above reception and therefore noisy for a light sleeper - I spoke to them after the second night and they were extremely good about it, upgrading us immediately to one of the Berber tents, which are a great experience. Both rooms had enormous comfy beds, and all the touches you'd expect, and some you wouldn't, like lovely bowls of pistachios and almonds, and a free mini-bar.

Breakfasts and lunches were great, with perhaps dinner being the only disappointment of the stay (and the reason for 4 rather than 5 stars) - for us the dining room was a little old-fashioned and stuffy, with the food at dinner a little hit and miss (some delicious, particularly the buffet night, but others, like the tasting menu, not so good). The dining room is probably less important during the summer, but I think is still worth the hotel modernising the room and trying to improve the atmosphere. The wine list has a good selection of wines, with a decent selection at reasonable prices as long as you stick to the, very good, Moroccan wines.

A final word about the trips we did - an hour long mule ride and the free guided walk, both of which were really enjoyable and very interesting. The guide who led us on both has been at the Kasbah for over 20 years, knows the terrain like the back of his hand and has lots of interesting stories.

My wife and I had a brilliant one night stay for our honeymoon. We were given an upgrade to a berber tent (which was epic), wonderful views, brilliant food, even got a card and bottle of wine to say congratulations! They looked after us both incredibly well and would just like to say thank you to all concerned!

Stayed here for 4 nights in May for our anniversary and apart from the location, views and outdoor pool, I have to say it was really poor. Had looked forward to it for quite some time but came away feeling completely tucked up. From having to pay for the welcome drink to being told that the food inclusive package we booked didn't exist. To having 4 tv and dvd combos brought to the room over 5 hours before they found one that actually worked. Only 3 DVDs in the so called library (it was pouring with rain)and no sat tv just 2 english language news channels. We unable to book a spa treatment the whole time we were there, Expensive low rate food . A room door that didn't lock. A shower head that poured out of the back and very little out of the seive bit. Being charged for a cup of coffee because we missed breakfast by 5 minutes. I was absolutely astonished at the total lack of what you would call basic hotel housekeeping and hospitally skills. For instance when I booked I asked if there was anything special that we could do to mark our anniversary (London suggested eating in a special outdoor place, but to book this when there). The weather was to cold and wet when we asked there. On the evening of our anniversary in the restaurant, nothing not even a mention of congrats or anything. I wasn't expecting any freebies or anything. But a card under our door in the morning to say 'happy anniversary, anything we can do to make your special day better...' would have been nice. Both London and Morocco where told it was our anniversary but nothing. I mentioned all our grievances (there were several more than listed here. Just stuff not quite right for a perceived top end hotel) to the assistant manageress the day after (the manageress was too busy to speak with me). She sent 2 glasses of champagne up to our room later but it was a bit late by then.

The place is supposedly filled with Indian Antiquities, most of which was just junk that you would have been embarrassed to give to the local charity shop (shabby chic it is not) The rest of the hotels decor was like staying at Victorian Seaside hotel that had had a cat lick makeover in the 90's . Our room bill was all wrong and we had expenditures on it we hadn't had (inc spa treatments!) And took several hours at reception on our departure morning to resolve and got some serious attitude for. The manageress had a couldn't give a crap attitude and seemed to think that she was gods gift because her experience to run a so called top level hotel was working as an air hostess for Virgin Atlantic for a couple of years. I did discuss our disappointments with another girl there also ex cabin staff (think assistant manager) who seemed to be a bit more clued up - but she angered me by saying that 'Richard' was trying his best and was slowly doing the place up. Imagine if you went to a half finished Four Seasons and got told that the company was doing its best and slowly getting there whilst charging top dollar nobody would be impressed. But somehow we all supposed to think it's OK for Billionaire (changing the world) Richard Branson to do so. So not... And having had a couple of decidedly iffy flights in his cattle pen business class recently. I would suggest the V brand is not a patch on what it once was. If you are thinking that Kasbah Tamadot is going to be old Moroccan Kasbah meets Airport Clubhouse think again... Maybe the Hilton Metropole Brighton with sun and minus TV and hospitally training might be a better comparison.
I know that Richard wants to employ local people in the hotel and I commend him for that. But he really must make sure that they have undergone some hospitality training before working in a perceived high end establishment. When I pay upwards of £650per night for accommodation I have a certain level of expectation, which was fallen a long way short of here.
I did eventually speak with the manageress before leaving who did somewhat reluctantly apologise and told me that she would get London to give me a call when we got home. Many months on nothing.
Once again we had so looked forward to this trip. But by the end couldn't wait to leave. A real shame because it could be brilliant (what I was expecting).
Have heard several other people say less than complementary things about the hotel too.