Jaal Riad Resort

Im not even sure where to start with the review. The hotel is absolutely beautiful to look at, rooms are big, maids attend daily. Theres nothing much around the area at all apart from a shopping mall with carrefour in it. We paid for all inclusive plus, absolute waste of money we got exactly the same drinks as everyone else would don't bother paying the extra. As previously stated the food in the restaurant is limited and always cold. Even if you go at opening times. We ate out alot and ordered from glovo many times as we didn't want to eat the cold bland food. We met 3 other couples, each one of us had sickness and diarrhea, surely the hotel must take note of this concern. As for the pool snack bar, the birds eating from the food is horrendous, management must see all these reviews but chooses to ignore the problem. Entertainment is very basic and the bar closes at 11pm. There is also a lack of staff in the main bar.

You need to be up early for a sunbed, they look old and I never seen them being washed down at any point, the pool was good in the warm weather. Mohammed in the pool bar was really good as was Roberto.

Its such a shame as this hotel has potential but really needs to address all these issues. Im sure the hotel will reply with they are taking on board these issues as they have been doing for months when in reality nothing changes. I have also raised a complaint with jet2.

Definitely not the 5-star all-inclusive experience we expected

My 19-year-old daughter booked and paid for this 8-night holiday through easyJet Holidays France as a special trip for the two of us. We paid approximately €2,300 including private transfers and were really looking forward to what was advertised as a 5-star all-inclusive experience at JAAL Riad Resort Marrakech.

Sadly, the disappointment started almost as soon as we arrived.

We arrived at the hotel at around 8am after travelling and didn’t feel particularly welcome. We were told that although we were all-inclusive guests, our all-inclusive package wouldn’t start until we officially checked in. This meant that if we wanted breakfast that morning, we would have to pay extra.

We didn’t immediately agree to pay. Instead, we went and sat outside. However, it was hot, we had just travelled and we needed something to drink, so eventually we decided to pay for breakfast.

When I went back and tried to pay by card, I was told that the card machine wasn’t working and that I would need to use the ATM. I therefore went to the cash machine, withdrew money and handed over 400 MAD in cash for breakfast.

What made this particularly puzzling was that the card machine was working when I paid the tourist tax. I’m simply stating exactly what happened, but having just arrived at a supposedly 5-star all-inclusive hotel, this certainly wasn’t the welcome we had expected.

We were then told to go and have breakfast, come straight back afterwards and we could be checked in.

Unfortunately, our next disappointment was the room.

We had booked a “garden room”, but the room we were initially given overlooked what appeared to be a back-of-house/service area, with concrete, exposed pipework, equipment, materials and service access. It was certainly not what either of us had imagined when booking a garden room. I have photographs of the view and they really do speak for themselves.

This was the point at which my daughter became extremely upset and angry. She is only 19 and had paid for this holiday herself to take me, her mum, away as something special for us to enjoy together. She had been so excited about the trip and seeing how disappointed she was within hours of arriving was genuinely upsetting for me.

After complaining, we were eventually moved, although only a few doors away. The view was somewhat better, but the room itself was very tired, there was an unpleasant smell and the shower didn’t drain away properly. It still didn’t feel like the standard of accommodation we expected from a 5-star resort.

Unfortunately, the food was another major disappointment.

In the main buffet restaurant, we regularly found that food which should have been served hot was cold or barely warm. Alarm bells really rang when we realised there was actually a microwave provided in the buffet restaurant for guests to heat up their own food.

I simply don’t expect to book a 5-star all-inclusive holiday and then need to microwave my own buffet food to get it hot.

The pool snack offering was also extremely disappointing. On one occasion, the included food consisted essentially of a handful of fries, a gherkin, a few pieces of chicken and some tomatoes.

What concerned us even more was the way the fries were served. The member of staff had initially been doing something else and then handled the handful of fries directly by hand before serving them to us. We were genuinely taken aback by this, particularly in a hotel being marketed as 5-star.

Burgers, salads, sandwiches and other options were available at the snack bar, but these were at an additional charge. Again, this was certainly not our understanding of a 5-star all-inclusive experience.

I genuinely don’t normally complain or write negative reviews, and I don’t want to suggest that absolutely everything about the resort was bad. There are some attractive areas of the hotel, and we went there wanting to have a lovely holiday together.

However, there was a considerable difference between the 5-star all-inclusive holiday we believed we had booked and paid for and the experience we actually received.

From not feeling particularly welcome when we arrived at 8am, being asked to pay separately for breakfast, having to withdraw 400 MAD in cash when the card machine had worked for the tourist tax, the supposed “garden room”, the tired replacement room, cold buffet food with a microwave available to heat it yourself, the limited pool snack offering and the way we witnessed our fries being handled, the experience was extremely disappointing.

But the part that upset me most was my daughter. At 19 years old, she had spent her own money taking me, her mum, away for what she hoped would be a really special holiday together. Seeing how disappointed and angry she was after putting her own money into something she had been so excited about was probably the hardest part for me.

We weren’t expecting perfection. But when you pay approximately €2,300 for an 8-night holiday including private transfers that is sold as 5-star and all-inclusive, I think it’s reasonable to expect the accommodation, food and overall experience to reflect that description.

My advice to anyone considering booking JAAL Riad Resort Marrakech would be to check very carefully exactly when your all-inclusive package starts, what is actually included and exactly what room category you are being offered.

Sadly, this simply wasn’t the 5-star all-inclusive experience that my daughter thought she was paying for.