If you have an early flight out of Casablanca, or arrive in the country late at night, it makes sense to stay at a hotel conveniently situated at the airport. With a new Atlas Hotel about to be built in Fez, The View from Fez has been looking into the performance of the Atlas Hotel at Casa's Mohamed V airport. Helen Ranger reports.
The three-star Atlas Hotel at Mohamed V airport, Casablanca
The Atlas Hotel is the only one at Casablanca airport. While the hotel group's own website has no description of Atlas hotels situated in Agadir, Ifrane, Marrakech as well as at the airport, you can book through asia.com where the blurb states "Atlas Airport Hotel in Casablanca has opulent guestrooms that have all the amenities that are found in any three star hotel. The in-room amenities include mini bar, satellite television, international direct dial telephone, hair dryers, writing tables and many others. All the rooms have cozy beds featuring soft pillows and blankets. This modern hotel offers a homely atmosphere. The rooms are spacious and are decorated with carpets, rugs and curtains made from fine fabric. The serene ambience of the rooms make it the ultimate comfort zone where you would like to retreat after a long day.
Every room has an attached bathroom with modern bath amenities. Luxury toiletries are found in the bathrooms. The ensuite bathrooms are regularly cleaned by the hotel staff keeping in mind the hygienic factor."
All well and good, until you read the reviews. Mr Hayes from the UK stayed there in February, and wrote:
"The room was filthy. The hotel staff were unhelpful and rude. The lunch buffet was a joke. I would not feed my dog the food they served ... Needless to say, I will never travel through Morocco again for business or any other reason!!!"
Sarah Reynolds of the US echoed these thoughts with:
"It was absolutely filthy. One of the worst rooms I have ever stayed in. They have not cleaned the bathroom floors or shower in years. They didn't even have a towel in the bathroom. Everything was broken, I was sure we would come home with bugs in our bags. It has fancy photos and high price tag, but if at all possible, do not stay at this hotel."
Mr Compen from the Netherlands was blunter. "Warning: don't stay here!"
The View from Fez checked out the hotel on Tripadvisor too, where reviews range from praising the shuttle bus to the airport to complaints about high prices and "Bad service, lousy food, worst beds, snotty workers, the only reason to stay would be because it is close to the airport. They have amenities, but not always available. The food in the restaurant is lousy and the waitstaff are terrible. You pay too much for crap. Avoid if at all possible".
Now while you can't always rely on sites like Tripadvisor as they can be manipulated, there are enough bad reviews on both of these sites to convince us to stay in downtown Casablanca, even if it means getting up before dawn to take an early train shuttle to the airport.
New Atlas Hotel in Fez
What is of great concern here is the new Atlas hotel that's being built on the approach road to the medina of Fez. Will this government-run hotel be as bad as the one in Casa? How do such appalling standards reflect on the country's ambitious plans for an increase in tourism to 10 million visitors by 2010?
Moroccans are justly famous for their hospitality - come on, Atlas, wake up and provide the kind of food and service that weary travellers need!
3 comments:
thanks for the heads up! What did we do before the era of blogs??
Good info. And correct. I made the mistake of staying there and will never do it again. The bread for breakfast was a day old ( at least). Also my room had not been cleaned to the standard my family expect of an international airport hotel.
Now we stay at the Ibis in Casa. Much cheaper, but better and we go out to proper restaurants.
thanks
Tim Cullen (Florida)
We also stayed at the Ibis in Casa in Febuary of this year. Rooms clean,if a little warm, but that's what windows are for, service fair. Food average. Coffee served at the bar was reheated, so had to switch to beer. Dinner (seafood pasta) arrived cold. sent it back, whereupon it was flashed under a grill and re-served. We got a complementary cup of mint tea for that (whoopee). And, yes I do work in the catering industry.
Stewart
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