Fez Accommodation Owners Face Difficult Times

Is half the tourist accommodation in the Fez Medina about to disappear? Tourist numbers are down in Fez (see story here) and accommodation owners are facing uncertain times. A new system of classifying tourist accommodation is a major cause of concern

There are currently 107 classified guest houses and many maisons prêtes à louer (fully furnished rentals). For many, their main source of reservations come through the accommodation website Booking.com.

In June, owners of tourist accommodation who advertise on Booking.com received a notification that, to continue operating, they needed a new identification number which would be issued by the Moroccan tourist authorities. They were informed that their advertisements would be deleted as from August, 1, 2016 if they failed to supply this number.

However, many owners are caught in a tricky situation - they are unable to ensure their properties qualify in order to obtain the identification number as there are, as yet, no criteria for doing so.

Laurence, the owner of a fully furnished rental of three rooms, which has been operating since 2009, echoes what many owners are saying, "I am extremely worried about the future of my business. Ninety per cent of my turnover is made via Booking.com".

This situation has a long history. In December 2008, at a meeting organised by the Wali with the foreign owners, the director of the CRT (Regional Tourism Committee) of Fez announced that the long awaited law allowing the classification of small guest houses of three and four rooms was about to be released. In the meantime, the authorities invited the owners to adjust to the standards of maisons prêtes à louer which were presented as a legal and compliant solution.

At that same meeting, the president of the A.R.M.H (Regional Association of Guest Houses) approved this type of classification and gave his full support to owners who satisfied the fiscal and administrative conditions for this category.

Eight years after that meeting, the law proposed by the authorities has been approved by the parliament. However, the details are yet to be released. Until they are, accommodation owners in the Fez Medina do not know how to comply with the new requirements of the tourist authorities. This puts in jeopardy the businesses and livelihoods of Moroccan and foreign owners, and hundreds of their employees, in the Fez Medina.

Mayor of Fez, Mr Driss Azami Idrissi has shown leadership

A further complication is that there appears to be confusion with the CRT and the ARMH mixing up illegal accommodation and maisons prêtes à louer. The ARMH  has even suggested in the media the idea that ALL the houses unclassified by the tourist authorities are illegal and thus unsafe and unchecked.

Fortunately, there has been leadership shown by top figures in Fez's administration. In response to the dismay of the owners of maisons prêtes à louer, the Mayor of Fez, Mr Driss Azami Idrissi, organised a meeting about this sensitive issue with the concerned parties.

He made a commitment to contact his counterpart at the Ministry of the Tourism to get an extension of the deadline notified by Booking.com, while waiting for the details of the new law.

Fez has a desperate need to increase tourism and offering a wide range of accommodation gives a better choice for visitors. 

Background history:
2008 The View From Fez 
2009 The View From Fez

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The trouble with Tripadvisor

“Find write-ups by professionals whose judgments you trust and rely on that. . . . I would never rely on the judgment of amateurs.” - Arthur Frommer, founder of Frommer’s travel guide laying it on the line about Tripadvisor.

Over the last few days The View from Fez has been emailed by several riad and guest house owners with comments about problems with Tripadvisor.

Here is what one correspondent had to say: "Let's say you open a new guesthouse in Fez (or indeed, anywhere) and of course you want it to do well. So you get all your family and friends to write in to Tripadvisor to say what a marvellous place it is. But then your next-door neighbour opens a guesthouse too, so you get all your family and friends to write in to Tripadvisor again, to tell them what an awful place that is. In a nutshell, Tripadvisor can be manipulated. I'd say heed the warnings, but take the gushings with a pinch of salt."

And another one: "I have just booked with a place "Riad ....".Stupidly I read the reviews on Tripadviser, and 100% disagree with what was said. It was the most appalling stay anywhere. Just wondering if the Riad's reputation is common knowledge, I would really appreciate it, if you had any thoughts on it"

The well known travel magazine Travel & Leisure has published on “Who can you trust,” detailing fake negative and positive reviews appearing on tripadvisor.com for New York hotel that had not yet opened! As travel blog beatofhawaii.com has noted “Perhaps TripAdvisor’s motto, 'get the truth, then go,' needs to be changed to, 'try to find the truth, and go.'”

Award-winning business journalist Barbara E. Hernandez, writing on Bnet, has this to say: I think most people understand that these Web sites which solicit volunteered comments often cater to those with the most extreme views on either end — it skews to people who really liked the place or really disliked it. In some instances, where the negative reviews were unfair, the hotel owner may feel there’s no alternative but to post to try to balance out the review. But that, is a slippery slope.

One of the big problems TripAdvisor is having is that hotel employees are posting negative reviews of competing hotels simply to lower their rankings. Other companies are offering public relations “services” to improve or inflate rankings. It’s no surprise then that TripAdvisor has a warning sticker near these hotels. As always, buyer beware.

Even more bizarre is a report from the New York Times: One recent TripAdvisor review of the agrotourism destination Schrute Farms awarded four stars, lavishly praising the food, while another yielded just one star, casting aspersions on the owners’ sanity. This wild disparity is especially odd because Schrute Farms doesn’t even exist.

The farm “belongs” to Dwight Schrute of the NBC series “The Office” 

The Times of London has kept a keen eye on tripadvisor.com and other travel "review" sites:

These examples are just the tip of an iceberg. The entire industry of reviewing hotels and restaurants is in the midst of a revolution that risks leading customers up the path to Fawlty Towers.

The traditional published guides, often compiled by independent inspectors, are struggling, while online sites where checks are few are proliferating.

A London Sunday Times investigation has shown:

1) “Guests” who have never even stayed at a hotel can boost or depress its rating by posting fake reviews.

2) Poorly rated establishments can lift their reputations from one to four stars in a matter of hours by posting fictional positive reviews.

3) Some establishments attempt to damage the reputations of rivals. So tough is the competition that even top hotels and restaurants would consider placing fake reviews to maintain their status.

The best advice is to remember that real travel guides have traditionally been compiled by professional writers who visit hotels and restaurants incognito and fiercely guard their impartiality. There are some great guides around, so if you are planing a trip to Morocco, we suggest you go get one and save yourself the possibility of misleading information.

Guesthouses in Fez - the legal requirements

Tourism authorities in all countries have a set of requirements that hotels and guesthouses have to fulfil in order to have permission to operate. The View from Fez takes a look at the new regulations put in place recently.


Local authorities and the Guesthouse Association in Fez have been working hard over the last eight months. In the past, there were only requirements specific to hotels and guesthouses, but in recent years, more and more smaller guesthouses have opened their doors. These houses could be termed 'bed and breakfast' establishments, and often have fewer than the previously required five bedrooms.

Most of the owners of these smaller houses wanted to register their businesses, but were unable to do so because there was no category for them. But now, their wishes have been granted and they are able to operate legally provided that they fulfil certain obligations. There's a new category for them, known as 'maisons meublees' or furnished houses.

Mehdi el Abbadi, President of the Guesthouse Association in Fez, explains that it's important to have these regulations in place for various reasons:

- staff wages are fair and they can be covered by insurance (CNSS)
- fire regulations are adhered to
- the houses are insured
- the city (and Morocco in general) can benefit from TVA and taxes collected from owners

This last point is particularly important, as some owners are using the Paypal system to collect deposits or the full amount of the accommodation costs. As Paypal cannot be used in Morocco because of stringent exchange control regulations, this means that owners are benefitting from receiving money in other countries, and are avoiding tax in Morocco.

House Rentals
It's important to note that the same set of regulations are to apply to private houses that are rented out to families or groups. Two or three years ago, many foreigners bought holiday houses in the medina. Most of these have now been renovated and the owners would like to rent them out while they're not here themselves. They must now register in order to operate legally.

Owners of private houses and of guesthouses that are currently operating clandestinely are encouraged to apply for registration - the authorities are allowing one month's grace to allow time for this. After that, they are adamant that they will close down any houses operating illegally.

Here is a list of the documents you need to make an application:

*proof of payment of CNSS for staff

*registration with income tax authorities
*registration for payment of TVA

*Patente: licence for opening a company. You can apply for this through the Bureau d'Investissement

*Entry on the Register of Commercial Enterprises

*Insurance of the house, including for fire

*architect's plan of the house

*Statement of stability of the building

*Memorandum of setting up the company

Mr el-Abbadi stresses that for the sake of tourism in Fez, he is willing to help anyone who wants to register. Please make sure you have the above documents before contacting him. Mr el-Abbadi can be contacted at elabbadi.mehdi@gmail.com.

The new Guesthouse Association in action

The View from Fez reported recently that a new Guesthouse Association had been set up. Jennifer Lapostol is Vice President and liaison for the English-speaking community. Here's what she has to say about the Association and her own role.

Jennifer Lapostol

There have been organisations like this in the past, but they never seemed really to accomplish anything, due to apathy, disorganisation or internal politics. The number of guesthouses has more than quadrupled since I arrived in Fez in 2002, with more and more opening all the time. I think this influx of 'new blood' combined with the dynamic young President, Mehdi Abbadi, will make all the difference to the Association.

For the first time, foreign owners comprise a large part of the Board, and we are all very excited to be recognised as an important part of the community and to be given the opportunity to work together to improve living and working conditions in the medina. The key now is to maintain the optimism and momentum generated by the meeting and Board elections in late May.

The Board has met several times since the elections and has developed a comprehensive list of objectives, primarily to promote, defend and represent maisons d'hotes owners. One of the first projects will be to create a website in French, English and Arabic to disseminate information to all home-owners and prospective home-owners. The site will include PDF documents of current regulations and procedures for opening and running a guesthouse. This is extremely important since, to date, information regarding this has been difficult to find, obscure and even conflicting.

We have also drafted 'quality standards' for guesthouse owners to ensure that all visitors to Fez, whether they are staying in a simple dar or the grandest riad, will be assured of comfortable, safe and professional accommodation, and that employees of guesthouses will be offered appropriate compensation and training for the important services they provide.

Of course, security is a major concern for everyone at the moment, and the Association made this a priority at their last meeting.

Importance for the whole English-speaking community of Fez
Apart from The View from Fez, the growing Anglophone community in Fez does not really have a focal point - though on any given day, you can run into a good number of them at Cafe Clock. The position of Vice President/Anglophone Liaison was created to address the fact that many English-speakers have felt excluded from meetings conducted in French and confounded by difficult regulations published in French or even Arabic. My job is to represent the English-speaking community in the Association and to disseminate all relevant information to English-speakers.

I have been creating a mailing list of all Anglophone home-owners in the Fez medina, though I still have large gaps, so I encourage anyone interested who has not received an email from me to contact me at info@darroumana.com. In the next few days, everyone on my mailing list should receive a short survey regarding their experiences and concerns about the medina. Everyone's responses are vital to help me get an idea of what our priorities are and to help shape policy in the future.

In addition, I would like to invite all home-owners, guesthouse owners and prospective owners to an information gathering at 18h00 on 16 August at Dar Roumana (see the map here). It will be a great chance for everyone to meet and discuss ideas. See you there, insha'allah!

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Guesthouse owners meeting

Guesthouse owners in Fez are welcome to attend a meeting at 16h00 on Thursday 29 May at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 6 Boulevard Chefchaouni (opposite the Grand Hotel).
The meeting will found a new Assemblee Generale de l'Association des Maisons d'Hotes de Fes and elect a new committe to run the Association. The idea is to have a united voice for guesthouse owners that can liaise with the Ministry of Tourism and other authorities. Points of discussion will include the new taxe de sejour of Dh30 per person per night and other issues of interest to guesthouse owners.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

New tax on guesthouses

The Commune of Fez has slapped a new tax on guesthouses in the medina, and owners are up in arms, The View from Fez has learned.

There's always been an Dh8 taxe de promotion touristique per person per night that guesthouses either add to the bill of their guests, or cost into their price structure. But now there's a new taxe de sejour of Dh30 per person per night. And to add insult to injury, guesthouse owners have to pay this retrospectively from January 2008. Apparently there has not been any notice of this new tax, so owners have not been charging their guests this amount over the last four months.

'I'm scandalised! I've just spent all my profits for the first three months of the year in paying these back taxes', moaned one guesthouse owner.

It's not good for Fez visitors either who now have to pay Dh38 per person per night in taxes on top of their bill. On an average stay of three nights for one couple, that works out to another Dh228, or puts their bill up by more than another 20 Euros. With guesthouse prices starting at around 60 Euros per night, that's quite a lot.

A spokesman for the CRT (Conseil Regionale de Tourisme) said he was talking to the mayor of Fez, M. Shabbat, in the hopes of getting some kind of respite.

Please note; We would welcome comments on this topic.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Summary of meeting with Wali of Fez and Medina investors

The Wali of Fez

Owners of guesthouses in the Fez medina (particularly foreigners) have long had problems getting the necessary authorisation to operate. Some have followed all the rules, only to have their applications refused for no apparent reason. Others fall short of the requirements in that they have three or four bedrooms rather than the required five. Some have even been told that they should build an extra room on the roof in case the law changes and they will need six. The Ministry of Tourism commission visits the house and insists on particular décor and advises the owners on colour schemes, withholding permission to trade until they’re happy with bright new carpets.

On the other hand, owners of established guesthouses (with authorisation) were unhappy at the proliferation of new guesthouses without authorisation, as the latter were trading without a licence and therefore were not paying taxes. The ‘illegals’ desperately wanted to be part of the mainstream and pay their taxes, but were unable to do so.

In stepped an upbeat, positive Wali (governor of Fez), at a special meeting of guesthouse owners held at the Prefecture Hall in the medina last week. He dealt first with matters of concern raised by established guesthouse owners, and then turned his attention to the problems of the ‘illegal’ guesthouse owners.

Maria Riesterer raised the question of the two new categories of guesthouses that have been proposed to Parliament. This was the question on everybody’s lips. The Wali asked the Ministry of Tourism delegate what the situation was. The delegate explained that there are two new categories which will allow smaller guesthouses with three or four bedrooms to operate, and that the act changing the law has now to be passed by Parliament.

Another question was raised about the commission’s insistence on particular décor. The Tourism delegate explained that Fez has a particular style and that all guesthouses should follow that style, allowing no interpretation and no personal taste. The floor was aghast.

The Wali would brook no such nonsense, and dismissed the official’s comments. In fact, he went so far as to say that he was shocked to hear that guesthouse owners had been so shabbily treated by local petty officials when there was such need to encourage tourism in Fez. He then pledged the establishment of a team at the Baladiya comprised of four people to guide investors in the medina, clarify the application procedure for various licenses, and to follow up.

The Wali also proposed the following:
• that the decoration of guesthouses is at the discretion of the owner rather than the tourism commission.
• that the process of acquiring various licenses related to restoring or establishing a guesthouse should be clarified and made accessible to everyone
• that help should be provided immediately to guesthouses wishing to operate now, before the new law is promulgated
• that there should be a list of restoration contractors and craftsmen operating in the medina to help investors
• that there should be better communication between the various government agencies for the sake of transparency and clarity.

Riad Lune et Soleil

The great follow-up to this story is that Riad Lune et Soleil owners, Pauline and Jurgen Moeller, next day received the authorisation they’ve been waiting for for 3½ years.

Pauline has something to celebrate.

Having been told by the authorities just last week that they should get rid of all that ‘old stuff’ (Jurgen is an avid collector of objets, carpets and textiles) and get some nice new stuff before they could be considered for a licence, they are now celebrating their new authorisation.

Jurgen is very happy with the decision

Story: Lumen
Photograph of Wali: Samir
Other photographs: Suzanna Clarke.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Rule changes in the Fez Medina?

Deep in the Medina, well after the last call of the muezzin I came across a member of the Purple Circle who was aglow with news.

"The parliament has changed the rules for people who own guest houses."

Now, to most people that may not seem much and indeed it may turn out to be of little import - however, the restrictions on who can run a guest house and what it must contain in order to qualify have been notorious in restricting investment. Many people who purchased houses in Fez found that after months of renovation and parting with large amounts of cash - they were refused a license.

Now, so it seems, things may change. We will have to wait for a reading of the fine print, but it appears that even those with only a couple of bedrooms will be able to be a registered guest house. Good news indeed!

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news