Palais de Fès Suites & Spa

The property is beautiful and very instagrammable, and we all got nice rooms. Mine was especially nice because I received an upgrade. Even so, I wasn't impressed with the hotel's quality. The safe didn't work, so I had to keep calling the front desk to have it opened. The front door also wouldn't close because the lock was misaligned, and when I needed to leave the room, I had to leave it open while waiting for someone to fix it. The most disrespectful part was calling the front desk over and over for at least three hours and getting no answer, only to come downstairs and find the staff in the lobby. Breakfast was another letdown. The property is impressive, but the food was very simple compared with other restaurants in Fez.

The place is nice, but the atmosphere felt really negative. Service was very, very slow, and the staff were disrespectful and unpleasant. The food looked nothing like the nice tables shown in the online and Instagram pictures, and we were only given a few things. Other riads are much better. The most shocking part was the owner's hospitality, which left a lot to be desired. At breakfast she showed no discretion or respect for guests, loudly giving employees orders in Darija in a very condescending way. I also felt she preferred tourists. Save your money, there are many beautiful riads in the Medina with much better hospitality.

The rooftop view and the interior were impressive, but dinner didn’t feel worth 350 MAD per menu, drinks not included. The starter was acceptable, and our main courses were fine: my wife had Chicken Lemon Tagine and I had couscous with meat. Neither seemed special enough for that price. Dessert was just sliced orange, apple, banana, and kiwi, which felt basic for this kind of restaurant. My mint tea was undrinkable. They brought another, but it came without sugar, and the sugar never arrived. The staff laughed off the mix-ups instead of sorting them out, which made the service feel chaotic. Disappointing experience, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

The traditional Moroccan food here was the best I tasted across the three cities I visited in Morocco. I made the trip to Fez especially to stay at this hotel, and it really is a treasure, full of history and beautiful hand-crafted details in every corner. Thank you, Palais de Fes, for looking after us so well.