Riad Shajara

Our last evening, we had homemade couscous and Moroccan salads on the rooftop, and the friendly staff served us delicious breakfasts throughout our stay. The room was beautiful, and the location was ideal, on a quiet street but close to everything. The shower's water pressure and temperature did fluctuate a bit. Given that this is an ancient section of Marrakesh, I didn't think it was worth taking off a star. I’d highly recommend this lovely riad.

The room and the riad itself were beautiful and clean, and the staff were kind and welcoming. Riad Shajara has an excellent location and was absolutely amazing. Highly recommend!

We enjoyed our fourth visit to Marrakech, but this stay left us disappointed. It wasn't terrible, just too many downsides, especially at nearly £100 a night, by far the most expensive riad we’ve booked, almost twice the usual rate. The good parts: the rooms have traditional styling, the riad is pretty, and the large beds and bedding were comfortable. Staff were polite and helpful, especially Ahmed and the night porter whose name I didn't get. Taxis can get to within about 30 feet of the door, and staff did try to sort out problems. There was heating and cooling a/c in every room. Both the Ourika suite and the Kahina suite, where we stayed, had a lot of noise from neighboring buildings from 7.30am to 10.30pm. That's not the riad's fault, but it was annoying. The TVs had no aerial or satellite, so you could only use your own YouTube or Netflix accounts. Cleaning wasn't great. Our room was dusty from day one, and daily service seemed to mean making the bed. The bedding wasn't changed during our seven days, some days the bin wasn't emptied, and used towels were hung up to dry and use again, something I hadn't seen in any guesthouse before. There was shower gel and a bar of soap, but no shampoo or conditioner. The toilet seat in Ourika suite was loose and never fixed after we reported it. Kahina had a loose cupboard door, so maintenance seemed lacking. We got just one bottle of water on arrival. At this price, daily water would have been nice. Breakfast was traditional but not varied, and items, including the coffee, were often cold. Some fruit would have been nice. There were no sunbeds because they had been removed. Ahmed did get them back, but we shouldn't have had to ask. For half the price, we've had better rooms, service, and food elsewhere. The high price didn't match what we expected or the service.

The riad was lovely and peaceful, about a 10 minute walk from Jama El Fna. Manager Ahmed, the night manager, and the chef were all really nice and friendly. They even went out of their way to serve us breakfast early, before the usual hours. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Marrakesh.