"Jaal Riad is a wonderful blend of a traditional Moroccan hotel with modern features, built around a large central courtyard with a large pool and lots of trees and plants, and with several other small courtyards and sitting nooks throughout the property. Everywhere was kept spotlessly clean throughout our stay.
ROOMS: Bedrooms are spacious with plenty of storage space and separate rooms for shower & sink and wc & bidet, which is very convenient. The decor has a definite Moroccan feel. The bed is extra large and, while we found it fine, some may find it on the firm side. There is an indoor stating area and also a small balcony with a table and two chairs. We had a garden room in block 2 which meant we were away from any noise on the main road which garden rooms in block 1 might experience.
POOL: It is large and kept spotlessly clean, and is open from 9am to 6pm each day (so no noisy late-night pool parties!). There were more than enough sun beds when we visited in October, and we always found a parasol too. - though there is also lots of shade from trees. Towels can be obtained by paying a deposit at reception in exchange for tokens which you hand to the pool boys in exchange for your towels; hand the towels back at the end of your session and they give you the tokens back. Repeat each day and hand back to reception at the end of your stay for a prompt refund of your deposit.
One thing to be aware of is that the pool bar does not open until 11am; so until that time there is nowhere to obtain water (a point that hotel management might reflect on!). Two bottles of water are put in your room each day however, so we kept them in the fridge and brought them to the pool to tide us over until the pool bar opened.
RECEPTION: incredibly polite and helpful staff who were always available to deal with any questions or issues.
RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: The buffet restaurant is your main place of eating all meals. We stayed for a week on an all-inclusive basis which entitled us to use one of the speciality restaurants (Italian or Moroccan) once during our stay, but booking for them is essential. We chose the Italian and the service level there was of a wholly different order. The main restaurant has a choice of indoor or terrace dining. All meals are buffets and servers simply take your drinks orders and clear your plates. We had read some fairly negative reviews of the food before going - and the reality is that if you go on holiday to eat pie and chips or burger and chips, you will be disappointed as the food is predominantly Moroccan, which we personally found delightful. There were lots of various tagines and a wide range of salads, but also Indian and Italian stations too. At breakfast chefs cook eggs to order. If you only eat pizza, burgers and chips, it's probably not the hotel for you; but if you go on holiday to try out new foods, then you will love it. A big shout-out to our favourite sever - Khadidatou from Senegal. She's the only female server in the restaurant and sets the guys a real example of how serving ought to be done! Nothing was too much trouble for her and she was incredibly attentive and noticed things (unlike some of the guys). We became good fiends.
One thing to be aware of concerns the O2 pool bar/restaurant. It provides 'western-style' food (burgers, pizzas) - BUT this is NOT included in your all-inclusive package. It is at additional charge - and (management take note!) there is nowhere that makes this clear. I discovered it only by probing questions. Food IS served by the pool but only from 1430 (once the main restaurant has closed) and it takes the form of a much smaller section of self-service buffet items, but not any items from the pool bar menu.
BARS There are two bars - the pool bar which, as noted previously, doesn't open until 1100 and the main bar with delightful lounge and patio that doesn't open until 1800. The basic all-inclusive package covers soft drinks, wine, spirits and mixers - but a surprisingly tiny cocktail menu of just 7 drinks, some of which I had never heard of. If you want something as common as a Margarita, you'll pay extra, which was disappointing (and is something that again management might look at). You can upgrade your drinks package but a fellow guest who had done so said it wasn't worth it.
ENTERTAINMENT: It is very much a low-key hotel as far as entertainment goes, but we found it just right. There was something every night - a mixture of solo-singers, group, a light-hearted quiz and a wonderful evening of Moroccan music and dancing.
LOCATION: The hotel is well-located - just a 10 drive from the airport in one direction and a 10-minute drive from the Medina in the other. Of course, that closeness to the airport has its advantages and disadvantages - you're at the hotel quickly after arriving; but the flight-path is very close to the hotel and planes pass close by at just a couple of thousand feet. Personally we didn't find it a problem and there are no night flights. If you think early morning take-offs might disturb you, take ear plugs.
There is very little near the hotel - a new mall including a Carrefour supermarket that is a 10 minute stroll away is about it. So you need to be prepared to travel. Taxi drivers are notorious for inflating prices for tourists (ok, we expect to pay a little more, but not over double), so we used the Uber app and found it worked brilliantly - very fair prices, smart vehicles and great drivers.
OVERALL: we had a fabulous time at Jaal Riad and would definitely recommend it for anyone who wants a real taste of Morroco in terms of ambience and food."
