RIU Tikida Palmeraie

"Overall? - definitely NOT a 4 star platinum+ to holiday. It needs to be downgraded to 2-3 stars basic MAX. Overall I’d say the staff are welcoming and the grounds are very well kept. Including the newly refurbished pool. We stayed here late may to early June and have never been to Morocco before. Granted it was a heatwave (40c) so we were not expecting this level of heat. There are both pros and cons , though it seems the cons outweigh the pros. I’ll start with that when we arrived it was a11 - no option for a meal was given or no welcome drink - we’d stopped on the coach to several other hotels and most offered this. Given the time we got off I was quite surprised by this. The first (major) issue - cockroaches both in our hotel room and LOADS of them in the downstairs toilets. The staff stamp them to death with a mop - then brush them out into the main hallway to scoop them up and move them out - but it’s clear there’s an infestation. Other reviewers have had similar issues. And we were on the top floor….. The ones in our room? Well they eventually got rid of them - I trapped one in a glass and they came to remove it….2days later. We named him at this point because he was a fixture of the room. When we complained we were just told “it’s normal”. They NEED to spray insecticide and use incense. Food - the food is extremely basic but has a wide variety. Sadly many things begin to taste the same - very one note. I’ve noticed VERY pink meat as well as undercooked chicken (a hazard given they wash their chicken in this country) as well as many of the heat lamps simply not being hot enough. They provided microwaves - I’d suggest using them. The flies are so disgusting - the food is uncovered and they literally FLOCK all over it. More than once I’ve seen dead flies in the yoghurt, ice cream and quite a few in the jam (once a wasp was in there). They HAVE to address this somehow before they kill someone. Though granted I understand it can be difficult having 300 guests who all finger or cross contaminate the food. Nothing is labelled properly (I.e vanilla ice cream was actually citron on random days) so anyone with a food allergy - stay away. They did have a vegetarian option - if that helps. I don’t know what they do to the bread but by god it’s hard and stale. It’s SO bad. The drinks were basic - many of the cocktails being a premix option though they eventually started doing them in a cocktail shaker. The menu is very limited but they can make you more options though you have to ask. Everything is insanely sweet and seems to have added sugar (but hey it’s all inclusive). We stuck to water or soft drinks from a syrup mix. I’d say you need to add sprite or Fanta to the wine - it’s SO acidic it hurts. The beds - they are a simple duvan - the sheets caused me to itch but smelled clean and they would always remake the bed. We did ask for the sheets to be changed but this was only done once during our trip - I still saw the fluff marks left from my socks. Our hotel room - kinda clean - the floor left black dirt marks on our feet but looked clean. The maids seem to only wipe down random surfaces - dust is present. But they do restock the water every day. Generally the room was a little run down - heavy limescale, holes in the toilet walls - the air con didn’t work to start with (but they did fix that). The major issue with the room was our sink - the plug was broken so if you put it down it wouldn’t come back up - we had to use a knife to open it. This was reported and even the maid noticed it - but no one came. The pool is generally a pro - it’s bigger , well looked after and we didn’t struggle to find a sunbed. Towels also are easily replaced. While nothing major there was a wap issue - lots of them came because of the sugar in the drinks (I didn’t see any anti infestation happening but that doesn’t mean it didn’t). Sadly the pool doesn’t have many spaces to relax - granted it’s a kid friendly hotel so you expect screaming - but the bar played constant weird club music and served alcoholic beverages throughout the day and evening (again wasps). Thankfully not many were drunk and rowdy. The speciality restaurants - generally pretty bad - the Morrocan restaurant….everything tasted the same. Every single desert was nut based practically (again allergy concern). The Italian was okay - better than the morrocan but again - very similar to what is on offer at the main buffet. Many of the chefs do not speak English. The shop - cripplingly expensive. And very little in the way of snacks etc offered. Granted it’s all inclusive but I’d expect some other bits to be present. There was a few chocolate bars - Oreos and crisps. (Pringles were the only salt flavour). The hotel is also too far to be reached by uber etc so you need to book a taxi if you want other food (get the hotel to book it or they will fleece you good - I’m talking like 450mad from the Médina back to the hotel (around 40gbp) which is ridiculous. Overall we are pretty disappointed with our stay - and a little grossed out. Tui label this as a 4 start hotel platinum plus - but it really isn’t anywhere near that quality. Max id rare it is 2-3 stars basic."

"The pool area has recently been refurbished with all the old broken and slippery tiles being replaced with no slip tiles. However, the new design makes it difficult to get to the pool if you are near the back as planters have been added and guests block the way down with sunbeds. Twice after squeezing past beds to get to the pool I found guests had moved their beds to block anyone getting through. The pool toilets are still in need of repairs and upgrading. Saying all this, the pool and area is great, particularly for disabled and parents with young children as the steps and ramp into the pool is very easy access. We did have an issue with ants in our room, along with a sink that didn't drain and noisy and poor air-con but we mentioned this to reception and they moved us to another room although the air-con was still not the best. We didn't have any problems with any staff, in fact most are very helpful, particularly the daytime reception staff (less so the male evening and night time staff). If you want to go out for a walk there isn't much locally, but there is a free bus into the medina and the walk around the hotel gardens is lovely. We consider this hotel to be better value for money than most and are booked to go back later in the year. Just be aware, if you do suffer with the heat the departure lounge in Marrakech airport has abysmal air-con and is so hot and when boarding you'll wait in an enclosed airless tunnel before being allowed on the plane so don't rush to board!"

"We have just returned from a weeks stay and have been quite disappointed with this hotel. The first night we opened the door to our room (1029) and staring back at us was a HUGE cockroach. The guy who showed us to our room just kicked it out and left us be. The beds themselves were covered in bugs but it was late so we tried to sleep and look to sort the following day. In the middle of the night I woke as I could hear some rustling. I put my phone torch on and another huge cockroach climbed out of one of our suitcases! I could not settle at all after this. The air con didn’t work and the room fan was also crazy noisy so neither of us could sleep. We went to reception to complain (mostly about the bugs/roaches) and were told ‘you’re in Africa, what do you expect?’ I thought this was quite dismissive as we know there are going to be bugs, but not to this extent! We advised we have travelled to Marrakech previously and stayed at a different hotel and never had issues with bugs/roaches. They said they would move us to a new room the following day, which they did. We requested first floor room and thankfully we never saw another cockroach! So if staying at this hotel, I’d recommend requesting a first floor room, not ground floor. The bed bugs however still continued and I am covered in bites, even with using insect repellents. I am still itchy and seeing new bits since returning home. This has really ruined the trip for me as I didn’t get one good nights sleep all week. It’s a very big site, plenty of space to sit around etc. without it feeling overcrowded or struggling for seats/lounges. We never struggled for sunbeds. We came down sometimes between 9/10am and could still get beds. If you are wanting a front row bed by the pool, you will need to go down around 7.30/8am, but that’s only if you’re picky about your sunbed location. The pool is great. So spacious! We loved that there was plenty of room for you to relax in the pool without being splashed by games/kids, or if wanted you could go and join in with water polo or water volleyball games without hindering people who do want to relax. Fresh pool towels are also available daily so no need to pack your own. There’s also a good size indoor pool if preferred. Food - meh. We’ve had better food from 3* all inclusives. We found we ended up eating the same meals every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One thing we did like was that food is accessible almost all day, so regardless of what time you wanted to eat you could go grab food. It’s probably the best food opening times we’ve ever had at any hotel. We just wish the quality was a little better considering this is a 4* hotel. We aren’t expecting Michelin Stars, but my partner isn’t a fussy eater and even he was struggling to mix things up. Drinks - VERY disappointing! The drinks selection is limited. You cannot taste a drop of alcohol in the drinks. Cocktails taste like juice. I enjoy a short (vodka and coke) and could not taste any vodka in it. I don’t even like strong drinks, but to not taste the alcohol at all isn’t great. We asked for more alcohol to be put in our drinks to make them stronger but we found all they did was add the alcohol last so it tastes stronger initially (a tactic most waiters used). In the end we got fed up of keep asking for stronger drinks as it didn’t make a difference. We aren’t huge drinkers but we didn’t even get tipsy/merry one single day/night. Enjoying a drink around the pool or bar at night is a biggie for us when on holiday so we were very disappointed with selection/taste as a whole. The hotel is generally clean but there were a lot of wasps/flies around the pool. This is probably due to drinks though rather than the fault of the hotel, and waiters did come round and clear cups regularly to try and prevent it. The grounds are lovely to walk around We loved the animation team. They were super friendly and approachable. We liked that they weren’t too pushy if you didn’t want to join in any of the activities. The shows they put on were very good - they are amazing dancers!!! We enjoyed the entertainment both daytime and evening. Good for both adults and kids of all ages. The free shuttle bus into the centre is easy to use. There is an app so you can book times there and back. Overall we give the hotel a 3*. Great pool and animation team, but disappointing food and drink and not having a full nights sleep all week due to bugs/bites."