Riad Lalla Khadija Moulaty & SPA

We discovered bedbugs in our bed after waking up covered in bites (on our first night). When we reported the issue, we requested to be moved to a different room. The receptionist initially told us they would simply clean our current room, despite the fact that a basic clean is not an adequate solution for a bedbug infestation. After several hours of repeatedly following up, we were eventually moved to another room that was practically next door to the original one and noticeably smaller. Although we didn’t see any more bedbugs in the new room, we did continue to find more bites on our bodies and specks of black on the bedsheets which may have been droppings. Throughout the entire situation, we received no apology. The manager was clearly aware of our concerns but appeared irritated by our request rather than concerned about the problem. This was particularly disappointing, as she had been very welcoming when we first arrived. At no point did she acknowledge or address the bedbug issue with us directly. Unfortunately, we were not in a financial position to move to another riad, especially as no refund, compensation, or goodwill gesture was offered. Given the circumstances, we would have expected at least some form of assistance, such as complimentary laundry, food and drinks, or a room upgrade. Additionally, breakfast was also supposed to be included in our package, yet we never received it during our stay. To make matters worse, on our final day we were presented with a bill for city tax, several bottles of water, and sandwiches. We questioned these charges as they seemed unusually high, and given the issues we had experienced we hoped they may be waived, but there was a language barrier between ourselves and the receptionist on duty that morning. As we were rushing to catch our flight, we felt we had little choice but to pay. Overall, the presence of bedbugs was bad enough, but the lack of acknowledgment, poor handling of the situation, and absence of any meaningful customer service made the experience even more disappointing.

We booked to stay at the Riad Lalla Khadija hotel for 5 nights. We stayed in room 1 - the base of the hotel by the pool. It was pretty, cosy and clean with areas outside the room to sit. The staff at the hotel from the front desk, to the restaurant could not be kinder and more attentive. They spent time planning with us and offering very helpful advice about the city, where to visit and how to feel confident in an unknown area. Thank you so much to Hamid and Yassin especially. Breakfasts were delicious and very generous with a choice of tea or coffee. The location was central in the Medina and everywhere was walkable. Taxi's were easy and plentiful with prices agreed before travel. Our tip would be to go out and find the trips rather than use the hotel ones. We paid 70 Dirham each for an evening in Agafey (described as the desert - it is sandstone type desert) with a meal and music - sold to us as a 'spectacular'. As we sat in a gravel car park at a women's cooperative of producers of Argan Oil drinking a tea and then being invited into the shop, we began to question the merits of the trip we had been sold. Sure enough we ended up in a large, half constructed complex left to buy our drinks (soft) at the bar for about an hour and sit round a pool. Then had some delicious food with some traditional music and a fire performer did a 10 min (impressive) stint - the spectacular?. On the plane on our return, a couple behind us had done the exact same trip for about £12 each. Do your research and ask around. For the half the price of the hotel's day trip to Essaouira, we got a return on the public bus and an overnight lovely hotel stay with breakfast from booking.com, which meant we were not rushing back. Such an interesting place and the people are very kind. The weather was about 20 degrees C with a mixture of sun, cloud and rain at the end of Jan beginning of Feb.