Villa Kristy

Able to check in early, super flexible and friendly staff.

Some facilities out of order. Quite a remote location, but host helped us to arrange taxis when we needed them.

Beautiful retreat in nature, away from the crowds in Marrakech. Very relaxing stay, immersed in nature. Amazing food and very welcoming hosts and staff.

Nothing

This is one of the most beautiful and tranquil places I’ve ever stayed with incredible views of the mountains, a true slice of paradise. It’s very much off the beaten track with no amenities or places to visit in the surrounding area and as we didn’t have a car we were pretty much bound to the villa. We did know this when booking and our intention was for full relaxation after being in Marrakesh and all the staff helped to make our stay very comfortable. The grounds and villa are beautiful where we spent hours watching the free roaming bunny rabbits, tortoises and chickens. There’s a lovely pool though it was a little on the cold side for us at that time of year though ok for a short while once you were in. All the food was cooked fresh, was delicious and fairly priced with enough variety for a 3 night stay. The lemon chicken tagine and roast chicken was a particular highlight. They also do beer and wine which is welcome. We had the atlas room with views of the mountains, it was very spacious with a large balcony, coffee machine, tv and walk in wardrobe. All the staff were very friendly and helpful.

The pressure on the shower wasn’t great (though nice and hot). And the water from the shower would get all over the bathroom floor, so much so that the bath mat couldn’t even soak it all up, and my shoes and clothes would end up sitting in a wet puddle. We had a bird enter our room at one point that had managed to find its way through a grill in the ceiling, we managed to get it out of the room but only after it pooed everywhere. We did tell the staff who helped clean the room. Though nothing was done about the grill and we could hear the bird again one morning scrabbling about in the ceiling though thankfully didn’t enter that time. Though my son did find the whole thing enormously entertaining and otherwise our stay was wonderful.

Overall, the hotel is very nice, peaceful and quiet, and the food we had was lovely. The ladies working in the kitchen are great, as well as the chef in the afternoons/evenings.

There were a few issues during our stay, including the hotel running out of water, ice and other drinks on several occasions. Not everything shown on the menu was always available either, which was disappointing. It could also do with some maintenance work, the shower/bath was leaking all over the bathroom floor, we had to use our towels as bath mats and these were not replaced with clean towels daily. Unfortunately, the way our stay ended completely overshadowed what had otherwise been a good experience. At around 4:30am on our final morning, we were woken up by extremely loud, thumping music coming from the lobby area. My husband went downstairs to investigate and found a girl (who was not a guest staying at the hotel) lying on the sofa, surrounded by cigarettes and alcohol. She explained that she had been there with the owner and asked for help getting home. There was also cigarettes, alcohol and half eaten food left in the kitchen area where guests meals are prepared. What made the situation even more shocking was that the owner had apparently gone to bed at around 4:30am, leaving the girl alone in the lobby with the music still blaring and seemingly no concern for either her welfare or the guests he was disturbing. We tried calling him multiple times, but he did not answer. The situation was incredibly uncomfortable and, ultimately, quite frightening. The girl appeared disorientated and unsure of where she was, and we were left concerned for her safety while trying to deal with a situation that should never have been our responsibility as paying guests. It was a shocking and deeply disappointing end to what had otherwise been a good stay. The hotel itself has a lot going for it, with a peaceful atmosphere and lovely food, but the lack of judgement and responsibility shown that morning was completely unacceptable. It is such a shame that an otherwise positive experience ended this way, but the incident has left us with a very negative final impression.