Atlas Essaouira & Spa

This was my second time staying at this hotel, and once again, it didn’t disappoint. The location is perfect, the service was great, and the staff is incredibly kind and professional. A special thank you to Sane at the reception she was so welcoming . I truly appreciate the hospitality and will definitely be coming back!

We really enjoyed our stay here. All the staff was friendly and very helpful! The rooms were comfortable, and when the 40km/hr wind kicked up on the beach, we enjoyed sitting out by the pool on this cool mid-October day in 2024. We chose to have dinner in the lounge both nights that we were there, and we very much enjoyed it, as well as the entertainment in the piano bar. The breakfast buffet was amazing, fresh, and delicious. We loved the multi-functional coffee machine (the hot chocolate was the best we had had so far), and the peach juice was a special treat. The crepe station with delicious made-to-order Msemmen bread out in the courtyard was wonderful. A special mention to the Mocchine, who takes care of the pool and the beach area. He was very helpful and informative when we sat out on the beach, answered all our questions about kite surfing and more, kept the area spotless, and supplied us with towels.

The interior of the hotel is nice. There are options to shop or spa in a nice setting. The front desk was absolutely horrible. We had no AC in our room and the hotel refused to change our room and it was quite hot. After contacting our travel agent and complaining to the management, our room was changed at 12:30 am. No assistance was offered with the move. The front desk was terrible and mad that they had to change our room. The AC in the new room was still functioning poorly and we ended up sleeping with the windows open. The food was ok and breakfast was average at best. Location is great.

This hotel is beautifully situated across the street from the beach. The lobby and downstairs is very inviting with beautiful with roses. Unfortunately the rooms are not well-maintained. When I arrived there was no soap in the shower and around the tub was black looking mold which was upsetting. When the room was cleaned and even though I put an empty box of tissues on the bed they never refilled them. In addition at 3 o’clock when I returned to the room it was cleaned and I had absolutely no towels at all. When I went to the pool to check it out I asked them if they had any pool towels and they said they ran out and no more today. The food was below average quality although some items were OK but the hot items were always maybe lukewarm. The temperature control for the air conditioning in the room had no numbers on it so it was impossible to tell what you were setting it at, and the windows did not open for any fresh air. The Wi-Fi was in an out which is expected in this type of situation but was a bit frustrating. I was disappointed in the quality of the food and the maintenance of this hotel.

We had a wonderful stay at Atlas Riad Essaouira and would definitely come back! A special mention goes to Mouhcine, the amazing guy in charge of the hammocks, who made our experience truly memorable. He was incredibly kind, always ready to help, and gave us the best local tips for discovering Essaouira beyond the usual tourist spots. The hotel itself is great, very clean, with comfortable beds and beautiful views of the beach. The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming. The food was decent, though a bit pricey and lacking in local variety, but overall we had a fantastic time. Mouhcine really made the difference. thank you for everything!

Mixed feelings about this hotel, I appreciate the challenges of running hotels in some areas of the globe are different to others I think the issues we encountered here could be addressed.||Positives||The entrance and reception area are inviting, palatial and are conducive to the rating this hotel has. Most of the staff are friendly even if it is to laugh along with us because a shelf fell on me (you have to laugh!). The pool area is inviting and a nice little sun trap. The sea view and landscape is amazing. Just a 15 minute stroll to the Medina along the vibrant, scenic seafront and there are some nearby restaurants too should you not want the walk daily. We loved the local vibe. Despite the main negatives below the room was a nice size, had a fridge, a kettle and a nice large bed. Breakfast is adequate. ||Negatives ||The lovely sea view is flanked by a busy road so the fact the air conditioning doesn’t work necessitating an open window means noise, despite the concierge showing us how the aircon worked the reception informed us it doesn’t work anywhere in the hotel. This could be a seasonal restriction but as I say an open window alongside the road is not ideal, although I would still prefer the sea view over an internal one. ||The pool is too cold to use, not a huge negative and to be expected when the overnight temperatures are low, I expect. ||The spa seems nice although we have could not use it even as a hotel guest unless you booked a treatment or paid for access. || I tried to use the gym but slipped on the running machine, I think the belt was compromised by dust underneath - the gym was warm too with the solar gain and no aircon. I was asked to report my comment to the reception/technician but after the experience below seemed a little fruitless. || The main negatives are with the room standard, our room had a few snags - the aircon (which didn’t work) has obviously previously leaked and so the wood around the wardrobe and adjacent shelves is compromised and unsightly. The top shelf was unsecured , so we didn’t use it but it fell on me when a door was closed anyway. The toilet was unstable and had clearly been repaired before and the bath was a little unsightly where it too had been patched up. The water pressure took some getting use to and seemed intermittent (maybe due to other people using at the same time). Also a minor point, but it would seem the initial room water and coffee sachets aren’t replenished so we have obtained our own. ||We did report all this and asked to be moved, the hotel was full however we were assured we could be moved the next day but in the meantime the technician would attend to our list- the required shelf peg wasn’t even attended to so I m not sure anyone did attend. The next day we mentioned the conversation to reception who seemed none the wiser but did eventually get moved, and the next room was better. ||If you stay here you will like the location, the view, the ambience maybe, but if you expect 5 star standards re the accommodation there are flaws to be aware of but may not deter you from choosing this hotel. We will definitely come back to Essaouira itself a lovely warm, short hop winter break from the UK but if I was to return to this hotel, however, I may stay a day or two to see if the room was better but have the flexibility to move on this time if not which I didn’t have this time. ||Top tip La Coupole restaurant a few doors down well worth a visit.

We spent there one night because of cancelled flight. So poor and badly organised dinner for passengers I wouldn't imagine. The breakfast was good. In the room nice was only the bed and TV. The bathroom is big, but quite ruined. You could swim there while having shower, water runs wherever. The screws on holders are missing etc. Likely we didn't pay anything for that luxury.

Attention owners of Atlas Essaouira, you have a great location right across the street from the beach of a lovely coastal city in Morocco and yet you run a terrible hotel because you refuse to put any money into it.||||Don't be fooled by the large and impressive lobby. Once you open the door to your room, you'll be wondering how you ended up in this dump. You won't have any water to welcome you (the only one of 7 Moroccan hotels that we stayed in that couldn't at least leave you a small bottle of waterfall). You won't have a box of tissues to dry your tears, but that won't matter because your room will be hot and when you turn on the A/C, all it will do is blow air around. Three calls to the reception desk will result in a maintenance guy coming up to take a look, but he won't be able to fix it either. So you'll go into the bathroom to take a shower only to find so much mold that you decide against this idea, but the tub is so high up and doesn't have a non stick surface, that you'll slip and fall and need help to get in bed, but then the mattress in your small dinky bed will be lumpy. So, you'll go to the pool to cool off only to find that there are weeds growing up between the cracks in the pool deck and there will be leftover lunch plates laying around because there is no pool attendant, so don't plan on getting a towel. When you get back to your room, the room key won't work resulting in a long walk to the reception desk to get new key cards. Bottom line is this hotel is a train wreck. Management should be fired or owners should sell and let someone who knows how to run a hotel take over because there is so much potential.