After 6 long years of restoration, this once-derelict 90-year-old building is now one of Casa’s best-value hotels. Father and son team Mohammed and Mbark Boudad are personally on hand each day to welcome guests and oversee the running of their hotel. The rooms are very spacious and not overdone with ornate decoration or garish color schemes, but rather neutral walls and tiled floors, heavy dark-brown bed coverings, built-in cupboards, and modern bathrooms.
For those with children, there are eight interconnecting rooms. There are a few suites the size of a small apartment, which have a large, L-shape lounge, fridge, and balcony. A first-floor conference room is watched over by portraits of the Alaouite dynasty’s present and past kings and sultans; the room is multipurpose and was being used for meditation and yoga on my last visit.
A sparkling marble-floor reception area (check out the exquisite stucco plasterwork and zellij fountain) leads to an in-house cafe on one side and a large restaurant on the other. The restaurant should be fully operational by mid-2008. There are quite a few traders on the street, and while it’s often littered with rubbish later in the day, it’s cleaned up by morning. Most of the staff speaks at least some English, and the hotel is within walking distance to most restaurants.