Riad Oriental Glory & Spa

1.5 and that’s for the cleaning staff. Not really worth our time (see below.) They definitely have better advertising, marketing, and photos than other riads making them appear more easily on the map? We drove from the desert and arrived to the Medina. Our driver wasn’t able to locate the riad, and requested someone come get us from parking— we drove around multiple times and no one answered the phone even though my driver tried calling 30 mins prior to arrival, then again when we were there. Ok so drive around and we wait, and finally they are able to contact him and someone gets us from the parking area. So we arrived inside the riad around 6pm greeted with tea, as is customary, however; we weren’t taken to our room until past 7:15. I remember this because with tea we were asked if we wanted dinner at 7:30 and we requested 8:30. The entire time we were sitting & waiting, they seemed to be catering to another party, literally a few feet away from us in the courtyard. They never really mentioned to us the room wasn’t ready? So either way we were just left in the dark for check in. Off to a rocky start. Problems with our room we noticed over the course of the first night: -AC didn’t work, fine we will open windows -Windows (room and bathroom) had curtain rods, but didn’t have curtains (ours only for some reason, which we didn’t realize other rooms had curtains until our last day…) -Copper shower handle conducts heat, but the shower head holder was faulty/ broken = burnt hands or a cold shower. We brought these issues up on our way to a tour the next morning, but when we got back from our 6 hour tour, the AC still wasn’t working… so for air flow, we were pretty much open to the view of our neighbors if we wanted airflow, or getting hot boxed in for privacy with a faulty AC. This riad was not part of a tour package we had purchased, but we opted to stay here instead of the agency’s choice based on the good reviews—regrettable. Checkout was a nightmare bringing these issues up again. Mohammed (manager) was called, which he initially seemed helpful he still was kind of defensive when I mentioned x,y,z issues. He offered a consolation of 320 dirham….but was quick to say how he checked the room himself and how they treat all customers equally. Obviously he didn’t check the room? He then continued to wag a finger / slap my wrists via WhatsApp and claimed we were trying to take advantage of the situation. 32 USD discount was not even worth our efforts trying to converse with him. He also asked why we didn’t tell him & he saw us before we checked out. Well he was never introduced to us, and just because i walk past someone wearing a suit doesn’t mean anything as to who you are if no introduction was made. It was the way he started as already kind of guarded, then became more defensive when we mentioned our issues and how we would be posting hour honest reviews. Because our experience was unlike the others. I have screenshots of this super unprofessional WhatsApp conversation which I am tempted to post but will refrain -_- Pros- -cleaning staff & the woman that did my hamman was super awesome. -helpful via whatsapp (mostly responsive) Cons- -locations— outskirts of Medina -food is average at best or seemingly catered to westerners. Less traditional. -drinking water only included with dinner? -not communicative to driver when trying to sort pick up/arrival. -see points above.

The $100 per night stay was disappointing to say the least. The room was located next to the main entrance and was lacking privacy due to glass doors. The absence of sound isolation (due to glass doors) led to constant disturbances (was awakened multiple times during the night), and the inconvenience of turning off the main light from outside added to the frustration. The heating option in the AC was non-functional, and the “reception manager's” unfriendliness and inflexibility left us feeling unwelcome. If I could go back, would never book with them ever again.