Royal Atlas Hotel

Hoping to see in 2008 in style. This holiday was very disappointing. The hotel itself is very nicely appointed but the reception, bar and dining room service from staff was dreadful. It would seem to be too much trouble for anyone to serve drinks or food let alone speak in a pleasant manner.
Unable to book into Italian or Moroccan restaurants until we complained about the lack of service even though both restaurants were never more than a quarter full. In thirty years of frequent travel we have never before had cause for complaint and don’t expect people to bow and scrape but having to wait upwards of 30mins to get a drink and an hour and a half to be served food at the pool bar is a little more than laid back!
The main dining room was disgraceful for a hotel with this star rating; food was often cold, tables not set, the chefs unable to fry more than 2 eggs at a time or make more than one omelette at breakfast time, and if you needed a teaspoon to stir your cuppa your drink would have been stone cold by the time you got it.
You would perhaps assume that there is a shortage of staff. Far from it, just no organisation and a simple lack of care. I could go on and on but suffice to say I wouldn’t wish to have such a frustrating and disappointing holiday again.

Lovely hotel and the service we received was excellent. The rooms were very well furnished and comfortable.
The food was good and well served, but the choices after 2 weeks were a bit 'samey', and if there is one criticism it is that hot meals were never 'hot'. Nevertheless, the staff and service were impeccable.
The resort itself is very new, and I think that in 5 years time it will be 'the place' to holiday. Shopping is cheap and the jewellery and leather goods worth buying.
We enjoyed it and found the Moroccan people very hospitable. Not the place for hectic night-life, but ideal for a holiday to relax.

Having read the poor reviews prior to the holiday I can only assume these people weren’t staying at the same hotel! The hotel itself is beautiful and the interior and rooms exceptional.
The staff were all extremely helpful and polite and happy to help. It is a place to unwind, not a place for the impatient or to expect instant service if you click your fingers. We found the food good and varied as much as possible with also the option of the Moroccan and Italian restaurants.
It is ideally situated, practically on the beach, the pool area was large with plenty of sunbeds and a great view of the beach.
I would recommend it unreservedly and would visit and stay there again.

When we read early reviews about the Atlas, we were put off and nearly didn’t book. That would have been a mistake.
Our experience is that this hotel is excellent and worth its 4 stars plus. There is nothing wrong with the food, which was plentiful and varied. Only the cooked breakfasts were a little disappointing (mainly because they don’t do bacon and they can’t cook fried eggs properly)
Claims of food poisoning (which is a lot more than a touch of gippy tummy) are wide of the mark. Such complaints can be more to do with how much is eaten and drunk and some guests certainly treated the all-inclusive as ‘all you can eat’.
On all-inclusive you can eat a la carte in the Moroccan and the Italian restaurants, which were very good. But you need a torch to read the menu and they allow smoking in these restaurants as they do in the public areas such as reception and the Stone Bar (but not in the main restaurant)
The staff were all very helpful and friendly.
The weather in early December was ideal – about 77 degrees and sunny every day, with only a couple of hours of cloud and a spot of rain on our last day.
Agadir has the same time as the UK, so there is no jet-lag. The flight from Manchester was only 3 hours 15 minutes thanks to a tailwind and the airport is only half an hour away.
The hotel is centrally-located and it’s easy to get around on foot or by orange taxi. We took a half day trip to Taroudante, which was well worth it.
The room was very comfortable with separate loo and large bathroom. There is a fridge and free safe, but take a kettle if you like a cuppa. The TV has 40 channels – Arabic, French, German, and Italian. The only two English-speaking channels are CNN and the dreadful BBC World with one-sided programmes about climate change, Hard Talk with Boy George and how wonderful Sudanese women are!
The Royal Atlas is unbelievably good value.

Just come back from 1 week at Royal Atlas. Hotel is lovely - very comfortable and clean.
Weather was wonderful, does get a bit nippy towards evening and through nights, so if planning to go, do take a jumper! Building work on prom', caused no problems at all. Swimming pool AND beach were fine (pool very, very cold though).
Unfortunately, the downsides for us did outnumber the good points! - At first the food looked and tasted great, but there was no catering aimed at British or to suit kids. My 11 year old had dodgy belly on 2nd day and lived on either toast or Mcdonalds (which is next door to hotel, along with Pizzahut if you get desperate!) for rest of holiday. Both myself and hubby, along with numerous guests from not only this hotel, but all around the resort, suffered the most awful holiday belly you could imagine. Many guests had the doc out on more than one occasion. If going, do go well armed with Imodium, anti-sickness tabs and something for severe stomach cramps just in case!
Another thing to be aware of is that although you are expecting 'all inclusive' most drinks that you would normally get are not included and what you can have is very limited (the white rum is disgusting and has a 'whisky like' taste to it). Also, snacks from the pool bar are only all inclusive after 3pm. Service in both bars is annoyingly slow and disorganised.
Overall, apart from getting a nice tan, there is nothing that we would go back for but, I've always wanted to visit Morocco - at least I've done that!

Having read a lot of negative reviews about the Royal Atlas I was very nervous before we arrived!! My friend and I went for a week and had a really lovely holiday.
The hotel is gorgeous, the decor is of a very high standard, and the rooms were lovely with daily room service, spotlessly clean. The pool area is great with plenty of sun loungers for all. We didn't have any problems with the food at all; it was when we ate out one night that my friend got a dodgy tummy!
The service was very good (but that could be because we were two young ladies alone!!). All in all I can't complain about the hotel at all. There was a good range of food on offer in the restaurants but it isn't English based (the only chips were the ones in the pool bar in the afternoon for late lunch), so if you aren't adventurous it may not be for you.
The Moroccan restaurant is beautiful and we really enjoyed the food. The Italian was full up so we didn't eat there. It's a sad thing though that the Moroccan was virtually empty when we ate but we couldn't get into the Italian?
Agadir doesn't have any real character. The Kasbah is worth a look but half an hour tops and you're done. The beach is a long, broad beach with the usual smattering of rubbish from people who can't be bothered to use the bins.
Basically it's still being developed, the promenade isn't finished, the shops at the marina were half empty, so it hasn't got the polished look of some places you might go to in the med. If all you want to do is sunbathe all day then it's ideal (especially in the Royal Atlas), but if you want to explore, if you want character and a variety of things to do that aren't hotel/beach based then I don't think you'd like Agadir.
It wasn't for me personally but that doesn't mean I didn't have a lovely holiday. It was a very relaxing week!

Just come back from 2 weeks at the Royal Atlas Hotel. Lovely hotel, must be in one of the best locations in Agadir. Fantastic pool area, loads of free sunbeds but the waiting staff let it down badly. Waiters particularly around the pool bar just don't want to serve people. Dining room staff are slow to bring drinks to the table, very often you have nearly finished breakfast when tea/coffee arrives. We thought it was mostly a problem for English guests as we found generally the French were treated better.
Can’t really fault the food as there was always a very good choice though sometimes the hot food wasn't.
The rooms were kept clean and the first choice reps did a good job.
Went to Marrakech on the one day trip, very tiring, very hot, very smelly but glad we went because its a totally different culture. 4 hour bus ride through the high atlas mountains. The souks, snake charmers and spices are well worth seeing.
Take the little train around Agadir, only 18 dirhams or £1.20, very good value as it takes about 40minutes, you can get off and on again once in your journey without paying any extra.
Would definitely go again if only to see if the staff had livened up a bit.

As a holiday rep myself working in 4 and 5 star hotels for the last 6 years in many destinations around the world- I feel this hotel is very luxurious.
The rooms are of a good quality and staff in all areas are friendly (to bare in mind that English is not their first language so often comes out wrong, this is not meant to be rude but this is how the translation is said).
As in any new hotel (and believe me I've worked in a few) this hotel is certainly getting there, no reason to complain (I have seen a lot worse).
Very enjoyable stay.

Having just returned from the Atlas hotel I felt I must write about it to advise other people not to go. Although at the start of Ramadam we found the staff most unhelpful and unfriendly.
They were badly organised in the dining room. Mostly the tables were not laid properly and we often had to sit at a table with a dirty table cloth and napkins. There was no supervision and we often had no coffee at breakfast - once even asking 5 times. Often the wine arrived at the end of a meal. The food was dreadful and mostly inedible. We often had to hunt for a spoon.
On the up side - the hotel was very clean and being a new hotel was luxurious. The pool was lovely and there were plenty of sun loungers.
Our travel reps were very very good and apologetic about the hotel staff - in particular the dining room staff. But the food and service in the dining room did spoil our holiday.
The hotel does not rate 5 stars but perhaps will improve with staff training and supervision.

Hi all, we returned from the Royal Atlas on 12th Sep after two weeks there with our 4 children.
We were very impressed by the hotel at first but soon became ill with diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps and hot and cold sweats. This was very worrying because of the children and basically after much starving ourselves it came back each time we ate in the hotel.
I strongly believe this was down to the food which was luke warm and uncooked meat, chicken and burgers. There was also a poor selection of food for a 5 star hotel.
Staff in the restaurant are very slow, and you will be waiting a long time for drinks and cutlery etc. Although many staff in pool bar and stone bar are very nice and like to please, tipping is highly recommended however.
Entertainment was very poor with lots of animation staff round the pool just chatting up the women.
Our children spent the whole time in the pool which is great and very clean or computer room (which was free)But had trouble getting on the computers at times due to the entertainment staff being on them most of the time.
There is a kids room which is really good and when our kids felt well they spent some time in their although this is aimed at kids between 4 - 8, they did look a bit funny riding round on small scooters.
Gym is very good but you do have to pay for it. Along with food from the pool bar that is not cheese, ham or tuna sandwich, sandwich & chips , burgers or hot dogs. Mini bar is not stocked and room service food is payable.
Ice creams are not for all inclusive guests either 25 dirham.
Reps did try to resolve issues but unfortunately to no avail.
I think next time I go away I will stick to a 4/3 star because although accom might be more basic and not half as beautiful as Royal Atlas appears, we will get value for money and save a lot more money too and hopefully without the added extra of illness.
Entertainment and food will probably be a lot better too.