Riad Art de Vivre Avec Jacuzzi

We were a group of five, wanting to rent a riad in its entirety and Riad Art de Vivre seemed to fit the bill. Some of the group were keen not to pay too much for the accommodation but also wanted to have the privacy of separate rooms, rather than sharing, and also wanted a hot tub thrown in. It seemed quite a tall order but, reading the description of the riad prior to booking, it seemed really promising, especially as all the bedrooms were en suite as well. However, although I went along with the group’s choice, I had some reservations and felt that, perhaps, it seemed too good to be true. In terms of my disappointment, I had hoped that breakfast could be arranged at the riad, rather than going out first thing each morning to eat and, although we were led to believe that there was no problem with this, it did not happen. Apart from seeing Frank on our arrival and departure, the only other person we saw was a ‘maid’ who came into the riad a few times, but not every day, to empty the rubbish. A major disappointment for the group was that the hot tub did not work for the entire five days that we were there. The weather was baking hot (upwards of 30 degs every day) and a dip in the hot tub would have been extremely welcome. We got in touch with Frank who duly sent somebody to take a look. I’m not sure what credentials, if any, the ‘troubleshooter’ had but he said that a part was faulty, which he removed, saying that he’d be back to fix it once he’d got the replacement part. We never saw him again and neither did we get any satisfaction from Frank when we spoke to him. We were actually dubious about the hot tub ever being in use and wondered if it had been deliberately disabled due to the running costs. I’ve stayed in many riads over the years and they often lack natural light. However, I found Riad Art de Vivre to be particularly dingy. I also found the bed to be really hard and unforgiving. The location of the riad is fine, with a number of small cafes nearby and some souks along Rue Bab Doukkala. Djemaa el Fna is roughly a fifteen to twenty minute walk away.