Savoy Le Grand Hotel

The Savoy Le Grand does not play in the same class as the riads and guesthouses that make up the ordinary Marrakech offer: this is a large hotel in the full sense, and you take it for what it is. Several hundred rooms across a neo-Moorish building, around a vast pool lined with rows of sun loungers and parasols, right in Hivernage. The strength counts in facilities: four pools, one covered for the shoulder seasons, a two-thousand-square-metre spa with hammam, sauna and treatment cabins, five restaurants, bars, a gym and evening entertainment. It is a small hotel city, built so you find everything without leaving.

The strongest argument is value for money. On these volumes, the Savoy shows low entry rates for a 5-star, which makes it a popular address for families and travellers wanting the comfort, the pools and the spa of a large hotel without the palace budget. The quarter runs in the same direction: Hivernage is central and tree-lined, fifteen minutes by taxi from Jemaa el-Fna and two steps from the Menara gardens, with the option to park and drop bags at the door, impossible in the medina lanes.

You need to know the trade-off, which is that of every hotel this size. You are far from the intimacy of a riad: the Savoy runs to a resort rhythm, with buffets, groups, tour operators, and an experience that can vary from one room or one stay to another. The score, solid without being outstanding, rests precisely on a huge review count that smooths the extremes. That is the mark of a well-drilled machine more than a character address. Anyone after the charm of a small house, the medina under their windows or ultra-personal service will be let down.

The Savoy Le Grand is chosen knowingly: for its pools, its spa and its price, when travelling with a family or wanting a comfortable and complete pied-à-terre in town, without paying palace rates. This is not a mood address, it is an efficient large hotel - and on that ground, in Hivernage, it holds its rank very well.