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Added by Jopie, at 29 June 2016
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15 Reviews
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30 March 2018
El Minzah is one of the oldest luxury hotels in Tangier, Morocco. It is located in downtown near the Place de France, and there are beautiful gardens with ocean views, a very large outdoor swimming pool, several restaurants and an elegant Piano Bar.
Unfortunately, since its new Iraqi ownership and incompetent management, the landmark hotel has had its long-standing 5-stars rating reduced by an agency in Rabat to just 3 stars, which is appalling and disgraceful.
Beggars sit on the sidewalk every day blocking the walkway for the tourists and residents alike, probably because this is where the "rich" tourists have stayed over the decades since the hotel first opened in 1930. But it is annoying to have to walk around these poor people seeking a handout from some sympathetic person.
Something has clearly faded at Hotel El Minzah, and the building's exterior on rue de la Liberte definitely needs restoring of chipped marble, and it needs a thorough exterior cleaning. The quality of some of the shops in its building can only be described as tacky or garish.
The dining terrace overlooking the pool is surrounded by gardens but you stare up at a modern "Wellness Center". There is a large inner courtyard, Caid's Bar and several dining rooms, and a spa, hammam, hair salon and coiffeur.
Friends who ate in the winter of 2018 in the Wine Bar restaurant off the central courtyard said the food was appalling: a paper thin filet steak that was over-cooked, watery vegetables, and half-burnt chicken with an expensive but mediocre wine, and they paid over 800 dirhams for two, for lunch.
Nevertheless, El Minzah is still an oasis of tranquility in downtown Tangier. Some of the upper floors suites and rooms have sitting terraces with ocean views.
Overall this is a very good place to stay, even if it has fading Old World Charm and the services and maintenance of the rooms and building facade have declined after its Iraqi owners and new management took over. The rooms in general are on the small side. The rooms facing the rue de la Liberte do have soundproof windows which is an absolute necessity because of the noises outside. It is best to try to get a room with terrace facing towards the pool and ocean in the distance.
The security scanner at the main entrance door is unfortunate since it discourages visitors. Someone in management or authority needs to keep the aggressive and ugly hawkers and disabled street people away from the front door of the Minzah.
There is one particularly ugly street lout who hangs out by the entrance every day, babbling with a security guard or doorman, but he is so hideous and repulsive to look at that you really want to avoid the El Minzah altogether.
Apparently, someone in the Iraqi billionaire owner's family brazenly embezelled several millions of dollars or Euros several years ago and promptly fled Morocco taking the cash. It was a well-known publicized scandal.
This embezzelment of money also delayed the completion of renovations of the historic Grand Hotel Villa de France, and half of the gardens were eliminated by the addition of a pretentious driveway, with a red carpet on the somewhat steep uphill walkway with many steps leading up to the entrance. This also discourages any potential visitors. The enlarged and restored hotel looks good on the outside but lacks the Old World Charm of the past of this landmark property.
All this is not a good sign of competent planning, management and responsible ownership of El Minzah and the Grand Hotel Villa de France.
As of late-March 2018, El Minzah Hotel is closed for five months while its interior rooms are being upgraded and renovated. The parking lot is also closed at this time until the work is finished sometime during the summer. Hopefully the rates will not be increased as a result.
In late-March 2018, I observed a crowd of two dozen demonstrators with signs directly in front of the locked and closed front entrance door that was organized by hotel employees who said that during the renovation they will not be paid wages.response / report this review -
16 January 2018
Let's tick the basic boxes first. This place is centrally located. You'll be 30 seconds walking from a 24h minimart, 1 minute from a sushi place, 3 minutes from the beach, 5 minutes from the Casino. And so on
The staff is superb. I've seen places with more formal staff which were also pleasant, but down there the whole idea seemed to be: make them feel at ease, so they'll feel at home. My plan was t spend a night in Punta del Este before heading north but I just no showed on my other reservations because this city just attracted me like few places I've traveled to.
Now, perhaps the hostel helped along this process by making me feel at home, but make a note that Punta del Este is a truly great place and may blossom to you if you give it a chance.
The hostel has two floors and I stayed near the bathrooms on the first floor. The room, as well as the rest of the place, were meticulously cleaned by a lady every couple of days. The toilets were clean as well but some guests failed to sweep the floor after showering so it was wet sometimes. This is not the hostel's fault and I'm saying this to ask you, reader: don't be the one who disregards everyone else. You are not special and nobody cares about you.
The room had AC and heating. I had to turn on the heater because it was getting quite cold at night and it worked perfectly. The room was very warm and cozy all night long.
There was a computer at the reception which seemed to be for the use of guests but it was out of service when I was there. The Wi-Fi connection is free and VERY GOOD. Excellent speed and strong signal even outside the hostel on the street, which will be useful if you want some privacy to make a Skype Call or something of that sort.
They had a place to store my bicycle, which I took with myself to Punta del Este and there was no fuss about it. No extra fees and no hassle. Again, the staff really shines as one of the greatest aspects of this peculiar hostel.
I paid USD 18 for each night during April. Low season. Some people thought it was expensive but I believe it was worth it. No doubt about it.
Breakfast was coffee, tea, bread, some jams, orange juice, milk and cereals. I liked it because it was available until 10h30m.
I really recommend this place if you're looking for a laid back original experience. If you are a stuck up person or couple or group who will get there and play your own little game in your own little world, then it makes no difference where you'll be. It will all be boring because, after all, the boredom is radiating from yourself.
Smile and let this friendly place welcome you into one of the most peaceful places this time of the year.
Room Tip: You might ask for rooms on the second floor if you want to avoid the noise from the common areasresponse / report this review -
23 October 2017
El Minzah is one of the oldest luxury hotels in Tangier, Morocco. It is located in downtown near the Place de France, and there are beautiful gardens with ocean views, a very large outdoor swimming pool, several restaurants and an elegant Piano Bar.
Unfortunately, since its new Iraqi ownership and incompetent management, the landmark hotel has had its long-standing 5-stars rating reduced by an agency in Rabat to just 3 stars, which is appalling and disgraceful.
Something has clearly faded here, and the building's exterior on rue de la Liberte needs restoring of chipped marble, and a thorough cleaning. The quality of some of the shops in its building can only be described as tacky or garish.
The dining terrace overlooking the pool is surrounded by gardens but you stare up at a modern "Wellness Center". There is a beautiful large inner courtyard, Caid's Bar and several excellent dining rooms, and a spa, hammam, hair salon and coiffeur.
Nevertheless, El Minzah is still an oasis of tranquility in downtown Tangier. Some of the upper floors suites and rooms have sitting terraces with ocean views.
Overall this is a very good place to stay, even if it has fading Old World Charm and the services and maintenance of the rooms and building facade have declined after its Iraqi owners and new management took over. The rooms in general are on the small side.
The security scanner at the main entrance door is unfortunate since it discourages visitors. Someone in authority needs to keep the aggressive and ugly hawkers and disabled street people away from the front door of the Minzah. There is one particularly ugly street lout who hangs out by the entrance every day, babbling with a security guard or doorman, but he is so hideous and repulsive to look at that you really want to avoid the El Minzah altogether.
Apparently, someone in the Iraqi owner's family brazenly embezelled several millions of dollars or Euros several years ago and promptly fled Morocco taking the cash.
This embezzelment of money also delayed the completion of renovations of the historic Grand Hotel Villa de France, that has unfortunately somewhat tacky furnishings and fixtures, and half of the gardens were destroyed by the addition of a pretentious driveway with a red carpet walkway on many steps leading up to the entrance and reception that looks ridiculous as well as discouraging any visitors.
All this is not a good sign of competent planning, management and responsible ownership of El Minzah or the Grand Hotel Villa de France.response / report this review -
25 September 2017
A hotel that is getting from bad to worse! But it is history and localisation will always make it a 5 star hotel!!
I hope that Mr Iraki the owner wakes up and get some unprofessional people out!response / report this review -
23 September 2017
Beautiful hotel that has a ton of history. Just steps from the old medina, this area has all amenities close by.
Beautiful pool area, popular restaurant and overall ambiance it's an ideal choice when visiting Tangier.response / report this review -
01 September 2017
Good place overall, it's close to the port, but the rooms were a little bit crowded and the beds were too small. But breakfast is awesome!!
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14 August 2017
Beautiful building. Or room had no problems although air conditioning quite loud. A unique old works charm.
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12 August 2017
My husband and I stayed in Al minzah hotel for 2 nights in our first visit to Tangier. This hotel is very different in its good and bad things. The location is great; right in the centre. The decor is as if you walked into an old story. Loved it. We booked a room with balcony and the view was nice. There is no tea and coffee or complimentary water in the room though. Now to the things which ruined our visit. 1. Started with the porter who took our luggage to the room and gave me a horrible look because he wasn't happy with the tip. Then he ignored my request to send someone to empty the minibar to put my water and fruit. 2. The door of the room was broken. We were not able to lock the room when leaving!!! They failed to fix it. 3. The worst with the breakfast. It starts at 7, so they say. We went at 7:30 on day 2 because we needed to catch our train. They were still cleaning. No toast. And THE ORANGE JUICE WAS OFF. I believe it was the leftover of the day before. I complained to the head chef. The response was OK, will change it!!!! No apology, no quick response. 1/2 later nothing changed. The waiters are clearly amateurs. The service was poor and slow. I hope the management of the hotel takes care of these issues since the hotel is truly unique.
response / report this review -
06 August 2017
El Minzah is one of the oldest luxury hotels in Tangier, Morocco. It is located in downtown near the Place de France, and there are beautiful gardens with ocean views, a very large outdoor swimming pool, several restaurants and an elegant Piano Bar.
Unfortunately, since its new Iraqi ownership and incompetent management, the landmark hotel has had its long-standing 5-stars rating reduced by an agency in Rabat to just 3 stars, which is appalling and disgraceful.
Something has clearly faded here, and the building's exterior on rue de la Liberte needs restoring of chipped marble, and a thorough cleaning. The quality of some of the shops in its building can only be described as tacky or garish.
The dining terrace overlooking the pool is surrounded by gardens but you stare up at a modern "Wellness Center". There is a beautiful large inner courtyard, Caid's Bar and several excellent dining rooms, and a complete hammam and hair salon and coiffeur.
Nevertheless, El Minzah is still an oasis of tranquility in downtown Tangier. Some of the upper floors suites and rooms have sitting terraces with ocean views.
Overall this is a very good place to stay, even if it has fading charm and the services and maintenance of the rooms and building facade have declined after its Iraqi owners and new management took over. The rooms in general are on the small side.
The security scanner at the front door is unfortunate since it discourages visitors. Someone needs to keep the aggressive and ugly hawkers and disabled street people away from the front door of the Minzah. There is one truly ugly street lout who hangs out by the entrance every day, babbling with a security guard or doorman, but he is so hideous and repulsive to look at that you really want to avoid the El Minzah altogether.
Apparently, someone in the Iraqi owner's family brazenly embezelled several millions of dollars or Euros several years ago and promptly fled Morocco taking the cash. This also delayed the finishing of renovations of the old Grand Hotel Villa de France, that has unfortunate somewhat tacky furnishings and fixtures, and half the gardens were destroyed by a pretentious driveway with a red carpet walkway up to the entrance that looks ridiculous as well as discouraging any visitors.
All this is not a good sign of competent planning, management and responsible ownership of El Minzah or the Grand Hotel Villa de France. tresponse / report this review -
03 August 2017
Wonderful place with high standard and amasing staff. Delicious breakfast and very nice facilities. If you go to Tanger this is the place to stay !
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04 April 2017
Good place with low service
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17 January 2017
Only visited Caid's Piano Bar. That being said:
Excellent vibe and atmosphere, especially when the grand piano is being played; fantastic decor and design; fancy but approachable feel; long list of impressionable characters that have previously frequented the bar.response / report this review -
29 October 2016
The Minzah is one of the oldest luxury hotels in Tangier, Morocco. Located in downtown near the Place de France, there are beautiful gardens with ocean views and a very large outdoor swimming pool.
The dining terrace overlooking the pool is surrounded by gardens. There is a large inner courtyard, Caid's Bar and several excellent dining rooms, and a complete Wellness Center.
The Minzah is an oasis of tranquility in downtown Tangier. The upper floor suites and rooms have sitting terraces with ocean views.response / report this review -
12 September 2016
After traveling in rural around Morocco El Menzah is an absolute treat. It is a mix of Moroccan and European. The room service is delicious and the buffet style lunch has something for everyone. The location cannot be beat. You step out of the lobby and you are in the action. The WiFi is a tiny bit spotty but ok. The prices are high for food compared to other places in Morocco, but everyone speaks English so it is easy to order what you want.
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06 July 2016
Interesting place to have a cocktail but interior doesn't seem to have changed since the 70's
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