Le Tivoli

What a mistake to make ...!!

Le Tivoli looked like it was once a great hotel - shame they did not keep up the maintenance or the standards of that bygone era. Advertised as a FOUR star Le Tivoli would now struggle to make TWO!! Just about everything needed attention – even the chandeliers in the lobby. The rooms with en-suite were reasonable in size but tatty with a faint smell of damp. The bathrooms looked grimy though they were cleaned daily – they just needed to replace the horrible shower curtain with a screen and generally pay some overdue attention to the rest of it. Our first room was on the top floor but the only two lifts were both broken throughout our stay. We then discovered that the air conditioning for the entire block was in worse shape than the lifts so we moved to another block which had working lifts but the room was in a similar condition. No fridge, kettle or hairdryer and the only items provided were 3 small bars of soap and half a loo roll. Oh, there was cable TV, mostly French or Moroccan but there was Eurosport and 1 dedicated English channel, BBC World News.... Wow! However, the Chambermaids were very helpful ..
Even though we travelled with another couple there were only half a dozen Brits staying during our week. Marmara Cosy Club had taken over the entire hotel on behalf of the majority of guests and eight resident Marmara reps, in their early twenties, made sure their French guests were entertained all day and evening. We had no idea what was going on and were specifically excluded as all notices where obviously in French and when we did stumble across an activity we couldn’t understand it anyway... One or two of the reps were polite and did talk to us, in passing, but the majority just walked away when they discovered we were British.
The pool was OK though a little small with a separate paddling pool for children, however, it was not always accessible as the Cosy Club reps took over parts of the pool 3 or 4 times a day for various activities. They also played music for most of the day in-between the activities and although some was pleasant most was the type of music only teens and twenties appreciate – it was nice when it stopped.
With only two exceptions the hotel staff always spoke to us in French and were not as helpful as they seemed to be for the Cosy Club members. Apart from the paddling pool there were no facilities for children at all, not even in the only restaurant. Actually there were two restaurants but only one in use at a time, one for breakfast and the other for the rest of the meals. The food was something else – to be fair we did have two reasonable evening meals but breakfast seemed to be leftovers, although we did have fresh bread and croissants one morning... There were absolutely no concessions for us or any other nationality, no fresh eggs or anything we would recognise as breakfast. Needless to say all meals were geared to adult French guests with nothing for children. We tried the food for three days then eat out and rejoiced in the fact that we were only half board. Fortunately there was a very nice restaurant directly across the road from the hotel.
Agadir is certainly worth a trip – even though it is clearly a tourist destination, it is still developing. The locals are very friendly and polite – excluding the shop keepers who can be a very persistent to the point of putting you off. “I want your money” does not encourage you to enter their shop... and if you do – haggle and be very firm. My wife’s leather bag came down from 750 to 250 dirhams, however, most annoyingly; when I was paying he wanted even more than agreed. He didn’t get it and we did get the bag at the agreed price.
Recommendation: Choose another hotel....

Unique Quality: You might like it here but only if you are a member of Marmara Cosy Club otherwise you may as well wear a bell around your neck as everyone will avoid you anyway.