Press
About us
Company history, why having created riadsdeluxe ?
Outstanding properties ?
Details on our collection, standards of selection
Riadsdeluxe theme stays
Spa, Golf & Gastronomy
Registration form
About us
Company history
Hotels & Ryads was created in 2004 when Pierre-Yves Sorgniard and Timothée Porcq, 2 former colleagues in Hotelswitch, decided to create the first Internet portal dedicated to the Moroccan riads. The first version of the website www.riadsmorocco.com was born in April 2004 and Hotels & Ryads quickly became a reference for both customers and property owners.
The keys to this success? A selection of properties established according to a quality charter, taking into account the style and the character of the house, the quality of the service offered and the professionalism of the owners. Adding to this, a perfect knowledge of Morocco and of the proposed riads, a direct contact with the owners and a serious and effective customer service, the “word of mouth” quickly set up and Hotels & Ryads became one of the two main protagonists of stays in guest houses in Morocco.
Today, the selection consists of 70 houses, classified in 4 ranges of comfort among which 50 houses (riads, dar and villas) are found in the famous medina of Marrakesh as well as a selection of the best riads located in Fez, Essaouira, Oualidia, Rabat-Salé and Casablanca. In order to maintain the quality of this selection, every riad is visited several times a year to verify that the property still correspond to our quality charter, and to make sure that the quality of the service does not decline.
Why having created riadsdeluxe ?The increase in the number of guesthouses in Morocco during the last 3 years has considerably extended the offer in terms of comfort and quality of service.
The most beautiful houses of the Medina (former dwellings for the pashas and for the sultan’s close relatives) were renewed and transformed into luxury guest houses, offering to its guests a personified reception and a quality of service worthy of the best occidental 4 or 5 stars hotels.
True specialist of the Moroccan riads, Hotels & Ryads turned its 4 years of experience to good account in order to create a new portal (www.riadsdeluxe.com) gathering these outstanding properties and guest houses in a unique selection: 16 riads or small capacity luxury hotels, proposing to the travelers a unique service worthy of the greatest Hotels, personalized reception besides.
Outstanding properties ?
Welcome to the world of luxury guest houses!
To stay in unique places. Each property on www.riadsdeluxe.com has a prestigious present and past, conferring it a history and a unique personality. Among the 16 selected properties, a former dwelling of the Pasha of Marrakesh, jewels of the Arabic-Andalusian, and Arabic-Italian architectures, a boutique hotel in the heart of the medina, the dwelling of an eminent astrologer of Fez, Relais & Châteaux ® labeled properties in Marrakesh and in Essaouira, and a luxury hotel dominating a green lagoon are found in Oualidia ...
Take advantage of a high quality personalized service. Most of the luxury riad owners arise from the luxury hotel business; the staff was trained in the best Moroccan hotels. Thus you will have in each riad a very efficient team ready to do anything to give you satisfaction and to help you to take full advantage of your stay in Morocco. There is nothing like enjoying the local advises to discover the unusual places, to find treasures in the heart of the souks, to organize an almost unheard-of excursion or to book the best table in the best restaurant of the city.
“Lose the notion of time” to fully enjoy the present moment. The timeless effect of these riads is immediate: a return into the great times when sultans reigned over Morocco. The atmosphere which emanates from these big properties, often endowed with several patios with a garden and/or a fountain, is dominated by the peace and the freshness. To cross the doors of these houses is to really penetrate into another world; the contrast with the warm and noisy atmosphere of the medina in which these exceptional riads are found is striking.
Benefit from a maximal space of life while preserving the original architecture. The dwellings of the medina are secular and have never had for original vocation to offer its host a considerable private space. However, the rehabilitation of these dwellings into “guest houses” permitted to their new owners some eccentricities while respecting the structure of the house. While preserving the appropriate specificities of the Riads and Moroccan “Dars” (a dwelling centered on an opened patio fountain planted with trees, surrounded by 4 walls and with a terrace), the owners redrew the living environment of their property’s occupants by offering them their tastes and giving them more space for life.
Admire a sophisticated decoration, compound of works of art, and of exceptional craft objects. The riad owners decorate their houses in accordance to their tastes and their personalities; thus each house is unique to the slightest details. The Moroccan craftsmen, renowned for their tapestries, the treatment of the leather, or also the work of cedar wood have perpetuated an ancient statecraft. Craft masterpieces are found in luxury riads, but also treasures picked up around the world: ancient Kilims of Anatolia, Ottoman embroidery, precious furniture from China, contemporary paintings ... A unique mixture the subtleties of which will be appreciated by the true connoisseurs.
Riadsdeluxe theme stays
The travel is a privileged moment for the discovery and for the relaxation; it is also sometimes the occasion to devote to passions. Our thematic selections are made for the travelers wanting to discover Morocco through a “spa and well-being” stay, a “golf” journey or a gastronomic travel.
Spa & well-beingVery fashionable these least years, the theme “spa and well-being” includes all the practices of body care and massages allowing the body and the spirit to fully relax at the same moment. Far from being a simple fashion phenomenon, body care are integral parts of the Moroccan tradition.
The Hammam, an ideal way to clean the body and to empty the spirit! The Hammam is an ancestral practice in Morocco where it constitutes the base of the personal hygiene. The public baths, opened alternately to the women or to the men, allow a privileged exchange and are frequented by all the categories of the Moroccan society. Each one takes the time to accurately clean itself thanks to the steam baths and to relax between friends. The wet vapor provokes a dilatation of the pores of the skin, and so, allows a deep cleaning. Often followed by an exfoliating scouring, a Hammam session allows the skin to be renewed and brings a profound relaxation of the body and of the spirit.
Massages and exfoliating scrubs on the base of natural cosmetic products. Massages are also a traditional practice in Morocco; according to the employed techniques massages can be relaxing or energizing, made with argan oil or ghassoul (clay renowned for its soothing and cleaning virtues). Numerous “imported” body care such as Reiki, reflexology, aromatherapy, or still algae therapy, are also proposed by Moroccan masseurs as a complement to traditional techniques in order to bring a range of complete care and to adapt to each and every one’s needs.
The luxury properties presented on our website www.riadsdeluxe.com are sometimes equipped with swimming pools, and some also have a Jacuzzi and a sauna.
The “spa and well-being” properties:- La Sultana - Marrakesh : this outstanding property in Marrakesh arranges the most complete “spa and well-being” equipments of Morocco: ionized warmed swimming pool and swimming against the current, jacuzzis, hammam, sauna, indoor and outdoor massage cabins, balneotherapy, hairdressing and make-up salon, fitness room... La Sultana Marrakesh received the “Morocco’s leading spa resort” prize in 2008!
- Dar les Cigognes - Marrakesh : this boutique hotel, renewed by architect Charles Boccara, has one of the most beautiful “spa-hammam” of Marrakesh. Located in the heart of the medina, Dar Les Cigognes nevertheless proposes a space completely dedicated to well-being: massages with argan oil, beauty care, and depilation are performed by a team of attentive and discreet professionals. Hammam, exfoliating scrub, envelopment of the body in natural herbs is possible before going into the jacuzzi...
- Heure Bleue Palais – Essaouira : member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux ® collection, the Heure Bleue Palais is the most beautiful property of Essaouira. It arranges a big swimming pool (warmed) situated on the terrace, allowing a sight upon the sea and the medina, and a magnificent hammam in black tadelakt. A vast range of care products, and massages is proposed there, notably based on argan oil. This oil, recognized for its multiple cosmetic virtues, is produces near Essaouira and possesses nourishing and regenerating properties for skincare.
- La Sultana – Oualidia : as its “sister” from Marrakesh, La Sultana Ouialidia arranges a very complete “spa and well-being” equipment: outdoor 40 meters overflowing swimming pool, indoor and warmed swimming pool, jacuzzis, a hammam, tisane room, and a resting lounge; without forgetting its solarium terraces facing the magnificent lagoon... Each suite of this property arranges a private terrace equipped with a seawater jacuzzi!
Morocco currently proposes 18 golf courses some of which were drawn by famous architect Robert Trent Jones, or his disciple Cabell Robinson. The level of these golf courses is generally high but some of them propose several rounds of golf allowing beginners as well as certified players to practice their favourite sport by taking advantage of the mild climate and of the variety offered by Moroccan landscapes.
Golf in MarrakeshMarrakesh has 3 golf courses of its own, located near the “Red City”.
- Marrakesh Royal Golf Club: this wonderful golf course is born in 1920, under the influence of The Pasha of Marrakesh. The course, Par 72, extends over 6200 meters and its luxuriant environment is made of apricot trees, palm trees, orange and olive trees, and by eucalyptus... Ideally located, at the edge of the snowy tops of the Atlas Mountains, it is a magnificent course which welcomed during its history, numerous professional players, but also “prestigious amateurs” such as Winston Churchill or Ike Eisenhower.
- The Palmeraie Golf Club: created by famous international architect Robert Trent Jones, (creator of more than 500 golf courses in the world), the Palmeraie Golf Club is often qualified as a masterpiece by its visitors. The course extends over 77 hectares; it includes 7 lakes, and thousands of palm trees!
- The Amelkis Golf Club: created by Cabell Robinson, the Amelkis golf club is the most technical of Marrakesh. Its course, 6657 meters in length, is very hilly and strewed with obstacles of water and with immense “bunkers”. Blind departures, bumps, solidly “defended” greens, this course is very technical and addresses only to the very good players.
- La Villa Margot – Marrakesh : Bruno Guillet, owner of the Villa Margot, welcomes you in his house for a relaxation stay in the neighborhood of Marrakesh. Bruno is also a confirmed golfer who knows very well the various golf courses of Marrakesh and can help you to organize your golf stays in the “Red City”.
The Royal Golf of Fez is situated in the heart of an olive grove and proposes an incredible sight on the Medium Atlas. It was also designed by Cabell Robinson; it is a technical course as the American architect likes them. Par 72 of 6542 meters, the course is very hilly, stuffed with obstacles (huge trees, and numerous bunkers) and accounts 6 lakes which it is sometimes necessary to cross to reach the green. It is thus a very rich course addressing to confirmed golf players and also amateurs despite its very difficult 18th hole.
Golf in EssaouiraA Golf course is currently under construction near Essaouira. It is drawn that by Gary Player (South African, triple winner of the British Open) and will soon open its doors to the amateurs of golf who appreciate to play with sight on the Ocean! 2 courses of 18 holes are currently in works and should be ready to welcome the first players in 2009. To be continued!
GastronomyThe Moroccan traditional cooking is internationally renowned for its spicy or sweet - salted dishes. The Moroccan Chefs are supposed to be masters in the art to satisfying palates which enjoy mixtures of spices (cumin, ras-el-anout, cinammon) and of Mediterranean cooking.
Besides the famous royal couscous and the tagine, you can sample numerous typical dishes: pastillas, briouates (puff pastry), diverse skewers, and of course delicious pastries which marvelously accompany the traditional mint tea.
As seaside destinations, Essaouira and Oualidia, are paradises for the tasting of fishes and shellfishes. The harbor of Essaouira proposes a very good variety of fishes and it is to Oualidia that the best oysters of Morocco are produced; furthermore, the Moroccan Atlantic Coasts abound in spiny lobsters and lobsters! Warning to the gastronomes!
The “gastronomy properties”:- La Villa des Orangers – Marrakesh : this magnificent property, member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux ® collection, is a reference for gastronomy in Marrakesh. La Villa des Orangers contains 2 gourmet restaurants, which propose French cooking with Mediterranean flavours and with Moroccan pitches. For the lunch, a light restauration is organized so that the customers can have lunch at the edge of swimming pools, on terraces or under the shadow of the patio’s orange trees. In the evening, in the light of candles, two musicians accompany you to savor the dishes of a menu of Mediterranean inspiration, and the daily suggestions, typically Moroccan.
- Riyad Al Moussika – Marrakesh : the Riyad Al Moussika is the former house of the Pasha of Marrakesh but the current owner, Giovanni Robazza, is Italian. The resident chef of the riad, « Grand Diplôme Cordon Bleu », thus proposes Moroccan, Italian or French recipes as well as wide selection of vegetarian dishes. "Tea times" are accompanied with handmade Moroccan pastries. The breakfast, the 3 dishes lunch, "tea times" as well as all the soft drinks are included in the rate.
- Heure Bleue Palais – Essaouira : at l’Heure Bleue Palais, Relais & Châteaux ® labeled property in Essaouira, talented French Chef from Lyon Sylvain Scotti manages the kitchen. He proposes a French gastronomic cuisine filled with Moroccan flavours: a net of lime on a spider crab fished on the morning, or a spiced-beef tajine, the chef shows sharpness to surprise you palate. Besides Essaouira is an ideal place for the fresh fishes and shell-fishes lovers.
- Riad Fès : in the deep heart of a medieval city renowned for its gastronomy, the Riad Fès provides you one of the most refined tables in town. In the big tradition of the fez cooking, Kenza proposes a selection of the most authentic and refined dishes. Take the time to discover a vast selection of Moroccan dishes, prepared on request. Riad Fez has two restaurant rooms. The Amber : purity of the contemporary lines and sensuality of the oriental forms make it an elegant and delicate place. The atmosphere is sweet. The Oriental and the Oriental lounge: relive the splendors of the auspicious families from Fez under a cedar-wood ceiling and the chiseled copper chandelier. This space is particularly adapted to big business or “between friends” dinners. The Riad Fès also has a beautiful lounge bar, the Alcazar, as well as a smoking-room which will delight the cigar lovers.
- La Maison Bleue – Fès : the Maison Bleue is a luxurious dwelling in Fez, located in the Batha district. In a magnificent setting, Lalla Khadija brings all her experience to propose you the best dishes of the traditional cuisine from Fez. The cuisine is made in the purest gastronomic tradition, and it is a part of the history of Fez that we find to the menu: lamb tajine with quinces and gumbos, traditional style pastilla or XIIIth century couscous! The cuisine is refined and delightful, in perfect adequacy with the beauty of the place.