la mamounia

Marrakech's La Mamounia Offers One Million Dirham Ultimate Experience Package

Famed Marrakech hotel La Mamounia has long been long been heralded as the choice for the discerning traveler. Over the years the famed hotel has hosted the "who's who" of international royalty, politicians, celebrities and uber rich jetsetters.

For the first time, the hotel is offering anyone who can afford the million dirhams a chance to experience the resort like an A-lister with their new "Ultimate Experience Package." The trip begins with private jet transport from any European city within a three hour flight time of Marrakech. Arriving guests will be met at the airport by private Jaguar transport back to the resort.

Upon arrival, guests will be whisked away their own private Riad, a three-bedroom villa with a Moroccan salon, private terrace and ozone swimming pool nestled in the heart of the resort's historic gardens. Naturally, these accommodations feature 24 hour butler service. That evening, enjoy a private wine tasting with La Mamounia's Chief Sommelier, followed by a bespoke gastronomic menu accompanied by carefully selected fine wines, a Champagne breakfast served ensuite or on the Riad's private terrace is also included.

Tags: dirham, hotel deals, hotels, la mamounia, luxury hotels, Marakkech, morocco

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Richard Branson's Kasbah Tamadot: Tacky or Fabulous?

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

There is such a fine line between tacky and spectacular -- sometimes over-designed is over-the-top and sometimes it just makes you feel, well, over it.

I was musing on this distinction as I toured Kasbah Tamadot, Sir Richard Branson's Moroccan hotel, a few weeks ago.

The setting, it has to be said, is uncontroversially spectacular. It's about an hour from Marrakech in a town called Asni. This is in the Atlas Mountains, and it's not a well-developed area for luxury travelers. (Most of whom stay in plush accommodations in the city and make Atlas Mountain forays -- which in fact is what I was doing, at the decidedly fabulous La Mamounia.) If you want to stay in style in the Atlas Mountains, this is your hotel. But you've really got to like it, because once you're there, you're really there. If you want other high-end dining, spa or shopping options, you're driving the winding road to Marrakech.

Kasbah Tamadot offers suites of the traditional variety, and then there are the Berber Tent suites, which have their own private decks and plunge pools. "Restrained" would still not be the word I'd use for the décor, but the color palette is more towards the khaki and cream, and the tents skip some of the touches in the other rooms that set my tacky-o-meter aquiver -- like pillows upholstered in pinkish-purplish feathers. Yes, a tent's what I'd book if I were to stay here. But do check out the gallery and see what you think.

Gallery: Kasbah Tamadot: Tacky or Fabulous?

But It's Hard to Argue With This View...

Tags: la mamounia, marrakech, MarrakechHotel, Morocco, Richard Branson

Escape and Immerse in Marrakech at La Mamounia

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Writing about Marrakech, the celebrated writer Elias Canetti said this: "in order to feel at home in a strange city, you need to have a secluded room, to which you have a certain title, and in which you can be alone when the tumult of new and incomprehensible voices becomes too great."

La Mamounia, the recently renovated historic luxury hotel of the Red City, makes for an excellent refuge. It achieves sanctuary, from sights and smells and other sensory assaults in a city where everything seems heightened.

But while some hotels in overwhelming destinations achieve this effect by essentially encasing guests in a blank box of international luxury blandness, the redesigned La Mamounia remains firmly planted in its location: you never forget you're in Morocco. You're inside the city walls and quite near to the Koutoubia mosque. You hear the muezzin issuing the call-to-prayer, but the rooms are equipped with sound canceling blinds allow you to more or less skip the 5 a.m. edition.
During the extensive three-year renovation which updated the hotel from what I heard described as "eighties-tastic", as many as 1,500 craftsman labored in a single day to create the intricate plasterwork, hand-tiling, painted ceilings and leather-tooling that tastefully embellish the property. It looks as if the Moorish details had always been there, but that's just a trick of the eye -- it's all brand new. The rather boxy shape of the hotel's exterior is a good reminder of this.

There's terrific people watching here-- the hotel has been and remains celeb magnet, hosting Winston Churchill in the way back when, and Sarah Jessica Parker more recently. (And that is perhaps the only reason those two will ever appear together in a sentence.) Its mostly European guests do tend to be those who think of themselves as celebrities, for instance, one gentleman who looked just a great deal like the guy from the Old Spice commercials, but wasn't, repeatedly doused himself with baby oil and induced the pool staff to take his photo, while a bikini'd woman did push-ups in the shallow end of the pool.

Presumably the real celebrities decamp to the hotels newly opened and totally private three bedroom riads, which have their own private pools.

Gallery: La Mamounia, Marrakech