FORBES' FOLLY, THE HOTEL SOLAZUR
Written: Mar 18 '02 (Updated May 09 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The Balloon in the Lobby
Cons: Everything Else
The Bottom Line: Better than sleeping on the beach, but not by much.
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| JAMES23's Full Review: Solazur Hotel |
This review was originally posted in the Tangier section June 4, 2000. Now that this hotel has it's own section here, I've deleted the original review and updated and reposted it here.
My last night in Morocco was spent in Tangier at the Hotel Solazur. This place is described in the several guide books I've read as one of the city's better beach hotels. It is best known as the site of Malcolm Forbes 90th Birthday bash in 1989.
One of his trademark balloons dangles in the lobby surrounded by the spiral staircase. One of the more interesting reminders of that party is a display showing the room allocations of the rich and famous who attended the party. This way I guess you can check to see who may have slept in the bed, you're now using. I lucked out, it appears my room was used by the security team of the celebrity who had the room next to mine.
Now maybe I was a bit tired from my travels, or maybe I just have better taste than the late Mr Forbes, but I can't recommend this place. To be blunt the Hotel Solazur was a dump. To be specific it was the worst place I stayed in in all of Morocco.
I won't go as far as to say it's the worst placed I've ever stayed in. Mind I've spent time living in a hole in the ground. This wasn't much better then that though, and does does now rank on my top 10 lousy hotel list.
The rooms were furnished with cheap plastic furnishings, including the bed, which looked like the set of a cheap sixties movie. the hallways and common areas were dirty and dingy and elevators even by Moroccan standards were slow and small.
I found the staff surly, but that could have been because the place was overrun with bus package tours both coming and going from Europe. You can imagine the mess this made of the bar which was fortunately the only favourable part of the place. The meals and main dining were both atrocious.
Five minutes there and I was out the front door and flagging a cab to have dinner elsewhere. Of course because the place was full, all of the services were closed, the pool, the gym etc. Probably just as well, I can only wonder what they were like.
Tangier supposedly had it's heyday in the 1960's and I suppose so did the Hotel Solazur. I have a feeling that it is stuck in some time warp from that era now including the tacky furniture. I've got nothing against the sixties, I just wish the hotel maids and cleaners had made an appearance on my floor since then.
The only comment from the original review:
"Been There,done that" by kayjay
I fully agree, the hotel is a dump. I can't believe that Elizabeth Taylor stayed there.
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Recommended:
No
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JAMES23
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Member: James Smith
Location: Toronto Ontario CANADA
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