The Butler Experience at Mandarin Oriental Marrakech: What Personalised Service Really Means

From the moment we arrived

The first thing we noticed when we arrived at Mandarin Oriental Marrakech was the warmth. Everything was taken care of almost before we had a chance to think about it. Our luggage disappeared, we were brought outside, and suddenly we were sitting with a freshly made juice and a little sweet while we signed in. And that sweet was fantastic. Morocco certainly knows what it is doing when it comes to them but Mandarin Oriental does pastries does it even better

We were not welcomed by one person either. There was a whole team there, and they already knew our names. They asked how we were doing and genuinely seemed interested in us. And even though it might seem excessive, there was something very natural about it. The property is also so spacious that you immediately feel a difference from many luxury hotels. From the moment you get out of the car, there is this feeling that everything is taken care of and nobody is rushing you.

Our butler

Our butler was wonderful. He showed us around the villa and then stayed to talk with us for a while. We ended up having a proper conversation about what it was like to work at Mandarin Oriental and how happy and honoured he was to be part of the team. That was probably one of my favourite things about the stay. It didn't feel like a standard hotel interaction but a great personal connection.

He did everything for us. He heated the pool, answered our messages almost immediately and came to fix the fireplace in the evening. We spent the evening around the fire, looking at the lighting around our magical little private world, and it was just lovely. By the time we checked out, there were jokes and laughter between us. We had really clicked. And that, for us at DeSalvio travel, is something we truly care about because it is difficult to manufacture but key to a great property. You can train people in service, of course, but the personal connection is something else.

The Five minutes that mattered

There was one moment that really showed us how seriously they take the details. We had decided to have dinner in the villa. The villa was so beautiful that we wanted to enjoy it privately rather than go out again. The team arrived with our dinner five minutes early.

Five minutes.

Marisa hadn't returned yet from her spa treatment, so they took everything back. They went all the way back to the kitchen and had the dinner completely redone, because it wasn't being served at its best moment. Then they brought it back to us again and apologised.

I know five minutes doesn't sound like much. But one notices these things. When you are trying to create a particular experience, timing matters. They could easily have said, “No problem, we'll leave it here in the heated compartment.” Instead, they decided it wasn't good enough and started again.

That is service.

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It felt like our own place

I think the villas make this kind of service work particularly well. You don't really feel like you are staying in a hotel room. It feels like your own house, not just a very beautiful one, a stunning one. The layout of the resort helps with that too. There is so much space that you can spend time there without feeling that you need to leave the property to find some peace. You see people working in the gardens, cleaning or taking care of things, and everyone is incredibly kind. But somehow the privacy remains.

For us, that was what made Mandarin Oriental Marrakech different.

We have stayed in many beautiful properties, and obviously the standard of the hotel matters. But what stays with you is the personal feeling. When a property becomes too generic, you can start to feel like one of many guests. Here, we didn't.

I wouldn't choose Mandarin Oriental Marrakech for someone whose main reason for visiting is to be right in the middle of the Marrakech buzz. If you want to walk out of your hotel and immediately be surrounded by the city, there are other places I would choose.

But if you want to have Marrakech around you and then come back to somewhere quiet, private and incredibly well looked after, this works very well. And the butler service really does make a difference. Not because somebody is simply assigned to you, but because, when it works properly, you stop thinking about what needs to be done.

Someone is already taking care of it.

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Further reading about Mandarin Oriental Marrakech:

Our Food-experiences at Mandarin Oriental Marrakech

Inside the Spa at Mandarin Oriental Marrakech

Our in-depth Villa review of Mandarin Oriental Marrakech

Planning a Stay at Mandarin Oriental Marrakech?

For us, this is exactly where working with a travel advisor can make a difference. Mandarin Oriental Marrakech is a property where the details matter, and there are quite a few ways to make the stay even more special before you arrive. As Virtuoso advisors, we can also arrange the stay with the Virtuoso benefits included in the rate.

For Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, these include:

• Complimentary private roundtrip airport transfers
• Daily breakfast at Shirvan restaurant
• A room or villa upgrade, subject to availability
• USD 100 dining or spa credit during the stay
• Early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Butler service
• 10% VAT included

We can also help you decide which villa makes the most sense, arrange spa treatments and experiences before you arrive, and make sure the hotel knows what is important to you.

Because with a place like Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, the difference is often in the details that happen before you even get there.

Book your call here.

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Robert Poortinga  
Travel Booking Assistant  
River cruise & Europe destination expert  
Culinary and art travel specialist

Concert Pianist

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