Hôtel Gourara

*Once a good hotel*
This hotel was extremely disappointing. You can tell this was once a beautiful loved hotel. The rooms did not feel particularly clean, hair in the bathroom, shower which flooded, very basic (eg no coffee or kettle in room), general state of depreciation (cracks, mould etc). The breakfast spread was a mess and the restaurant seemed overwhelmed.

The room keys almost always malfunctioned so you need to walk back and restart them

The grounds are gorgeous and like I said it wouldn’t take much to turn this into a real luxury hotel. At the moment, unfortunately it just feels neglected and is so rundown.

Nous avons passé un excellent séjour dans cet hôtel. Je n'approuve pas les avis négatifs que j'ai pu lire... Oui certaines choses sont perfectibles mais le personnel est attentionné, rapide à solutionner les problèmes. La chambre était grande, climatisée, avec TV. L'hôtel a le wifi. En même temps il y a tellement de choses à faire à Timimoun ! Demandez à l'accueil, ils ont des contacts pour des excursions à bon tarif. Le gros point de cet hôtel : quelle vue sur le désert depuis ces nombreuses terrasses! Et la piscine : propre, eau cristalline, nettoyée tous les jours. Franchement, rapport qualité-prix imbattable. Attention à prendre de l'argent liquide, il est difficile de retirer à Timimoun, l'établissement ne prenant pas la CB lors de notre séjour.

Absolutely terrible experience.
I booked apartment I got probably the worst room. Nobody apologized, gave explanation nothing, I just realized in the room this is not the room what I paid for.
First complaint at reception, I got just simple answer your room is occupied.
There was no compensation from the hotel only from the hotels.com.
The entrance door was broken, door in the shower was broken, broken door in wardrobe, only one towel for 3 people…
I got my room second day and the room was much better, the impression from the room was good OK, but most of the furniture was broken or didn’t work.
Service and food in the hotel restaurant was OK. The breakfast was so so, boiled eggs were not fresh, but the rest was quite OK.
Dinner, most of the food in menu was not available, some food terrible some delicious, the same service. One day OK another day terrible.

Staff was not very helpful and didn't really speak French or English, which is surprising for such an expensive hotel. Also not helpful online.

Un vrai dépaysement

Timimoun and the hotel were both more basic than I had expected from the initial research, from reading guide books and from the reviews here. Once you realise this, there is no doubt this hotel makes for the most pleasant accommodation and dining in this part of the desert. Beautiful desert views from rooms and the restaurant. Nice pools. Mind you that if you (like us) arrive after 14:30 (or return from a day trip after 14:30), there is nothing to eat anywhere. Even the bar didnt stock olives, nuts or chips or anything. Then you have to wait for dinner at 19:30. They also ran out of beer the last couple of days, which is more understandable in a muslim country in a remote location (but could probably be planned for). We liked our two nights and two days, but had to adapt to circumstances more than expected. We had some problems figuring out how to book a desert day trip, but in the end it all worked out. There was a mix up with the Expedia reservation that consumed some time and had us worried. We were told to pay directly at the hotel (which would have been less than half the price) although the money had been debited my account at the time of booking. Some intermediary might have created this hick-up.