Tent at the Erg Chebbi Desert Camp

By April 15, 2017 Morocco One Comment

In the whole history of Heart2Heart, I never wrote anything negative about anything or anyone.  This will be the first time.  Before I wrote this, I wrote the desert camp and told them about the situation and yet they did not do anything to rectify the situation and to give importance to my complaint.  I am sharing this with you because though our photos and videos may show that the desert camp was a nice experience, what I experienced was something I was very surprised that they did not care even if I told them I would write about them.  I hope that this incident will not happen to you if ever you do book in this camp.  My experience would have been acceptable considering they charged US$ 400.00 a night per tent and included food and camel trek, but I don’t think that what they did to our group was fair.  Make sure when you book your accommodations you get what you are expecting and what you paid for.  I was analyzing why they wanted us to pay the balance of payment before arriving at camp – and maybe this is why because we would not have paid had this happened to us.  

We arrived at the desert camp at 8 pm already so it was dark.  We could not see so much the tents.  But this is how it looked during the day.  There are 8 tents in this photo which is all lined up in 2 rows.  All the tents in this row are of the same size and with the same amenities IMG_5179 There are chairs and pillows outside the tent – not all the same design but they are all providedIMG_4065IMG_4066 When we arrived that evening – we were not given any tent assignments.  We did not have to check in.  We were a group of 14 with 7 tents reserved.  Out of the 8 tents available – only 6 were allocated to us and 1 was on the side of the camp.  Since I was busy taking photos we were the last to choose and we got the tent on the side.

This was how it looked like.  If you will notice there are tents around it – those were empty or being used to store things

tent erg chebbi desert camp morocco wrong tent 1  It is so obvious it is a make shift tent or a tent used for something else- maybe the staff – but it was definitely not like the others.  Had we stayed outside this tent there was no roofing to cover us from the heat unlike the other tents.  There was also no view of the desert or any view  to look at unlike the other roomstent erg chebbi desert camp morocco wrong tent 2

 It was lower in height than all the other tents and the amenities and bathroom was not the same.  I complained immediately to staff and he was insisting it was the same.  I complained to the owner- Abdou ( the one you see in the website )

owners Erg Chebbi desert camp

and he also was in denial. He was saying he was the one who built the tents and that they are all the same.  The only difference was the height.  Ergg Chebi Desert Camp (14)Ergg Chebi Desert Camp (15)Ergg Chebi Desert Camp (1) The next morning – the two tents were vacated and they transferred us to the proper tent.  How can they tell us that it is the same as this tent?    Tent at the Desert Camp (2) Tent at the Desert Camp (3) Tent at the Desert Camp (4) Tent at the Desert Camp (6)  We did not have this in the first tentTent at the Desert Camp (7) Tent at the Desert Camp (5) Tent at the Desert Camp (8) Tent at the Desert Camp (1)Tent at Desert Camp (1)Tent at Desert Camp (2)Tent at Desert Camp (3)

After this happened and we got to Marrakech, I immediately wrote Jana the wife of Abdou.  She is American and married to Abdou.  She is in charge of the bookings.  We were very tired arriving from a 10 hour trip and looking forward to a nice camp……When I arrived there and saw our tent,  I wanted to leave.  It was just not fair

Erg Chebbi desert camp letter complaint

This was her replyREply of erg chebbi desert campl Jana

I was just so tired explaining so many times already!  They were all in denial and kept insisting that there was no difference.  I was waiting for them to offer me something but they just apologized.  Then this was my reply. I even had to show photos as if they did not know.  But for documentations sake I made an effort

Erg Chebbi complaint letter 2Comparison of tents erg chebbi desert campJana’s reply erg chebbi camp sahara reply to letter Jana 3

 My reply to which she offered a US$ 50.00 refund – she did not even offer one night refund – so I felt it was very insulting and I told her it was unacceptable and that I would write about this in my blog and in the newspaper – she did not reply anymoreErg Chebbi complaint letter 3

One Comment

Leave a Reply

FILTER