Last Friday I packed up my Global MBA Backpack (so dorky but so handy) and headed to Marrakech, Morocco. I was flying out with my classmate, Tracy, and we were to meet five other classmates who had taken an earlier flight because they had to come back on Sunday night rather than on my flight on Monday afternoon (oh the joys of being in the Wednesday/Thursday classes). We arrived at around 7:00pm after a three-hour flight and took a 10-minute taxi ride into the city. We entered the walls of the old city and arrived at the main square. There were people everywhere, I mean thousands of people, and hundreds of cars and hundreds more motor bikes. We had to get out of the taxi and were handed off to a porter who was to guide us to our hotel, which was accessible only by walking because the streets of the old city are more like alleyways. Mind you all of this was in broken English (people in Morocco speak Arabic and French). We were navigated through the craziness and through the maze of Souks (more about the Souks later) and led to our hotel.
We had decided to stay in a traditional Riad, which are Marakech’s version of a bed and breakfast. They are little 5-15 room hotels that are centered around a courtyard with each room having its own name. They are hundreds of years old and at one point were probably single-family homes. We arrived and were greeted by the hotel attendant. I looked in my wallet to tip the porter, and saw that the smallest Moroccan currency (called dirham) I had was a 200 Dh bill. This is about $24USD, so I asked the attendant if he had change because I wanted to tip the porter 2o Dh (about $3 USD) and all I had was 200 Dh. He spoke good enough English and disappeared around the corner with my money, and when he came back, the porter was gone and so was 80 Dh (about $12). I told him I just wanted change and that he paid the porter too much, and all of a sudden our hotel attendant couldn’t speak English. Lesson #1: Make sure you set prices before getting any services. Lesson #2: Don’t trust your hotel attendant.
We had decided to stay in a traditional Riad, which are Marakech’s version of a bed and breakfast. They are little 5-15 room hotels that are centered around a courtyard with each room having its own name. They are hundreds of years old and at one point were probably single-family homes. We arrived and were greeted by the hotel attendant. I looked in my wallet to tip the porter, and saw that the smallest Moroccan currency (called dirham) I had was a 200 Dh bill. This is about $24USD, so I asked the attendant if he had change because I wanted to tip the porter 2o Dh (about $3 USD) and all I had was 200 Dh. He spoke good enough English and disappeared around the corner with my money, and when he came back, the porter was gone and so was 80 Dh (about $12). I told him I just wanted change and that he paid the porter too much, and all of a sudden our hotel attendant couldn’t speak English. Lesson #1: Make sure you set prices before getting any services. Lesson #2: Don’t trust your hotel attendant.
Picture: Tracy in our Riad.
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