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Shahbazkazmi wrote:

Hi Melinda
I am Shabz I have been working as a concierge for last 18 years currently working in London canar wharf area I just got engaged to a lovely girl in Rabat I am thinking to move to Morocco in near future and hope to find a work there if you interested please feel free to get intouch I can provide you references thanks

You are extremely unlikely to get any job in Morocco. As a foreigner, you need to be authorised by the Anapec (the government's employment quango) who must certify you as having a skill and ability that no Moroccan at all has before you can work. As a concierge, you have absolutely no chance at all.

Melinda Dobbs wrote:

Thanks Shabaz. I will keep that in mind,  congratulations on your engagement.

Hi Melinda.

Do you have any ideas about the labour laws in Morocco? You will not be able to employ him.

SvenStockholm wrote:

I wish you success.

However, that will come at a price. You would need to be present on the premises for virtually 24 hours a day to ensure that you are not cheated by your staff and that they don't steal you out of house and home. This is inevitable and you will lose a lot of money through fraud and theft. Eventually you will find people you might be able to trust more or less.

If you don't start putting on rose-tinted spectacles, and quick, you will meet the same fate as I and many did - Ban. We were a little too frank for our own good. Unfortunately it's not appreciated by neither members nor moderators, who judge us as nothing more than "miserable gits" who don't have anything better to say. I will put mine on so I will be viewed in a different light.

To the poster - No-one will cheat you! Fraud? Theft? In Morocco? I don't know what he is talking about(!)

Melinda Dobbs wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3009008/Marrakech-named-world-s-best-destination-TripAdvisor-London-ranks-sixth-Prague-Hanoi-New-York-fails-crack-ten.html

Just a few of the comments on that thread:

"We went to Marrakech last year as the first point on our tour of Morroco. It is awful. Non-stop hassle from locals, the kids were the worst. We very quickly learned that to make eye contact was fatal. We spent too days in Marrakech and then left. "

"Marrakech was horrid. I was in the exact souk that is in the first picture. Beggars, starving dogs, restaurant food covered in flies before you ordered it. Awful. But the people were great!"

"Continual beggars that won't take no for an answer and that follow you around can spoil a trip."

"I went to Marrakech for 4 days and I couldn't wait to leave; I felt unsafe, it's dirty and we were hustled everywhere we went because everyone is so aggressive. Have fun with that."

Melinda Dobbs wrote:

I'm sorry you had that experience.  I have never felt unsafe.  I have never been really hassled. Once I say no and keep walking they leave me alone.  I have also never been sick here. As I always say, I can sick anywhere in the world, including a five star restaurant.  It happens.

4 visits isn't enough to reach an accurate conclusion. Maybe things will be different & clearer to you by the 10th visit or so. Some people who relocate there, end up moving back. That's because they didn't have enough time during their visits to see everything, and only realize things later on when they have more time. I came across a lot of people who come back from the country, and want to settle there because they loved it. Or so they thought. When they settle down, and the time comes to get serious, they see it very differently when they have to start dealing with important issues, needless to say.

Melinda Dobbs wrote:

Thank you all for your supportive posts. Somehow I don't think this is the forum for me as it seems that non expats are members. Not sure that an expat forum is for people not actually living in Marrakech or Morocco.

That's because they returned back after realizing things are not the same as it is when you're on holiday. Which is obvious to anyone who prepares and doesn't do things based on how they are treated, but many fail to see it until it's too late. Good-luck.

Melinda Dobbs wrote:

I'm sorry you sound so bitter. I'm quite sure that my last few months living here has been  a useful indication to how life is here in Marrakech.  Thanks for your input after your spending just a few short days in this beautiful exotic city.

A few days? God, you have a lot to learn. You're coming from the other-side of the world, don't have anything in common with Morocco, from a well-known wealthy nation, white, and judged to be rich. It's obvious you're going to get treated "nicely". Some people don't even know why they get treated like that, until they hit upon disaster, and find out the answer the hard way. As I said - for the second time - goodluck. You clearly will be needing a lot of it.

Melinda Dobbs wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3009008/Marrakech-named-world-s-best-destination-TripAdvisor-London-ranks-sixth-Prague-Hanoi-New-York-fails-crack-ten.html

For goodness sake. This article from a trashy UK newspaper says nothing about property prices. Did you think that I would not know about its reputation because I am Swedish?  I am telling you that house prices are falling all over Morocco, especially in Marrakech and Agadir. You are buying at exactly the wrong time. Why are the people selling you the riad getting rid of it? They want to cut their losses, it's clear.

DougElliott wrote:

Its not all doom and gloom as many successful Riad owners will testify.

It isn't. But I bet every single one of those successful riad owners got heavily ripped off at the start and if they hadn't opened their eyes, would have lost everything.

As for the comments from the OP. "Racist"? No realist. You need to wise up.

The owners are divorcing? Well, that's an auspicious start.

As for a bad experience in Morocco, I haven't been there yet. But I can see that it's going to be similar to my other couple of placements, actually, probably even more extreme.

SvenStockholm wrote:

DougElliott wrote:

Its not all doom and gloom as many successful Riad owners will testify.

As for the comments from the OP. "Racist"? No realist. You need to wise up.

Talking of racism...Tell that to the Sub-Saharan Africans who regularly get beaten up and treated disgracefully in Morocco simply for being black. Absolutely disgusting what I saw first hand.