Hotel review: El Fenn – cool, calm and colourful in Marrakech

Having been offered the opportunity for a ‘first-look’ at the reimagined rooms at El Fenn, I hastily booked my El Boraq ticket, packed my bags and headed south on the fast-train to explore the hotel’s trademark Moroccan maximalism. El Fenn is, quite frankly, the original Grande Dame of cool in Marrakech. Over the years, under the leadership of Vanessa Branson, it has been a leading light in this city of oh-so-many sparkling lights and mysterious lanterns.

Vanessa Branson remains integrally involved as a brand ambassador, continuing to champion the spirit of creativity and collaboration that has always set the hotel apart. Recently the Branson leadership baton has passed to AKAN which, in its own words, is ‘a collection of unmatched properties’. Together with La Villa des Orangers and Les Deux Tours, El Fenn completes the picture, and the updates and additions of the new guestrooms, are simply a new thread adding another layer to the consistently colourful story of the riad. 

After an evening that started on the iconic red-and-white-striped rooftop terrace, I ended my day cocooned in layers of colour and texture, pattern and patina in a gloriously generous, double-aspect (a luxury in itself) guestroom, framed by dramatic black tadelakt walls. Gold leaf, vintage lights and a bathroom bigger than many a hotel guestroom, all surrounded the statement Moroccan four poster bed, making it a hard call to get up in the morning.

Image credit: El Fenn

But get up I did, as I was woken by the transportive sound of birdsong and fountains. After a little luxurious hammam-style shower time, I headed back up to the terrace to start the day with strong coffee and a slow breakfast. Adequately fortified, wandered down to the central courtyard of the riad, marveling at evry design detail along the way, to meet Yann Dobry, Creative Director and Force behind El Fenn’s bold design footprint.

I was also scheduled, a little later in the morning, to meet Hadia Temli, Curator and Gallerist of two Marrakech galleries – Galerie SINIYA28 and Galerie Tindouf – who facilitated the recent Rita Alaoui installation that greets you as you step into the hotel. Instead, in that aforementioned team spirit of brand El Fenn, meetings overlapped, mutual connections were discovered, stylish shopping tips exchanged, in a conversation punctuated by designers popping out from the boutique to ask for outfit opinions – it was far more interesting, a lot more fun, and aptly in the spirit of a place where the conversation between design and art is constantly in dialogue.

Image credit: Moggi Studio

A particular painting in the impressive hotel art collection can be the starting point for an entire room design. A colour from the palette, is then used to drench the walls in the textured traditional plaster, which in turn, can inform the choice of a handwoven Moroccan carpet, often another work of art in its own right.

As we walked and talked our way around the hotel, we stepped inside the new-look ‘Cosy Rooms’, which were preparing to receive their first guests. It felt a bit like being inside one of those kaleidoscopes I had as a kid: every turn of the dial shifted the glass prisms into another configuration of colour, light and pattern. In these reimagined guestrooms of El Fenn, the dimensions and colours create a strong and contained frame for all the details that make the whole. As different as they are, each with its own visual identity and story to tell, there is a strong visual thread that Yann has woven into the project – a particular intensity that draws everything together.

The newly decorated rooms were originally part of a separate house, Vanessa’s riad, which was connected to the hotel. These four rooms have now been integrated into the property, both in terms of space and design. The rooms are characterised by big, bold gestures and colours. There is no sense of going small to fit the space; instead, the space is given a sense of opulence through scale.

“People often think they have to shrink everything to fit smaller spaces, and that’s a mistake,” explained Dobry. “I wanted to create a kind of tension in these rooms because they are among our smaller spaces, and I very intentionally wanted to amplify that feeling by adding oversized art, as well as large headboards and upholstered pieces.”

It is interesting how calm these rooms feel, despite the potentially busy layers of colour and pattern. Somehow, Yann has managed to create a conversation between big personalities rather than a competition. The headboards become works of art; the art becomes part of the design.

Image credit: Moggi Studio

Beyond the bedrooms, the conversation continued with Hadia talking us through another recent addition to the hotel: the Rita Alaoui project, which celebrates and continues El Fenn’s commitment to art and its community, as it transitions from Vanessa Branson’s very personal art haven to the AKAN Collection of boutique hotels. Long before the role of art in hotel design became a topic for panel discussions, El Fenn was already headlining its art collection and collaborations as part of the design story.

Image credit: El Fenn

Set against the famously red El Fenn walls, and building on her Garden series from Galerie SINIYA28, Rita Alaoui’s The Inner Garden is an immersive show that runs through the hallways of the hotel. Her murals and paintings take you on a sensory wander through real and imagined landscapes, exploring people and nature, memory, absence and rebirth. Inspired by the Moroccan riad, where light, water, plants and silence meet, the space is filled with birdsong, running water and soft daylight. It is meant to be taken slowly, like a stroll through a garden, with no rush – as much a part of the hotel experience as the rooftop bar or the street-facing boutique.

Image credit: Moggi Studio

The El Fenn boutique is another string in the collaborative bow of the hotel. As a guest, you have access to the space in the morning while it remains closed to the public, giving you the opportunity to indulge your senses and explore the shop as a gallery, with kaftans and candles holding their own against bold, totem-like sculptures. The boutique is another chapter in the El Fenn story, again expertly edited by Yann, who has created a space that champions both local designers and ancient crafts, all underscored by sharply curated creativity.

Despite being in the middle of the Marrakech medina, and something of a style and cultural hub, El Fenn has managed to retain a sense of calm and restfulness, characterised by quiet corners and palm-dappled sunshine. It feels like a place to recharge the soul and indulge the senses, as it prompts you to take a seat at that perfectly appointed desk in your room, dip a pen or paintbrush into an inkwell, and start the next – or first – chapter in your journal.

Main image credit: Moggi Studio