The Transatlantique was Casablanca's first European style hotel built after the French occupation in 1912. Opened in 1922, this hotel maintains a certain degree of character in its public spaces and the old, tiny lift.

The room was clean and the bed comfortable. The view from our small terrace was of a vacant lot filed with trash. This is not the hotel's fault but is typical of Morocco's big cities.

Aside from an alert bellman, the front office staff seemed quite befuddled. They had no map of the city and were not overly friendly and did not seem to have a record of our reservation made by E-mail. However they had rooms & gave us the rate quoted in correspondence.

Street noise made sleeping difficult. The breakfast was fair & for one night, our last in Morocco after over two weeks and 2000 km of traveling around, it was OK. If I were to return to Casablanca, I would seek better accomodations, even if paying more.

Areas of this hotel were infested with flies when we stayed in late March. But the staff was worse than the flies, as the flies tended only to congregate in the dining room and courtyards. The man working at the front desk was rude and somewhat odd. The hotel had no record of my reservation -- which I had made 9 months in advance and confirmed one month in advance, again 4 days in advance, and the day before I arrived. After the desk agent went through a song and dance about there being no record, even after reviewing the email that his colleague sent me, I got him to concede that either way, there were plenty of rooms available and to give me one.
Breakfast was mediocre (exclusive of the fly factor), and the rooms were clean -- albeit overcrowded with furniture and tired linens. Customer service is not one of the hotel's core business principles, so if you are looking for responsive maintenance staff, bell staff who can hail/call taxis, etc., go elsewhere.

Stayed here with my fiancee for two nights in March 07 for a walk-up discounted dh700/night, including breakfast. The posted rate of dh925 is way too much for this quality IMHO.

We had a really hard time finding mid-range hotels in Casablanca, and walked out of half a dozen dh300 places before settling here. It was still more than we wanted to pay, but we did get a pretty comfy and charming room with a nice terrace on the 4th floor. It was clean and pretty roomy, with phone and basic minibar/fridge. Breakfast in the especially dreary dining room is very basic but decent enough for a freebie.

The location is very central, about 10 minutes walk from the Medina and not too far from Gare Voyageurs (the intercity train station). Taxi fare will vary wildly depending on how successfully you haggle with the predatory petit taxi drivers at the station. Getting to the airport will be a costly grand taxi trip unless the timing of the very inconvenient airport trains work out for you. There is an internet cafe pretty much right next door, and a nice Italian restaurant on the next corner.

I want to give a special mention to the excellent day staff, who were a huge help, especially in arranging a doctor visit for us. They weren't so great the night before when the hot water was not functioning in the entire hotel, but they redeemed themselves the next day.

In short, it's a bit pricey for a place this rough around the edges, but it has character, good location, and a nice staff so it's worth asking for a discount.

If you're looking for luxury or European standard of comfort, don't come to Casablanca. But if you're here on business and don't want to spend a bajillion diram on a hotel that you only use to sleep in, then by all means book in at the Hotel Transatlantique.

It's charming in that "it smells funny but looks clean enough" kind of way. The bartenders were clueless and had never heard of a vodka tonic. It took 900 years to find a corkscrew. But there was always fresh squeezed juice and plenty of croissants and coffee for breakfast. Our room had a lovely terrace (with an unfortunate view of drying laundry across the street and cats licking up maggots directly below....but that's just Casablanca).

It's located in what only can be described as the "light fixture district" and not walking distance (well, not when it's hot) to the old medina or mosque or any of the good restaurants. But a petit taxi ride never cost more than 20 diram (2€), so we didn't mind.

The bed was comfortable, the room was clean, the shower had no pressure, but it too was sparkling clean.

With low expectations, I was pleased enough. For 80€ for a couple per night....there could be much worse.

But be warned, no taxi driver could ever find the hotel. The street recently changed it's name (we found out on the last day). Never leave without a map.