Mamounia Marrakech in 10 words

One of the world’s great old hotels, since opening in 1923 the Mamounia has been welcoming the rich and famous to Marrakech; Winston Churchill was one of the most celebrated guests to have frequented this hotel.
It was originally built in the 19th century as the palace of the crown prince of Morocco but under French rule the building was annexed for use as a hotel. Since independence the property passed into royal hands and is now owned by the king.

The rooms
Recently refurbished, the rooms now look as they must have when the hotel first opened, with Hermès orange leather trim and art nouveau painted panels.

The gardens
The acres of formal European-style gardens predate the hotel and were laid out for the prince. Wellmanicured paths lead between ponds and flowerbeds
to a central pavilion.

Guestbook
Sean Connery and Catherine Deneuve, Bill Clinton, plus scribbles from Kate Winslet and Will Smith: Mamounia’s livre d’or must be among the starriest guestbooks.

The suites
Among its several grand suites, the most famous is the one named after Winston Churchill (below). The decoration is intended to evoke the era when the politician visited and contains artifacts including his pipe.

Majorelle Ceiling
Winston Churchill met fellow painter Jacques Majorelle (see pp26–7) in 1946 during one of his stays at the Mamounia. The portly politician persuaded the hotel’s management to commission a mural by Majorelle (above), which you can now see on the ceiling of the newly-extended lobby.

Winston Churchill
“This is a wonderful place, and the hotel one of the best I have ever used,” were Churchill’s views on the hotel and the city that he adored, in a letter to his wife, Clementine.

The architects
The original architects of the Mamounia, Henri Prost and Antoine Marchisio, blended art deco with traditional Moroccan motifs (left). Recent renovations were carried out by the company that designed Morocco’s royal palaces.

Churchill’s paintings

Churchill would paint in the afternoon and was fond of Marrakech’s extraordinary light. A couple of his paintings still hang in the hotel.

The Man Who Knew Too Much
Several scenes of this 1956 Alfred Hitchcock thriller (below), with James Stewart and Doris Day, were shot in the hotel.

The birds
The story may be apocryphal, but film director Alfred Hitchcock was supposedly inspired to make his movie The Birds after being dive-bombed by finches on his balcony at the Mamounia.