Marrakech has no shortage of stylish riads, but El Fenn has been setting the bar since long before 'boutique hotel' became a marketing term. Founded under Vanessa Branson's eye and now part of the AKAN Collection alongside La Villa des Orangers and Les Deux Tours, it recently unveiled a batch of reimagined guestrooms — and a new art show worth travelling for.
The star additions are four 'Cosy Rooms', carved out of the former separate riad that once belonged to Branson and now folded into the main property. Rather than shrink the furniture to suit the square footage, creative director Yann Dobry did the opposite: oversized art, huge headboards and upholstered statement pieces that fill the smaller rooms with tension and drama. The result, oddly, is calm — bold colour drenched across tadelakt walls, handwoven carpets and paintings that often kick off an entire room's design. Some rooms get the extra luxury of a double aspect, and bathrooms in the older rooms can outsize a standard hotel bedroom elsewhere.
Art here isn't decoration bolted on for Instagram. The latest project is 'The Inner Garden' by Moroccan artist Rita Alaoui, an immersive installation running through the hotel's hallways and courtyards. Inspired by the riad itself — light, water, plants, silence — it layers murals and paintings with actual birdsong, running water and filtered daylight, built around themes of memory, absence and rebirth. It's meant to be walked slowly, more like a garden stroll than a gallery sprint.
The hotel's retail side follows the same logic. The street-facing boutique, also edited by Dobry, champions local designers and traditional Moroccan crafts — kaftans, candles, totem-like sculpture — and guests get exclusive access in the mornings before it opens to the public. Up on the red-and-white-striped rooftop, breakfast comes with birdsong and fountain noise drifting up from the central courtyard; the medina chaos stays firmly outside.
What makes El Fenn relevant now is the transition. Branson still champions the place as brand ambassador, but the handover to AKAN could easily have diluted what made it special. Instead the new rooms and the Alaoui commission suggest a hotel doubling down on its DNA: maximal colour, serious art and a collaborative, unprecious spirit where curators, designers and shop staff all end up in the same conversation.
Who should care? Anyone planning a Marrakech trip who wants design-forward digs with genuine art credentials, without the hush of a minimalist hotel. Book one of the four new Cosy Rooms if you like compact spaces with big personality, or push the boat out for a double-aspect room if space matters. And budget time for the rooftop at sunset — it remains one of the city's best perches.
