Equipping a Marrakech villa for holiday lets: what counts

A rented villa is not equipped like a family home. It is equipped for what the listing promises, for the number of guests advertised, and it is judged on the amenity that is missing, not on the ones that are there.

What equipment does a Marrakech villa need for holiday lets?

Whatever the listing promises, in working order, and in sufficient quantity for the number of guests advertised. We know of no national list that applies to a villa let in its entirety: Law 80-14 leaves the specifications for hosting in a private home to joint ministerial orders (Decree 2-23-441, article 60), which the Tourism ministry’s page still does not publish.

The only enforceable list is therefore the platform’s, and it is short. Airbnb encourages five essentials: toilet paper, soap, one towel and one pillow per guest, and linen for every bed. Everything else is a matter for your listing.

That is where the real decisions sit. Guests filter their search by amenity — pool, air conditioning, kitchen, parking, a dedicated workspace — and a villa that has not ticked the box never appears in front of them. But a ticked box is a commitment, and the platform treats it as one.

Why does every amenity in the listing commit the owner?

Because Airbnb’s refund policy rests on the listing, not on the house. It covers the case where an amenity or feature described in the listing is missing or does not work, and gives as examples the pool, the hot tub, household appliances, heating and air conditioning. The guest has 72 hours from discovering the problem to report it, with photographs.

A box ticked too quickly therefore costs twice. Air conditioning ticked, while two bedrooms out of five have none: the guests who end up in those rooms have grounds for a claim, and a subject for a review. The Essentials box is stricter still — ticking it without supplying them exposes the listing to penalties and removal.

The rule we apply fits in one sentence: the listing describes the house on the day of arrival, not on the day it was written. An appliance that breaks down for three weeks comes off the listing the same day.

How do you size the equipment for the number of guests?

By multiplying everything by the advertised capacity, then checking the peak hour. A five-bedroom villa that sleeps ten must seat ten at the table, and as many in the sitting room; offer ten loungers, or close to it, and two pool towels per guest; serve a dinner without running the dishwasher mid-meal.

The peak hour is the real test. In Marrakech, a group spends the day out and comes back together, late in the afternoon: six showers in a row, air conditioning switched on in five bedrooms at once, phones charging in every socket. That is when an undersized hot-water tank and an overloaded circuit breaker show themselves — rarely on the day of the viewing.

Bedding and linen follow the same logic: a real mattress for every advertised sleeping place, never a sofa counted as a bed, and at least one pillow per guest. A single set of sheets per bed cannot cover an eleven o’clock departure and a three o’clock arrival.

What safety equipment should a rented villa have?

The devices Airbnb asks hosts to declare, and those the house itself makes necessary. The host is responsible for the safety of every space guests can reach. They must state clearly whether there are smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and, if there are, test them regularly.

Hosts must also flag in the description the hazards of the place itself: a pool, a body of water, significant heights. Entry codes must be changed between stays. A listing that leaves out a known danger risks a warning, cancelled bookings, even removal.

In Marrakech, the first item is the gas water heater: Morocco’s Ministry of Health forbids installing one in a bathroom, and calls for a ventilated location and a qualified professional to fit and service it. Then come the fire lit in January, the roof terrace, the pool chemicals in the plant room. Fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, useful numbers: all checked on every visit.

What do guests check in their first few hours?

What they paid for, in the order they use it. The arrival walkthrough is done with a member of our team, and that is when shortcomings come to light — not three days later.

Three rows of this table already have an article of their own: hot water and air conditioning are tested under load when we get the villa ready before the first stays, and the wifi has its own safeguard, a backup internet connection. The pool calls for a line in the listing more than for equipment — a cold pool in January is not a fault, it is an incomplete description.

The safe, finally, is a line many listings leave out. A group arriving with ten passports and cash for excursions looks for it within the first hour. Fixed to the wall, in the main suite or in every bedroom, it heads off an anxious message on the first evening.

What do we ask before buying any equipment?

The questions that tell us what the appliance will become during a stay, not just what it is worth in the shop. Before equipping a villa or replacing an appliance, we want seven answers:

• who repairs it in Marrakech, and whether parts are found locally or ordered from Europe;
• whether it copes with hard water and summer dust;
• how it appears in the listing, and whether the wording holds for every bedroom;
• what replaces it if it fails on a Friday evening with a group in the house;
• who tests it between stays, and how that test is recorded;
• whether its instructions fit in three lines of the welcome book;
• whether it appears in the photographed inventory, with its condition and purchase date.

The first question rules out more purchases than all the others. A high-end appliance with no representative in Morocco becomes, at its first breakdown, a week of waiting and a review.

How do you maintain and monitor a villa’s equipment from abroad?

With a photographed inventory and a check at every changeover, kept by someone on the ground. From London or Brussels, the owner does not see the remote that disappears, the lounger that breaks, or the third set of sheets wearing out before the others.

In our property management, the inventory is drawn up and photographed when we take the villa on, then kept up to date: every breakage or shortfall is photographed the same day, and replacements are made within a spending ceiling agreed with you in advance. Amenities are described without approximation in the listing by our Airbnb property management in Marrakech, and taken off it when they stop working. When an amenity is missing all the same, a stay can end in a refund, and then in a bad review.

Would you like to know what your villa still lacks to let without complaints? We’ll carry out a free, no-commitment assessment within 48 hours.