Morocco Tour Review: Marrakesh, Imlil, Charm of Chefchaouen Village, Skoura, Fez Medina & Food

The organization was overall very efficient. All pick-ups and transfers went smoothly and the company also assisted us with tracking our misplaced luggage on arrival. The driver was very careful, attentive, and knowledgeable about the places we drove through.
There were however a few disappointments. The itinerary included two nights at the hotel in Imlil, but we feel it should have been explained to us that December is the wrong time to visit it. Also, part of our reason for including this was that we had expected this stop to be a way to interrupt the long drive between Marrakesh and Skoura (we had discussed our desire not to have long unbroken drives if possible), but it turned out that the stop didn't save much driving time, given that we had to retrace our road almost back to Marrakesh before heading through the mountains to Skoura on a different road.
Second, the company notified us only at the last minute that they had failed to confirm the room at the riad where we were supposed to spend our final night in Rabat, and had to book us in a different type of hotel (one that we had previously decided not to stay in, because although luxurious, it lacked the charm of a more characteristic Moroccan accommodation.) The company apologized, but this was still a disappointment.
Finally, we were accompanied by a guide for more of the trip than we would have liked. The guide that was assigned to us in Fez , very knowledgeable we admit, stayed with us for the rest of the trip. This was unnecessary, as we had other local guides at several of the subsequent stops, and in the village of Chefchaouen and even Rabat we think we could have found our way pretty well on our own. We would have preferred this, as we are people relatively eager to explore on our own.