About us
Riad Bayti opened in October 2002, just after a full year of renovation works.
Before being a guest house, the place was known to be the house of notable families of the neighbourhood. It was also a post office during the French Protectorate years and finally it was changed into a business house.
Today, the Riad Bayti is there to share with you Marrakesh history, simple people one’s and well-off one’s. Situated in the very authentic Mellah (the old Jewish District), you will have the opportunity to dawdle at the riad doors in between curcuma pyramids, dry roses barrels and saffron odours, you will have the chance to enjoy the famous Bahia and el Badii palaces, the Saadian Tombs and the Djema el Fna square, and you will discover the medina and its souks by walking all the deepest alleys. !
Riad Bayti will be your peaceful haven in the middle of Marrakesh agitation. Bayti, in Arabic, means “my home”… Riad Bayti is your home during your stay
Welcome home ! Bienvenue chez vous ! Bienvenidos en su casa !
Diego&Marylen LASOU
Diego born in Casablanca (Morocco), from a French father and a Chilean mother, his principal passions are travelling the world, meeting new people and enjoying human relationships.
Marylen born in Lille (France), her passion for interior design and world arts inspired her to decorate the Riad. Each detail is hers.
“Morocco adopted me and I adopted Morocco: the medina and the souks don’t have any secrets for me anymore”.
For the more curious, here are more details about the Riad history.
The Riad belonged to a big Jewish Moroccan family, the “Hazan” family. Jacob Hazan born in 1836 settled in Marrakech in the actual Riad Bayti. He was a brilliant businessman and he became a first class figure in Marrakech. He received the father of Foucauld (disguised as Jew) when he stayed in Marrakech (1883-1884). He also received the commander Mangin and certainly other famous guests. Under the French protectorate (1923- 1956) the Riad became the French post office of the neighbourhood (the Jewish neighbourhood- the Mellah), the Marshal Lyautey who stayed at the Bahia palace (near the Riad) when he was in Marrakech visited so often the post office of the Jewish neighbourhood. After the French protectorate the French post office of the Jewish neighbourhood was gone and Mr Hazan who was the owner of the Riad decided to change the ground floor and used the cave to become a wine merchant. The Hazan family lived in the first floor and the terrace. The ground floor was concerted to the wine business. At the late sixties the “Hazan” family was split around the world (Israel, France, United states,Mexico). And the Riad was sold to a Moroccan who never stayed at the Riad and choose to rent each room of the Riad for a different poor family coming from the country side and no maintenance ever done in the Riad for 40 years and when we visited the Riad the first time in august 2001 the riad was so neglected which lead to think of the future of this beautiful residence. We thank our Forman Abdellatif Lamselli who succeeded after a year of hard work to bring it back to life and to renovated while conserving what was genuine and could be saved and by respecting the spirit of such type of constructions.
