Mazagan Resort - El Jadida

[ian]

I've been trying to find some recent video of this massive development on the Moroccan coast at El Jadida but haven't found much.

This is what it looked like at the end of August 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExIYIi28DVI

The website is impressive.
http://www.mazaganresort.com


Kerzner have also posted job listings in Gamingfloor.com's employment section for head of departments and other positions.


If anyone finds any new video or images please feel free to post them.


Ian

[ian]

In addition to the Mazagan Resort SBM also have a development near Marrakech scheduled for a 2010 completion. One would presume that gaming will also be part of the mix ?.


SBM Upgrades Monte Carlo Resorts
http://www.traveltrade.com/news_arti...26&p=index.htm

For its first venture abroad, Monte Carlo SBM has chosen Marrakech
http://www.visitmonaco.com/pdf/marrakech08.pdf


Checking my listings on Gamingfloor.com I believe there are presently 6 casinos operating in Morocco - 3 in Agadir, 2 in Marrakech and 1 in Tangiers. There are also two in the North in the Spanish territories of Melilla & Cueta.


Ian

[Aureliano]

Is there anyone here who actually did work in Morocco? How was it?

[ian]

Two videos from July and August that show the status of the Mazagan Resort.

The first is a view from the 18th Green at the local golf club and the second in French has a sequence shot in the dealer training school. The first phase opening is scheduled for October which presumably includes the casino ?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHUokHtQEDA





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ76X-JceJw





Ian

[bazza]

Opens today 15/10.They have plenty of staff problems,people leaving left right and centre!It seems very disorganised with no communication to the staff.A 24h operation!! cant see that lasting long.2 women have already been aggressed in the outskirts of town.Staff accom not finished etc no hot water amongst other things.Strange cosidering its run by Kerzner,would have thought it would have been better organised! Staff have to check their starting times on the internet (by e-mail) !!!!!!! Many of the French staff not happy,they will have to rely on the many Romanians,mainly female, employed.

[ian]

Hello Bazz

Thanks for the update. As the song goes it sounds as if things can only get better.
The good news is that they got it open. That's not been the case with many casino related projects recently.


The news is mainly in French on the wires so far.
http://news.google.com/news/search?a...l=fr&q=mazagan


One in English

Morocco- Mazagan Beach Resort to open doors on Thursday
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_...yId=1093277045


On a lighter note what's the weather like there - mainly sunny ?


Ian

[bazza]

yes Ian, mainly sunny but gets quite cold in winter. BTW you do a great job keeping mates connected,although its sad when you read of ex colleagues dying.Through you i am in contact with all my m8s from South Africa on facebook but always check-out your meeting/messages page.My 2nd port of call after reading my e-mails is Gamingfloor!

[ian]

Hello Bazza,

Hopefully you will continue to visit.

The message board has declined somewhat on GF over the last couple of years and Facebook is perhaps the reason. It's an excellent way of keeping connected, free and you can upload all your images without having to build a website. Nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come etc... and I usually visit FB every morning.


On Mazagan, Sol Kerzner was on CNN's Quest means Business last night and when asked if he would have developed Morocco along with Atlantis The Palm, and another in South Africa if he had known the global downturn was going to hit, he said simply "probably not".


Kerzner is one of a small group of people you simply can't bet against so Mazagan will probably be a success. Whether working in the casino operation there turns out to worthwhile gig - only time will tell.

If the money's OK, the girls are pretty and the sun shines that will certainly help


Ian

[bazza]

Yeh your'e right about Kerzner Ian, i worked for him in Sun Int'l SA and in Monte Carlo on the La Mamounia project, if anybody can make it work it's him!

[ian]

Still not too much news out there in English but a few videos on YouTube in French and Arabic.


Mazagan Beach Resort Video Gallery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG0gCHw7_kE





mazagan http://tousnet.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP76efXClGI





Mazagan Beach Resort prête à ouvrir ses portes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKjpfYcfNIs





Ian

[casinosurv]

Few things:
Life can be difficult for a single female there but can be heaven on earth for a single guy. lol
I used to work in Tangier and the weather was the best I ever seen so far. Been on 3 different continets : Europe , Africa and now Asia and in regards to the climate Morocco sits on my first option, at least Tangier does since it might be different then Casablanca due to proximity to Mediteranean See. Winter can be cold since there is no central heating.
Heard that the El Jadida is a little bit primitive and will take some time to change , same was for Tangier few years ago , people will throw stone at female expats that are dressed unappropriate from their point of view and believed that their job in Casino is to dance on the tables and that all of them are prostitutes.
Not sure about El Jadida but I loved Morocco , life is simple - mediteranean style relax.
Still remember having a Casablanca beer on a hill cafe at Cap Spartel enjoying the view where Atlantic Ocean mets the Mediteranean See or the beautifull views on the road to CEUTA(Sorry Ian - this is the right spelling).
One thing that I advise expats going there is to take care of the special cakes that they make at the party, you might feel funny after eating it and friends do know why. Luckly I had been advised before.
Another thing that Moroccans go crazy is if you were eating something in Ramadan time during the times they are not allowed.Nobody told me that before and I was wondering why an expat eating a banana is such a strange occurence for them until I reached my house and my friend told me that I was lucky nobody throw stones at me , lol.
If you ask me I would go there again.

[casinosurv]

Here is a sample of Tangier - Miraj

[gavmate777]

Have things settled down here now???I saw on g/f that they are looking for Cashdesk staff....what about tables positions..PB/Shifties etc....anybody know?
Thanks..

[LLevy]

Found this footage of the opening on YouTube. Looks unbelievable. Good luck to John Galvani and his casino team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUGbYF3rvWQ

[ian]

Over 19,000 views in 4 days !
Looks stunning and I can't resist embedding it here.






Ian

[steveyb]

You have to give it to the man, he sure knows how to throw a party

[Charlie Chester]

Steveyb... I thought you would have been Headhunted for that one. Your languages and experience in the culture to boot. Were you asked?

[steveyb]

you forgot to mention my dashing good looks and my charming wit!!!
No i am deeply hurt that nobody thought to ask me, must be losing my touch!

[maximus]

About Magazan opening in El Jadida there many things to say , and I saw many remarks
here from the people who doesn t know anything about Marocco, and marocan customers
, about french people who work there and romanians.
Yes there are many things which they have to manage on this time , because is just the
begining, service from bar is out of order, staff there are not all of them trained to deal
and manage day by day operations, the only people who are there,and they know
very good what they have to do are the people who worked already in Marocco,like
romanians and russians and moldavians.The french ....they are good,just because they
are speaking in french,but about this job they many things to learn still.
Peace.

P.S. I will be back with more informations about the casino in El Jadida, i have many friends
working there.

[TantheMan]

Mazagan!!!

[ian]

Hello Tan,


Taking selected information one could probably make an argument for not going to any place on earth - even the U.S. (38.2 million citizens presently on foods stamps). I agree that everyone going abroad should research the location thoroughly and it's easy now with the wonders of the www.


I can remember going to the Ukraine in the early 90's and the only information I had about the location was a couple of different spellings, a dot on the map, and that it was a centre for Iron ore mining.

Have you ever worked outside the States ?.


Ian

[steveyb]

Tan, what is your gripe??? Is it that they throw stones at females or you were only offered a dealers position? No matter how much experience you have, if you don't have the language skills to communicate with both staff and patrons your vast 18 years of experience would not really be much use to the operation now would it?
That being said i have not heard many complimentary remarks about the place but then again very few start ups will satisfy the rather spoilt staff of today. During my time in Iran we were expected to join work crews to paint staff accomodation and the like can you imagine the look on staff's faces if they were asked to do this today!

[TantheMan]

Mazagan!!!

[TantheMan]

Mazagan!!!

[Aureliano]

Long, long, long time a go I have worked in Morocco as well (Pit Boss and Surveillance).
The famous "Le Grand Casino De La Mamounia".

Coming into a new and different culture was difficult enough, on top of a new job and new life. But it was worthy... Me, as well as the others, we adjusted very well and except few small problems we had great time and I learned a lot there. I will never regret spending my time in Morocco. The locals were very kind and friendly to us (I actually had few marriage offers from few fathers offering me their daughtera and I liked Moroccan beers *Flag* and *Stork* and wine, surprisingly good was red wine called "Toubkal"). Wonderful times we had visiting Oualidia, Tangier, Safi, Ouarzazate, Agadir, Fes... Atlas Mountain over the Marrakesh was awesome and some of the trips to the desert were amazing and unforgettable.

The company I worked for accommodated us very well, I shared my 4 room completely furnished apartment with one Polish girl - needles to say how many parties we had there

As for the female staff - mainly dealers - they were at that time mainly from Czech Republic, Poland, France, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia. I haven't heard of any of them being thrown stones at. In fact I know that some are still there, married to French, Spanish or local guys.

In short - open mind opens all doors. As with any other culture, this one also needs to be respected by visitors. From my own experience I can say that as long I was respecting them they respected me thus there was no reason for any serious issues.

I worked in Singapore plus Caribbean. Singapore was great but it's an expensive place to live in. Caribbean wasn't as nice as one would expect. Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua, St Kitts - there were some problems I heard of (like unpaid wages!). Me - I didn't like the Management and that is why I opted out.