This guide is for the family that paid and did not get what was agreed: a hotel that changed, a trip cancelled at short notice, a balance demanded twice, an agency that stopped answering. It sets out the routes in the order that usually makes sense, says who can act from outside Morocco, and is honest about the limits of each one. It does not promise anyone their money back.
Where do you start?
With the agency, in writing, even if you have already complained by phone ten times. A phone call leaves nothing behind. A message or a letter does, and every later step will ask what you did first.
Keep it short and factual. Anger is understandable, but a calm, precise complaint is easier to forward, easier to mediate and harder to ignore.
Tick off
- Name the parties. The agency's company name as it appears on the contract, the names of the travellers, and the name of the person who paid, if different.
- State what was agreed. Quote the contract or the written offer: dates, hotel, room type, flights, what was included.
- State what happened instead. One fact per line, with dates. “The hotel in Makkah was changed on arrival” is a fact; “they cheated us” is a conclusion.
- Say what you are asking for. The service that was paid for, a written explanation, or the return of a stated amount. Be specific.
- Give a reasonable time to answer and say which step you will take next if there is no answer.
- Send it in a way that leaves a trace (e-mail, a messaging app where the agency already writes to you, or a letter handed over against a stamped copy), and keep the proof of sending.
If the agency answers with an offer, ask for it in writing before you accept. If it does not answer, or answers with something you cannot accept, move to the next step with your file already built.
Before going further, check the agency's licence in the ministry's directory, as explained in how to check a Moroccan Umrah agency's licence. The answer changes the conversation. A licensed agency is overseen by the Tourism department, and its licence is at stake. An operator that was never listed, or that had let its licence lapse, is a different situation: according to H24info, one such agency left pilgrims stranded in Turkey while it was not on the official list7.
Amicable settlement: how does it work?
Disputes between pilgrims and agencies are first settled amicably through the delegations of the Ministry of Tourism1. In practice, this means bringing your file to the regional tourism delegation and asking it to bring the agency to the table.
The point of this step is an agreement, not a verdict. The delegation is not a court. What it can do is put the administration that oversees agencies between you and the agency, which often changes the agency's tone.
How to prepare:
- Bring one copy of everything, in order. Contract, receipts, transfer slips, your written complaint, the agency's answers, and a one-page timeline.
- Write down what you want. The person you meet needs to know whether you are asking for the missing service, part of the money, or all of it.
- Ask what happens next and when. Note the name of the office and the date of each contact.
If you live abroad
Someone in Morocco may be able to carry the file for you: a parent who travelled, a brother, a cousin. Before they go, ask the delegation what it needs from a representative, for example a signed note from you and a copy of your identity document. We have no official source on what it accepts, so ask rather than assume. The rest of the remote routine, including how to organise the documents from another country, is in checking your parents' Umrah agency in Morocco from abroad.
The national complaints portal
The Ministry of Tourism routes complaints to the national complaints portal: you can file a complaint with the Tourism department, track it with its number and an e-mail address, and reopen it if the answer is unsatisfactory2. The ministry explains this on its complaints page, in French.
For a family abroad, this is the most practical route: it needs no trip, no appointment and no representative. It also runs alongside the amicable route; you do not have to choose one or the other.
Three habits make a portal complaint more useful:
- Use an e-mail address you check. The file is followed through its number and that address2.
- Paste the same factual summary you sent the agency, with the dates, and attach the key documents if the form allows it.
- Save the number and a screenshot of the confirmation with your other papers.
If the answer does not address the problem, reopen the file rather than starting a new one2. One numbered file with its full history is stronger than three separate ones.
We do not describe the portal's form field by field here, because it can change and we only rely on what the ministry states. A step-by-step guide for filing from abroad will follow on this site as a separate article.
What sanctions does the law allow?
Law 11-16 on the travel agent profession allows agencies to be sanctioned1. The Tourism department's regional services, which handle licence applications, also handle withdrawals3. The licence types themselves are explained in ODV and DV: what Morocco's travel agency licences mean.
We have not read, in an official source, the full list of sanctions written into the law. What we can show is what the ministry did in a past season. In May 2022, after complaints about the Ramadan 2022 Umrah, the Ministry of Tourism ordered 2 permanent licence withdrawals, 2 provisional 3-month withdrawals and 7 warnings, and the sanctioned agencies could not apply for the pilgrimage label for 3 years4.
What this means for you:
- A sanction is about the licence. It can stop an agency from trading, or from applying for the pilgrimage label. It is not a decision that pays you back.
- Complaints feed those decisions. The 2022 sanctions followed complaints about one season4. Your file is part of what the administration sees.
- A sanction does not end your own claim. If you are still owed something, the amicable route and your written record remain your tools.
Other sanctions and published cases, with their stage and source, are in the Morocco Umrah fraud log.
Evidence to keep
The strongest complaint is the one with the best file. Start building it on the day you pay, not on the day something goes wrong. Keep paper originals in one envelope and a photo or scan of each page in one folder on your phone, shared with whoever else in the family is involved.
Tick off
- The contract, every page, signed, with the agency's company name.
- Every receipt and transfer slip, dated, with the amount and the name of whoever received the money.
- The offer or advert you answered: a screenshot of the post or the brochure, with the date.
- Every written message with the agency, exported or captured with the dates visible.
- Your dated screenshot of the ministry directory showing the agency, or showing that you could not find it.
- Travel documents: flight tickets, hotel confirmations, the group leader's details.
- What went wrong, on the ground: photos of the hotel actually used, the names and dates of any change, the names of other families in the same group who agree to be contacted.
- A timeline on one page, written while memories are fresh.
Write down phone calls too: the date, who you spoke to, what was said. A note made the same day is worth more than a recollection a month later.
Still unclear
- Whether a delegation accepts a relative as your representative, and with which document: ask the delegation before anyone travels to it.
- How long an amicable settlement or a portal complaint usually takes: we have found no published figure.
- How often a complaint leads to families recovering what they paid: no official data we know of.
- The full list of sanctions written into Law 11-16: we have only read sources stating that the law allows agencies to be sanctioned1.
- Which law the 2022 decisions were based on: one outlet reports 15 agencies sanctioned that year under the earlier Law 31-969, and the counts may not cover the same decisions.
- How to file a criminal complaint from abroad: we have no official source on the procedure yet. A lawyer in Morocco is the right person to ask.
- Whether a second, general consumer complaints route applies to travel agencies: we are waiting for an official source we can cite.
What should you do next?
Write to the agency today, with dates and a clear request, and keep the proof that you sent it. Put the file in order, using the evidence list above. If nothing changes, file on the portal and, if someone can go, contact the regional tourism delegation. If you are not sure which step comes next, you can write to us: we explain the routes, and we do not take sides on a named competing agency.