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XALUCA GROUP | WE ARE FAMILY BUSINESS GROUP
GRUP XALUCA | Hotels, bivouacs, events and services
About Us
Find out who is behind the leading hotel and services group in southern Morocco.
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The beginning of a great adventure
It all started on a trip I took with my wife Emma and my two children, Elisabet and Joan, to Morocco; I wanted them to experience a country that, during my visits on my motorbike, had impressed me above all with its hospitable and friendly people.
— Lluís Pont
— Lluís Pont
We arrived in Arfoud, then Erfoud, a city known as the Gateway to the Desert. At the town's gas station, a very cheerful young man was filling up our vehicle. Speaking broken but friendly Spanish, he asked where we were headed. When I told him we were going to Merzouga to see the Erg Chebbi dunes, he offered to accompany us. He explained that he knew the area very well because he and his family owned the Café-Restaurant Des Dunes in Arfoud and a small guesthouse near Merzouga. But we weren't interested in being accompanied by anyone, firstly because I had already driven this route, and secondly because this young man was very young and we didn't know him at all.
He was so persistent that his smile convinced us to join him, and he got straight into the car without telling any of his family members that he was going to be spending the night away.
During the drive, he offered to arrange a camel ride through the dunes, which we accepted. Once we were all atop the camels, with the whole family ready to set off with a nomad leading the animals, this young man asked me for my car keys. I thought he had forgotten something. I got inside the vehicle and threw him the keys, but to my surprise, I saw him get in the car, start it, and disappear into the distance. All our belongings were inside that car, and Emma had a panic attack because she saw our car driving away.
When I tried to communicate with the nomadic owner of the camels, we couldn't understand each other at all; he simply responded with a smile as I spoke to him.
It was a three-hour camel "ride" through the dunes until we reached a village of people from sub-Saharan Africa, "Hamlia," where the first thing I saw was my car, freshly washed and in perfect condition. All this young man had done was take the car to the end of the camel trek and wash it to earn a tip. The problem was that he never told us.
In Hamlia, we were treated very specially; my family and I experienced unique and indescribable sensations. And as a thank you... During the time we spent there, we decided to return the following year with more people and loaded with school supplies, clothing, and other necessities to give to those families. We contacted that young man from the gas station again—we'll give him a name now, Tayeb. Every Easter, we traveled to that part of the country, each time with more people, and shared experiences with all those families. My relationship with Tayeb was like that of lifelong friends, and one day he suggested the possibility of building a small hotel with several rooms near Arfoud. In a way, it was a symbolic way of contributing to the progress of that area that had shown my family and me so much hospitality and where Tayeb had lived his whole life.
And without intending to, without planning it, and letting ourselves be carried away by the "magic" of the country and the warmth of its people, today we have a significant group of businesses and hotels that provide a livelihood for more than 300 families. This wouldn't have been possible if Tayeb and his entire family hadn't been such special people, with such kind hearts. Great and wonderful people.
Sometimes things don't come to you, they just happen, and if you let your heart guide you, it's rare for things to go wrong.
Inchala,
Lluís Pont,
Co-founder of Grup Xaluca
He was so persistent that his smile convinced us to join him, and he got straight into the car without telling any of his family members that he was going to be spending the night away.
During the drive, he offered to arrange a camel ride through the dunes, which we accepted. Once we were all atop the camels, with the whole family ready to set off with a nomad leading the animals, this young man asked me for my car keys. I thought he had forgotten something. I got inside the vehicle and threw him the keys, but to my surprise, I saw him get in the car, start it, and disappear into the distance. All our belongings were inside that car, and Emma had a panic attack because she saw our car driving away.
When I tried to communicate with the nomadic owner of the camels, we couldn't understand each other at all; he simply responded with a smile as I spoke to him.
It was a three-hour camel "ride" through the dunes until we reached a village of people from sub-Saharan Africa, "Hamlia," where the first thing I saw was my car, freshly washed and in perfect condition. All this young man had done was take the car to the end of the camel trek and wash it to earn a tip. The problem was that he never told us.
In Hamlia, we were treated very specially; my family and I experienced unique and indescribable sensations. And as a thank you... During the time we spent there, we decided to return the following year with more people and loaded with school supplies, clothing, and other necessities to give to those families. We contacted that young man from the gas station again—we'll give him a name now, Tayeb. Every Easter, we traveled to that part of the country, each time with more people, and shared experiences with all those families. My relationship with Tayeb was like that of lifelong friends, and one day he suggested the possibility of building a small hotel with several rooms near Arfoud. In a way, it was a symbolic way of contributing to the progress of that area that had shown my family and me so much hospitality and where Tayeb had lived his whole life.
And without intending to, without planning it, and letting ourselves be carried away by the "magic" of the country and the warmth of its people, today we have a significant group of businesses and hotels that provide a livelihood for more than 300 families. This wouldn't have been possible if Tayeb and his entire family hadn't been such special people, with such kind hearts. Great and wonderful people.
Sometimes things don't come to you, they just happen, and if you let your heart guide you, it's rare for things to go wrong.
Inchala,
Lluís Pont,
Co-founder of Grup Xaluca
xaluca group
Hotels, bivouacs, events and services in southern Morocco