I stayed in this property in March 2014, and was hoping that this time will be better than the last stay (which was sometime in 2009). Sadly, things haven’t changed. Here is a point of view in my opinion that may help travelers:
1) It’s perhaps the only Goa location that has 200 odd rooms, making it the only choice to host large scale weddings, corporate functions and so on. That perhaps is also the bane of this property, but more on that later. BTW, it also has a golf course, but you would be the rare human who would come looking for Golf in Goa…if so, you can ignore my post.
2) Locationally, it’s too south…closer to Karwar than Goa. If your idea of an evening in Goa is to wander into the local market and shop around and go beer hopping, this is not the location to choose. It once had a Casino, but even that has been shut. Transportation costs to and fro are expensive too (naturally)
3) The Hotel is infamous for its service levels. You will mostly see chaos during check-ins (as huge groups keep checking in and out most of the time). Room service / concierge / housekeeping, all take their own sweet time. Examples: A pair of scissors takes 20 mins; it takes 4 people and tremendous amount of confusion on Wi-Fi coupons at the front desk. Someone takes an order in the restaurant and forgets…the list of such legends is long and very interesting.
4) Sadly, despite huge group booking experiences, the Hotel isn’t suitably plugged to handle them. Long food queues exist, breakfast gets sheepishly served by 7:30am; the people at bar counter get seemingly vexed if there are too many people asking for a drink….and so on.
However, the property is vintage and awesome. Good pool, very ambient lawns and some magnificent sunsets at the beach. Large rooms (however, old television sets), spacious baths, and OK beds.
My advice: if you aren’t a huge group (which you not always are), I’d prefer some other place.
