Backwater Retreat - Kottayam, India     

It is a small hotel with total 6 rooms. 4 rooms on the first floor and 2 rooms on the ground floor. Though it is claimed that hotel is a river view but in reality it is situated besides a small canal. Hotel is very expensive for the price which we pay. Further, hotel is located at a very deserted location and one can not reach at this hotel on his own. To reach this hotel you will have to give your cell phone to your cab/auto driver who will continuously receive direction from hotel management on how to get there. In reality there is no road to this hotel and one needs to travel on a 2 Kms kaccha road to reach there. This kaccha road is full of potholes and doesn't even have street light. Hence you can't move out of hotel in the evening. In the evening i.e. after 6 P.M. you have no option but to eat & sleep in hotel and wait for the sunrise/morning. Further, there is no public transport available and if you want to travel anywhere in Kumarakom then you need to tell the hotel manager who will immediately arrange a rickshaw for you. Since the hotel is deserted you have no option but to hire a return journey rickshaw as no other rickshaw wala will be able to get you back to the hotel. So if you are going for sight seeing then you may hire rickshaw from the hotel in the morning get down at a Vembanad lake/Bird sanctuary which is the only attraction in Kumarakom and give a call to rickshaw driver in afternoon/evening that you are done with sight seeing and he can come and pick you up. For all these services you will have to pay an enormous amount of Rs. 320 to the Rickshaw driver. It should also be noted that this kaccha road which takes you to the hotel is very deserted and you will not find a single vehicle or a person on the road hence it provides a very horrifying experience. Rooms at the hotel are good and are tastefully designed but the bathroom is pathetic with lot of water logging. In the evening you can't stand in the balcony or keep your room door open as there are lots of mosquitoes & small insects. Television set in the hotel does not work and you will be lucky if you could even watch one single channel with proper reception quality. HOWEVER, hospitality at the hotel was phenomenal. Staff was extremely courteous and very polite. Staff even went out of their way to make our stay comfortable. They even took us to spice garden in their own boat. They also brought some fresh fruits for us from this spice garden. They even took us for a ride in the canal in their own boat giving us the option to row the boat. Food at the hotel is also very good but you need to tell the cook in advance that you do not want to have coconut based food. To be very honest though the hotel is located at a deserted place but it provides a comfortable stay in a peaceful atmosphere away from the civilization, traffic and pollution. In fact after looking at the hospitality of the staff you will forget all your complaints & worries. I would give this hotel a rating of 3 out of 5. But for the hospitality I would rank it 5 on 5.

This place could be nice if management were better . R ooms very spartan a smelt damp Food was ok but not much of a choice . Nothing much to do there as is no pool the river is unsuitable to swim in. Overpriced for what is on offer , will go to the lake instead next time a long away from any conveniences and transport into the area is limited and you feel sort of stuck there. River is nice and village is nice with friendly people