Club Mahindra Resort - Thekkady - Kerala — Hotel in Kerala

Mangalam Singhania ||10:48 AM (0 minutes ago)||to memberexperience||||Hi Team,||||I am the co-applicant & since this vacation was taken up by myself, hence writing from the co-applicant registered email address. ||||Picture this: you've been looking forward to a relaxing weekend getaway, a chance to unwind and escape the stresses of daily life. You've booked a stay at what appears to be a reputable hotel, expecting nothing but comfort and hospitality. But what happens when your dream getaway turns into a nightmare, all thanks to the arrogance of the staffs spearheaded & inspired by the leadership team @ CH coupled with impoverished & decaying amenities (read multiple) in the so-called Club Mahindra Thekkady Resort from Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (MHRIL)? Let me tell you about my own harrowing experience.||||Check-In – 15th Feb (Day 1)||Check-Out – 18th Feb (Day 4)||Total Rooms Booked – 1 STU(K) + 1 BR||Total families - 2||||Since we didn’t wish to drive with small kids, we chose to go eco-friendly with public transport and were supposed to reach the resource on Day 1 at 7am. We kept requesting the property from a week ahead for early check-in for at-least 1 room but the property kept denying saying their rooms are full. However, on 13th Feb too, I could see rooms available on CM portal & when the resort still kept lying that their resort is full, we decided to book a room for ourselves for 14th night as well. I very well respect the resort policies where some may not want guests to check-in early but the problem lies in fact that they kept lying about the resort being full instead of offering me any other solutions especially since the resort very well knew that we had 2 kids travelling and at the same time, 15th Feb was our wedding anniversary. The receptionist greeted us with a forced smile, and there was an air of neglect lingering in the atmosphere but I dismissed it giving him the benefit of doubt of perhaps having spent a sleepless night on-duty.||||But the journey of disappointment had just then started. As I attempted to settle in, I discovered a myriad of issues that rendered the room practically uninhabitable. From layers and layers of thick dust near bed to cobweb handing to bathroom being plagued with mold and mildew was there to welcome us upon our arrival.||||The gym was non-functional. Upon asking for yoga mat, the staff confirmed there are no yoga mats in the property. We had to raise these with the receptionist who very reluctantly passed the buck to the General Manager saying he will reach out to us. The General Manager called back in sometime confirming the gym floor was the only issue and is fixed now & he will send yoga mats (in the name of yoga mats, cheap quality runner yoga mats which sticks to your body was sent very soon).||||The happy hub was looking not so happy with dull lights, totally torn TT nets, broken TT table with wood chipping off, broken racquets and lack of even basic lighting and cleanliness. Upon enquiring about the dismal condition with the Happy Hub staff (a short medium stout ) brimming with arrogance snubbed it off saying kids use these facilities so they are bound to be in such condition. PS: I have visited more than 8 different CM properties, and these properties are all kid friendly, but never ever did we see such a pathetic state of facilities in any property.||||The towels in the room were dark brown in colour (white colour was not even remotely associated) and upon requesting the housekeeping team for clean towels, we were asked to wait till 5pm since the towels had gone for laundry and expected only post 5pm. Nonetheless the night faded away with me coughing, sneezing and water running down my nose and eyes since the afternoon of Day 1.||||Day 2 – We left for early morning 620 am itself with our house-help relaxing at the hotel. Our house help called twice to reception and went up to reception requesting the rooms to be cleaned before 3pm when we were expected to arrive. However, upon our arrival after a tiresome journey, we were in absolute horror that the house keeping staff refused to pay any heed to the requests and hence neither room was cleaned, nor towels changed. We had to walk upto the reception again wherein we found 2 other guests too standing in disappointment with similar complaints with another guest from room 202 complaining of horrible drainage stench from the room for hours with no concrete action taken. ||While I was fine the whole first half outside the property, my suffering of running nose & eyes, non-stop sneezing continued the rest of the day and whole night.||||Day 3 – I went to the gym for quick exercise wherein the gym had a poorly maintained treadmill & cross-trainer with the weights rack empty with not even a single dumbbell. The moment I started the treadmill, I realized that the treadmill is faulty and in every single rotation, the treadmill slows down suddenly & then resumes the speed again. This is very risky as anyone who isn’t careful shall fall flat on its pace. When I raised this with Mr. Jaison (the GM of the property), he tried his best to prove me wrong and hide the issue by picking my one single word “stop” since I mentioned In my complaint to him that the treadmill keeps stopping wherein he kept arguing that the treadmill doesn’t “stop” but slows down and he is aware of it but there is no one to repair it.. What is a poor defence and response!!! If he was aware of the issue, isn’t it his and their team's responsibility to inform the guests in advance so that guests don’t risk themselves… Anyhow, I had understood that the entire property staff's including their GM is brimming with arrogance & guest un-friendliness. ||||Anyways I come to the room & my guesses that the last 2 days of my health issue might be due to the moss/fungus growing in the bathroom (all over). I immediately informed Mr. Jaison about the state of my health and suspected the root cause behind it - who again with his casual attitude says “you didn’t inform us earlier”, “it could have grown overnight”, “we already cleaned it in past”. Nonetheless, the housekeeping staff came and removed the mosses and touchwood, I didn’t face any issues post that which affirms the fact that the root cause of all my distress was due to neglect and poor upkeep of rooms but no staff didn’t seem to be much moved of this incident too.||||Just to note in the middle of all this fight & demand from our end too – Mr. Jaison very reluctantly offered us a complimentary breakfast which too didn’t come as a gesture from a resort GM but more of a compulsion since the list of issues were becoming unbearable. I had also asked for a late check-out since we had settled for 2 STU(K) and given away our 1 BR which he reluctantly agreed for 1 room.||||Day 4 – It's morning 10ish & Mr. Jaison calls asking us to vacate the room by 11am. I was surprised and said that it was too early but he kept insisting in a very rude and harsh tone (had recorded his calls) so we finally agreed for 12:30 noon for one of the rooms to be vacated. It's 12:23 pm & I called the reception to say that one room is vacated so that they can take over the room. Mr. Jaison calls me up after 5 mins & again enquires about the room to which I had to firmly ask him to sync with his staff since I had already informed that one of the rooms has been vacated and luggage moved out. Since both the rooms were connected, our house-help just went to the other room (vacated one) washroom since no one from hotel staff had come to lock the room in the meantime. What I see is Mr. Jaison & the other rude happy hub staff coming and standing in front of the other bathroom waiting for it to be vacated. C’mon which GM does this.. Upon assuring multiple times that the lady will come out of the bathroom, Mr. Jaison left but his staff still stood in front of the bathroom. I had to finally shout out and let the staff know that he can lock the passage door and lock the room with the key and leave. The lady will come out of the bathroom & lock the room herself. Mind it, while Mr. Jaison was fighting vehemently for the room to be vacated by 11 am, the room kept unused till 6pm when we left the property.||||During the check-out, we were charged with obnoxious food bill charges. We had purchased 3 meal packages since it was much more economical than 2 meal packages but they charged us with 2 meal packages and separate 1 meal package and the complimentary breakfast too which was promised. Thankfully, all the decisions wr.t. my consumption of 3 meal plan etc. was communicated to Mr. Nishant (their F&B manager) over WhatsApp. When I showed the same msgs to Mr. Jaison, he was quick in his ready to fire attitude that while I have been msg’ing Nisanth, Mr. Jaison doesn’t see any acknowledgement from Nishanth wherein Nishanth has responded to my other msgs (like request to consider Dal Makhni for dinner instead of same old yellow dal which is served every day lunch & dinner without any variations) . Mr Jaison & another staff of his then got engaged in a 15 mins conversation with Nishant over phone wherein we 7 guests kept waiting for final decision on their end. The staff then rudely handed his phone to me to settle it with Mr. Nishanth. Mr. Nishanth was quick to acknowledge the issue from their end and asked the staff to correct the bill but the staff kept on & on along with Mr. Jaison. Finally, after 20 mins, Mr. Jaison presented a bill which was still in-correct and I had to again point out his calculation mistake, post which they manually subtracted the excess amount and gave the amount I need to pay saying final invoice shall be sent over email.||||Mr. Jaison had created such a tense and hostile environment that I was only fearing next that he could ask our families to leave the property and not to wait at reception since we were 30 mins early @ reception prior to our transport arrival. The reception staff carries the same unresponsive and hostile behaviour of their boss right from check-in to any requests made (like cleaning the room) to anything else. My wife asked for one newspaper to lay on bus during dinner time but the staff denied. I asked for Sellotape which was again immediately denied.||||While these are only some of the issues, I shared the photo of quality of towels (with big holes) being given to guests with Mr. Jaison, geyser not working properly in our room and other guests too, fridge not switched-on during guest check-in leading to waste of our food and ice-creams etc. Some of these issues didn’t even get acknowledged while some of them got lukewarm responses. ||||All of the short-comings, I mean it… ALL of the shortcomings could have been ignored had the GM of the property and staff shown some empathy towards us but we got only a BIG wall of defence and arrogance from the entire team. I must appreciate Mr. Nishanth & Jophy who were two people from core staff who did their best to keep the guests satisfied. These two staff just didn’t seem to belong to the CM Thekkady team because of their warm nature and guest friendliness.||||In conclusion, my experience serves as a stark reminder that the attitude of hotel staff, especially the general manager, can make or break a guest's experience. Arrogance and indifference (especially to guest health issues caused by the hotel themselves) have no place in the hospitality industry, and hotels would do well to remember that the customer always deserves respect and consideration. As for me, I'll be taking my business elsewhere in the future – far away from arrogant general managers and their nightmarish hotels. So, the next time you're planning a getaway, be sure to do your research and choose your accommodations wisely – unless, of course, you enjoy too frequent vacations & are ready to spoil one of them intentionally.||||||* Just an update * ||Mr. Jason first started calling me requesting me not to drop any feedback to Club Mahindra since it will spoil their reputation. ||I had shared the above feedback with Mr. Jason for his review & feedback to ensure I don't write a one sided version only. He didn't respond & I did request for his email ID but he blocked me on whatsapp.. This is the demonstration of poor...

This review signifies Club Mahindra taking its customers for granted. Our first visit to CM Thekkady. The property is old, I would rate at a 2 or 3 star. Over used, old, absolutely does not stand for CM class promised or advertised or marketed.

Rooms were not ready even though I had confirmed that during pre-checkin call that we will come between 10 am to 12 pm and they had happily agreed for a early check in.

Taken to the room which was probably the only one in a construction zone where all other rooms were getting refurbished. Why? Don’t open rooms for booking if you have renovation planned.

Enter the room and the kitchen cabinet, a shabby looking one has all food left over by the previous guest. This implies no checks were done, also implies none of the kitchenette crockery is cleaned. Room floor was wet. What if somebody trips and falls? Bathroom had used towels from previous guests hanging. No bathroom foot mat. When asked they say it's out of stock :). Can you believe this? I wanted to inform the reception that I need another room and the phone in the room does not work. Icing on the cake. That’s safety, hygiene and cleanliness that Club Mahindra markets.

Taken to a room saying it's ready by the bell boy’s insistence that it's ready, in spite of the Housekeeping manager asking us to wait. We end up standing outside the other room for 30 minutes before we get to the other room. Again zero coordination.

Room floor is wet as it's just cleaned. It didn't have the kitchenette as those rooms were not available. No days were refunded to us for this. However when you book the ones with Kitchenette, more days are deducted. Old furniture. Only good part, room was big. Again taking customers for granted.

This is a typical observation in all four properties I stayed in the last 8 days. Restaurants are under staffed. You need to call the staff for everything as they are too busy. Getting bread’s takes over 30 minutes. Plates not cleared until you ask for. Appam stew was ordered by us. Stew veggies were not cooked, they were rock hard. Showing it to the staff, they offered to replace it, but we were hungry and didn’t want to wait for another 40 minutes. Later the staff offered to not charge for appams and give some free desserts. Why not give the stew for free which has the issue if you are so serious about quality and taste? One way of acknowledging that they accept the problem and would like to cover it up by giving some freebies. Phew

This is again typical of all resorts where the so called Club Mahindra world sales guys get behind you for upgrades to your membership. They are very persistent. One here in this resort first approaches me and asks arrogantly are you staying here or from outside. Why? You don’t have a better way to approach a prospect? They act like entitled salesmen.

Opted for a Ayurvedic Spa session. The masseuse was fantastic, the only good thing that happened to us during this stay. However the spa rooms are not sound proof. While the massage is on and Shirodhara in particular when absolute silence is best practice, I hear the spa receptionist talking loudly on phone, drilling and cutting noise from the construction activity in the resort. Best part, another guest comes and uses the restroom in my spa room when my session is on. They charge 3-4 times for this when right across the road there are tons of spas around offering it at ¼ the cost. Do the customers pay for such experience? Again make as much revenue as possible even if that means such a bad experience for customers. Add to this list of instances where they take their customers for granted.

Come back for a shower post the spa and water does not drain in the bathroom. Shower holes are blocked. Not at 8 pm I show this to the staff and they offer to fix it at night. Can’t these be checked earlier? I have exhausted the character limit and cant write more.

Be thankful that somebody gave you such detailed feedback...

Beautiful Resort

5* for maintainance 5* for cleanliness 5* for look n feel n ambience 3* for food

Club Mahindra Thekkady is a beautiful resort with apartments/studio rooms(hut style roof) built in a cluster format in between the nicely maintained huge trees and plants with a pathway in between to walk . Rooms are built at a height(12-14 steps) so that we have a nice view of environment around. Feels like u r staying in village in between the forest.. Resort is in the main town and so very near to KTDC/any other activities

Room : we are 3Adults and 1Child(5Y) , stayed in a Studio room which has a queen size bed which is comfortable for 2A. A sofa-bed very comfortable for 1Adult. Queen bed was little congested for 2A and 1C There are only 4 1BR-apartments and around 45 studio rooms(with/without kitchenette). We stayed in Studio without kitchenette which is just a few steps from lobby/spa/restaurant. Room has nice furniture and good bathroom No AC

Food : AVERAGE food is quite average but at least fresh and neat compared to outside nearby cafe's/restaurants . we took a full board package which we used in 3days(bfast on day1 ; Dinner and hi-tea on day2 ; Lunch on day3) which was charged around Rs1500 AI for each Adult Day 1 Bfast : CM bfast spread which was very good neat and tasty and decent spread lunch. : We tried at Thekkady Cafe which was a few min drive from CM. Taste is good, food is fresh but no ambience. It's a normal cafe. Cost is very less. Dinner : we tried at Ambadi Restaurant just a few min walk from CM. taste was below average,food not so fresh but very reasonable price. Day 2 Bfast : ordered to room from CM gourmet-dining menu. High-tea : they served veg-sanwich with tea/coffee. We ordered French fries and mixedveg bajji and both were good Dinner : used the package for dinner. Spread was very less and NOT SO GREAT Day 3 lunch : WAS BAD. There were not a lot of ppl.. so they served set menu on table instead of buffet spread.. so they served left over main course from bfast like rasam,etc. Starters were hot though

Gym : I haven't used but have seen that it's very small with just 2/3 treadmills and not sure if anything else is there

SPA : Not great ambience. Very old rooms. Feels clean. Therapist was good and excellent massage with nice strokes. Products used were kind of average. Cost is very reasonable. Charged Rs5000 per couple for 2Hour package. This 2Hour Therapy includes oil-massage+ Kizhi+steambath+Sirodhara (u can either use scrub or kizhi in this package)

Activities : Haven't booked anything from CM since we hired a car for round trip (Madurai-Munnar-Thekkady-Madurai) at Rs18000++ from CM-Traveldesk Thekkadyand the driver had arranged all the sight seeing for us through out. .Kalaripayatu show was amazing .An elephant place the name I don't remember(not elephant junction- much crowded) was good too. got a package of Rs1000 AI PerPerson which includes ride+photos in our phone+feeding(we should buy bananas)+bath the elephant+elephant showers fresh water on us But shower rooms were too bad to change .Spice plantation tour - Evergreen spice plantation was informative but the products they sell might or might not be original like they claim. Better buy one/two and order anything else on phone if those work. And MRP is just their number which should bargain to at least 15percent discount .grape garden on the way to Madurai

Playzone : Had sufficient games and my 5Year old enjoyed a lot. He played air-hockey & toy catcher which are charged. He enjoyed chess, snakes & ladder, table football which were free.

Staff were very courteous...