goSTOPS Lite Alleppey — Hotel in Kerala

So we stayed here recently after looking at the pictures of the property on agoda which by the way are too rosy

The reality is far from it When we reached the place we saw a tree being cut with saw dust everywhere , a pile of dirt and sticks lying everywhere accompanied by flies literally making me wonder if the property was even open or did we miss any email from them for shut down or anything

Anyways turns out it wasn’t closed it was just lying vacant and it was indeed open for business The staf quickly told us to rush inside since the flies I saw were actually hornets. (The attached image shows flies at top right corner ) The check in was okay And the staff was okay too.

But the room has problems. I get that the property looks old in the picture but they should specify that it is over 50-60 yrs old and that really makes the rooms feel dated and dingy The room has no window and a huge private room had an AC that wasn’t even 1 ton Rightly so the AC turned off after functioning for 20 mins

Later in the evening we told them abt the AC and we were shifted to another room Again without any window but this time with a moldy smell that made me really upset

I understand that for the price paid I wasn’t expecting a 5 star room but a mold smelling room just feels unsanitary

We also contemplated changing the room at night but we stayed since we had to leave early and we had only a few hours of sleep to catch

The design flaw of the room is also a bathroom without roof and door making the bathroom smells leak throughout the room. To be honest I saw it in the picture but this didn’t come to mind so hence mentioning it so that fellow travellers can make a note of it.

The morning breakfast is another story We were getting late and yet the staff were late in prepping the breakfast The image shown in the agoda page quotes you have options to choose from but we weren’t given any

My partner was given eggs with toast without any butter making it very dry and hard to eat quickly since we were running late

But I don’t eat eggs and so I was given the ready to eat poha which was drenched in water and really really unappetising. No wonder I left it just after a bite

But the worst thing is that there’s no dedicated space to sit and eat the breakfast On asking where can we sit We were pointed to the outdoor table in the unkempt outdoors Or the floor seating you see on the hotel page images The only problem with it was that the street dogs living at the property use it as their night beds and it was covered in dog stench and dog fur. I wish I had taken pictures but since we left in a hurry we couldn’t

Overall I would never recommend this place to anyone I know It’s a budget property and I get that but the under maintained exterior is just very hard to look away from With rags and staff garments drying in the railing and dirt and dust outdoors

Plus the unsanitary seating and lack of dinning space makes it just unacceptable.

Instead take my advice and google the location of the property and find really well priced and CLEAN rooms at almost the same price around the same location.

The hotel management should either just shut down the hotel or make some serious structural and amenities upgrades if they wish to continue business but at the moment please please PLEASE do not waste your money by booking...

Let me start by saying that I had a great couple of nights at this hostel in Alleppey. The 2 owners, Jobin and Vivek, are warm, friendly, well-travelled and entertaining. They are passionate about making the space work on many levels; as a comfortable and easy space for people passing through - to providing a working space for resident artists to be creative. I wish then every bit of good luck as artpackers.life is a wholesome and very different addition to Alleppey’s transient nature. Rather than just seeing Alleppey as the jumping off point for the backwaters, Jobin and Vivek, now allow their guests to find a nice space to relax, enjoy some garden space, cool sounds and social conversation if wanted. Ask for anything and they will be willing to help. The building as mentioned by all has amazing charm and character. The dorm rooms offer comfort and plenty of space. Bathrooms and all spaces are clean and maintained through-out the day – they do a super job at cleanliness. A simple and tasty breakfast is included and being able to sit in the garden space is very, very welcoming. The beach is an easy 5 min walk away for a very Indian sunset experience. Balu’s local pure veg restaurant is an 8 min walk away – superb Masala Dosa! Auto-rickshaw transport to town or boat/bus station is just outside at Rps.50/60. They can also arrange scooter hire if you desire. I have given artpackers.life a 5-star rating; it would be unfair to mark down this new venture as it is still in its infancy. It does have some problems that I hope they will address if they have the time and inclination. It is an exceptional place run by two young and highly motivated, seasoned owners. It would be wonderful if the owners could forge ahead and seek to offer greater comfort at a minimal cost to them or even small increase to guest travel budgets. You do get a lot for the low fee they charge and so any comments are merely observations and not complaints – not a thing offset my willingness to mark artpackers.life as an exceptionally superb place to stay. Good luck to Vivek and Jobin! My thoughts on improvement; it would be good to have lockers – even small ones just for important items such as passports and documents. The same applies to towels. Big open dorm rooms with plenty of windows and guest comings and goings means that mosquitoes can be an issue, particularly at night. Some guests wanted windows open, some closed – the owners would need some means of regulating this or using insect counter measures. The dorm I slept in had a water tank which filled 4/5 times a night. It was loud enough to wake me on more than one occasion and needs some soundproofing. The hostel lies on the corner of a semi-busy junction and in India this means the use of the horn penetrates. Short of putting up road signs requesting road users to be appreciative of hotel guests wishing to sleep [in India this will not happen for several lifetimes to come] then the hostel will have an on-going problem with noise. It would be possible to add a double glaze feature to some of the windows/doors but it may not be in the immediate budget of the owners to do so. I would field no objection to paying a little more at artpackers.life for a better night’s sleep – I hope the owner’s recognize this as...

Butterfly cruise, Allepey - Hey SiriAt the time of booking the vendor said it’s a luxury category boat. We reached Allepey around 10 in the morning and the owner was delaying to give us entry on the boat. After several requests entry was given that too on deluxe category boat and the boat was super dirty and there were cob webs around. We asked him to change the boat or issue refund. The owner was not present and asked us to move to some other boat that was shared category and again deluxe. There were people for day cruise and the experience of having a boat for our own use was totally killed. Also, ACs were not allowed to be on till 8 in the evening inspite of paying for luxury category boat. When the time to switch on the AC came - we had to change 3 rooms as there was a short circuit in the rooms. Food offered for dinner and Bfast was stale. Our anniversary experience was pathetic on the boat. The owner didn’t bother to answer the calls even make my trip was not supporting. We were over charged as we checked with only other couple on the boat. We have paid almost 100% more. In a nut shell the boat owners Cheat and provide terrible services and make my trip plays zero role and provides zero support. I would suggest come Allepey stay at some resort meanwhile look for the boats on your own and then do the bookings. There are many boats and could be booked directly by going to finishing point. Also a day cruise would be sufficient to absorb the beauty of back waters. In the evening when the boat is parked in some village there are weird kind of insects which we may have never seen in our life. The house boat team do any provide any kind of facility to be safe from...