Hotel Aswathy — Hotel in Kerala

This review is based on my visit in May 2018.  ||We were traveling from Mangalapuram to Kodungaloor as we had a festival to attend in the temple.||A relative had recommended this hotel and we were quite happy with our stay. ||My husband had made the booking over the phone a few days before we arrived.  We had informed that we will be checking in by 4:30 AM as we were traveling by road from Mangalapuram.  The check in formalities did not take much time and before we knew it, we were escorted to our room.||Once we entered the room, I was amazed at how clean and tidy it was.  The room is very spacious with sufficient wardrobe space as well to keep our luggage.  The space from the door till the chair next to the table is quite empty.  I feel that a shelf or something could be kept so that one can keep their bag, footwear, etc.  Perhaps, another long mirror could be hung on the wall as it's quite a good area for people to get dressed up.  The other long mirror which is located is close to the bed and there is not enough space to stand and get ready - especially for ladies!  ||As we had to be in the temple quite early, we skipped the Complimentary breakfast on Day 1 of our stay.  ||When we left around 7:30 AM, we had not informed the reception to inform housekeeping to clean our room.  It is something that normally happens, so we did not say anything.  When we came back later on in the day, and asked if the room had been cleaned, they told us that we had to give our key since there is no duplicate key. Am I hearing this right?  Is there no duplicate key for each room?  What if one key is lost?  Then what happens???  Anyway, we got the room cleaned later on.||Coming back to the room and some suggestions - There is no door to the shower.  When one takes bath, the water spills across the threshold and is flowing in the whole bathroom.  If a door is put, then one does not have to worry about the water.  It is a big risk for someone to step out on the floor when there is water.  Hence, we kept one of the small towels on the floor right outside the shower so that we could place our feet without having to think of falling. ||In the evening around 4:30 PM, we wanted to order for Room Service.  We were told by the Reception to call on a particular number.  So we did that and asked what was available.  They told us the items and we ordered a sandwich, coffee and cold coffee.  Must say that all three items were really good and thankfully, the order came quickly as we were very hungry.  ||Around 7 PM we went to the temple and returned by 8:30 PM.  We ordered dinner to our room and that night, it took almost one hour for the food to come!  Unsure why there was a huge delay.  The food was good, quantity was more than sufficient for 2 people.  One thing I must point out is that one of the dishes which I had ordered - Mushroom Pepper Fry - was extremely spicy, so it was nice of the room service person to tell us that he will get it made again with less spice.  Within 15 minutes, he arrived with a plate of the dish and I must say it tasted better.  ||As were were extremely tired from the previous night journey and Day 1 in Kodungallor, we headed straight to bed after dinner.  As the hotel is not located near the main road, we could not hear any traffic noise.  It was a very peaceful night with a sound sleep!||The next morning, we were planning on visiting Kodungaloor Bhagavathy Temple by 7:30 in the morning.  Hence, we ate breakfast only by 9:30 AM.  We had been informed by the Reception staff that the breakfast is available from 7:30 AM to 10:00 AM.||At 9:30 AM, we entered the restaurant.  To our surprise, there was no one there.  Not a single guest, nor a staff member.  The buffet counter looked very untidy, the lids were kept open, the food had gotten cold, some of the vessels were empty and had not been refilled.   So after 5 minutes a staff member came and we told him that the dosa was cold and that we would like hot dosas.  He went inside the kitchen and came back after 5 minutes to tell us that the Manager has told that we must eat the cold dosas!  It was such an insult to us.  We have stayed in so many hotels in the past, but not once did someone tell us to eat cold food!  We were extremely angry at this response and my husband asked what else is available. The answer was puri and aloo = which can be prepared immediately and also idli, bread, fruits, etc.||I ordered for puri and aloo.  The aloo vessel in the buffet still had not been refilled.  I had to inform the staff to refill it.  Again, wait for 5 minutes to eat!||I could see a fresh batch of idli being put in the vessels.  So thought to myself, one can never go wrong with idli, but to my surprise (Again!), the idli was stone cold and hard!  When you broke it into two pieces, you could still see the batter inside!  I took one bite and kept it aside.  Thankfully, the only thing I could eat for breakfast was the puri and aloo.  The coffee had too much milk and did not taste good either.  While we were eating, more guests arrived for breakfast and 3 tables were full.  Sadly, not one of the staff came to the table with the water pitcher.  I could see a guest go to the table where all the pitchers were kept and since his table did not have one, he took  pitcher back to his table!  This is definitely not the service we expected from this hotel.  Must say the breakfast was highly disappointing!||Till about 3:00 PM, we were in the hotel.  Around 3:30 PM we had to go to the temple.  So we gave the room key to the Reception Staff and requested the Housekeeping to clean our room.  We returned to the room around 7:30 PM and before going up, we told the Reception that we would be checking out at 9:30 PM and that we would like dinner to be packed and given. He told us to call the Room Service number about 1/2 hour before checking out, give them the order, so that it would be ready.  ||My husband called and requested for two sets of sandwiches to be packed along with one flask of black coffee.  The person on the other end took the order.  After 5 minutes, the bell rang and a staff member had come to tell us that sandwiches cannot be made.  We asked why and he said, "Sandwiches are not there.  Why don't you order fried rice?"  We were shocked by his answer.  First of all, it is the guest who decides what they want to eat, isn't it?  Secondly, when sandwiches were available the previous day, why were they not available the next day?  There was no definite answer, nor anyone responsible enough to explain to us about the confusion.||We were only able to get a flask of black coffee and no food before traveling!  It was pathetic.  Our check out formalities took 15 minutes and even while leaving we gave some feedback to the Front Office Staff.  ||Overall, we were happy that such a well structured, modern hotel is located in a city like Kodungaloor.  We hope to stay here in the future and hopefully the negatives would have turned into positives!||Food: 3/5|Ambiance: ...

Definitely not a 4 star hotel. They have no pool, fitness center, spa, conceirge or other facilities/ services that we expect in 4 stars. At best, it is a 2 star hotel.

Good things about this hotel are: location, good bed, working air-conditioning, relatively low price, some helpful staff and good restaurant.

I had called in and was promised 2 double bed rooms, but on checking in, the room I got was a king. The staff told me they don't have rooms with 2 beds. Then why did they agree to my room request in the first place?

Attention to detail is poor: When we checked in, I had to keep asking for the front desk staff to tell me what facilities exist (wifi, breakfast etc). The rooms are generally ok, but many things don't work. Night light, door security latch, reading light etc did not work in 2 of our rooms..TV was tiny and channel selection, when it worked was really small. No one told us that for daily housekeeping, you need to leave keys at reception. By the way, the keys are still old-gen style and not electronic as you expect in star hotels. Housekeeping forgot to leave soap even after we requested. The towels are really old and scruffy like the kind that you would put on floors. They promised to change the towels and I got more old towels. One of our rooms smelled a bit. See pictures.

Ambience-wise - Bars and reception rooms were near the guest rooms. I hated the alcohol smell in corridors, the drunkards moving around the aisles. Just outside my room doors, we had furniture (tables chairs) being stored for events. The lights in corridors were always turned off. I would turn them on when we walk and someone would efficiently turn them off. The drunkards would still congregate outside the hotel and they were the scenery for us.

Barring the clean room, good restaurant and one good receptionist who vowed to fix things, I would say, this was one of my poorest stays in a couple of years. Especially, from a hotel that claims to be 4 star, but clearly does not have features or attention to detail...

The overall cleanness of the hotel is fine. The linen and the breakfast is the main things which we did not like. Linen are stained and in faded color. it does not seems white. even the towels in bathrooms are not in its original color and it was very difficult. As soon as we arrived, i asked to change the linen and there were not many good linen though. Being guests from another country than India, it was very difficult for us to adjust to Indian local breakfast such as Dosai, Idly, Sambar and Dhal Curry. It would be fine if it is once or even twice. But everyday is very difficult. And if they have certain number of guests only they will have a buffet. So when they adviertise the hotel in platforms such as Booking.com and other places they should understand that guests from other countries may also come who would expect something different. The guy why looks after the restaurant would meet us every evening and says that he would arrange continental breakfast and we have seen him barely in the morning. On the last day we were scheduled to leave at 0800hrs and when we wnet to have breakfast at 0730hrs, the waiter said there was no bread which we have discussed on the previous night with the guy looking after the restaurant. but the guy at the reception manage to arrange something for us quickly. Overall, a disappointing stay and i would not stay nor recommend this hotel.||The effort of the ordinary staff to make others happy was something which we liked the most. The public area of the hotel is always clean as the guys at the reception always keeps on cleaning the area, wall and doors. The reception staff and the guy at the restaurant always welcomes people with a smile and tries to provide...