River County Resort — Hotel in Kerala

We had been planning a team outing from office since a month and this was the place we finalized. Though we were initially a bit hesitant about making a reservation due to very few reviews, we decided we'll give it a shot anyway.

Situated about 62 kilometres from Technopark, the place is not very hard to reach either, which was an added advantage for us. Some of the attractions nearby includes a 5minutes drive to Meenmutty waterfalls or a 25minutes drive to Ponmudi. The place is way more beautiful than we expected from the photos. So its safe to say that this is one of those places where photos don't do justice to the beauty of the place. Please keep in mind that the climate may not be as cool as you may expect and it can get quite hot at certain times of the day.

Our group arrived around 5pm and we were courteouesly greeted by the staff with tea and snacks before being shown around the place. The rooms were maintained in a clean and tidy manner and ameneties like soap and towels were provided in every room. Also worth mentioning are the excellent views of greenery from every room and complementsry high-speed WiFi, which is a thoughtful and welcome addition.

The owner, Mr. Arun, with whom I had most of my communication with, on behalf of the team, was very polite and understanding about our requirements and even assigned a fulltime staff to cater to any needs. The service was hence, commendable and is one of the reasons we'll recommend this place for corporate getaways. This is also an excellent place for a family to spend a day out or stay overnight as the place is quite private without any interference from other guests or the general public. You truly feel at home.

The food was pretty good as well. Our customized package consisted of an overnight stay with buffet meals for dinner, breakfast and lunch. While the menu offered for dinner was pretty good, with a good selection of tasty dishes, we felt that the breakfast and lunch menu could use some improvement (as compared to other places).

We've already recommended the place at office the experiences we've shared has sparked quite an interest from other teams as well. Some of us have already started discussing about visiting the place again, with family. Overall, we are quite impressed by the service provided and would highly recommend the place without any...

In the era of Eco-Tourism, the owner of this resort insists on keeping exotic birds trapped in small cages, for the pleasure of his guests. Birds need the entire sky to themselves and should not be caged in a tiny space further sub-divided in 4 sections, as seen in the attached video of birdcage at this property. In fact one of the bird, as seen towards the end of the video, was sick and mostly remained on the ground. We tried making sense to the owner, to at least not replace the existing birds, when caged birds have lived their lives, he was unresponsive. His subsequent response to our original review, was that these birds are easily available at pet shops. That seems hardly a reason for him to keep putting these beautiful birds and other animals, on a conveyor belt of trauma and certain death, at his property. Can't get more commercial and cruel than that.

The river that flows around the resort is very dangerous too, since it is very deep in certain places. It has claimed many lives over the years, as warned by the local police through warning signs and writings on the rocks, on the other side of the river.

Btw, claim of the owner in his response that we were given a 50% discount for a room upgrade is not correct. We were given less than 10% discount for an upgrade from an atrocious room to not so atrocious Deluxe room, wherein AC was still not functioning properly. In fact, we left a far higher amount as tips for the overworked staff, who tried to make us feel as comfortable as they could, with limited resources that were made available to them by their owner.

Owner of this resort, who finds customer's genuine feedback irritable and nagging, to us seems highly unusual and thoroughly unprofessional.

But that's not the point that we are trying to highlight here. Our only concern is for the birds and animals that are caged and locked up here, for tiny little pleasure of the guests. Our hope is that the owner would take note of this and instead introduce other facilities that are likely to give much more incremental advantage in attracting ecologically sustainable tourists...

In my 55 years I have never seen such a bad rental room. Hell is a very hotel. Bathrooms are worse than public toilets. AC would not have worked. After 15 minutes of putting the fan on, the electricity went off. Even vacating the room was hell as there was no inverter. When asked all these things, he talked back in the manner of goons. Loss of money, loss of dignity and loss of time. Went here after reading many other reviews. But in my experience, I doubt that they are their own people. Even if lie down at the bus stop, even if lose life, under no circumstances will get a room in this White House. This is not the Whitehouse. To call it the ultimate hell. In my 55 years I have never seen such a bad rental room. Hell is a very hotel. Bathrooms are worse than public toilets. AC would not have worked. After 15 minutes of putting the fan on, the electricity went off. Even vacating the room was hell as there was no inverter. When asked all these things, he talked back in the manner of goons. Loss of money, loss of dignity and loss of time. Went here after reading many other reviews. But in my experience, I doubt that they are their own people. Even if you lie down at the bus stop, even if you lose your life, under no circumstances will you get a room in this White House. This is not the Whitehouse. To call it the...