Motty"s Heritage Residence — Hotel in Thathampally

After reading reviews on Tripadvisor I felt that although expensive, sometimes 3 times as expensive as other locations we booked to stay at mottys. I am sorry to say that we felt disappointed as it did not live up to our expectations. ||||The room was lovely with a colonial feel but because we were on the ground floor and there was no glass in the windows (metal grills and shutters) we could not sleep on the first night as Motty was entertaining another couple until 4 in the morning and we could hear everything that was spoken in great detail.||In all other locations we stayed in Kerala the bed sheets and towels were changed if not daily then every second day, we were surprised that this was not the case at mottys, and there was no maid service so we made our own beds and cleaned the bathroom areas ourselves - not what we expected for the price! ||We ate with Motty and his wife on one evening as were asked if we would like to join them for dinner, however when we settled our bill we were charged 1000 INR for this meal, however there was no mention of a credit for the 2 occasions we did not have breakfast, motty should ask his guests if they want him to provide a meal but ensure guests know what the charge is, in other homestays we were asked this question and were told what the cost would be. ||The village visit organised by Motty was the best part of our visit to Alleppey. The ayaverdic massage on the other hand was the worst experience in Kerala, this is not a treatment that people from Europe would enjoy, laying naked on a slab having warm bad smelling oils put onto my body slip sliding all over the slab is not what us Europeans call massage, please think twice about recommending this treatment to europeans Motty. I think that maybe in other places this treatment may have been tempered down for the European market, this most certainly was an unpleasant experience. ||||We felt that Motty is tired of having people stay at his home and he really did not want to be doing this anymore. I find it hard to believe that most other reviews are good but understand that sometimes it is easier for people just to 'not bother' to put an honest review onto this website, this is a mistake and as a senior contributor I feel I have the responsibility to put an honest and unbiased review whether it is good, average or bad, please other reviewers...

Assuming you are coming to Alleppey for the backwater, Motty’s is a convenient location, just a couple hundred meters down a small lane to the boat launch canal. Also, it is much more of a real “Homestay”, than many other properties that carry that name. I believe there are three rooms for guest. We were the only one’s there during our two night stay. We stayed in the upstairs room, which has a wonderful balcony where you can enjoy the sounds of Alleppey - call to prayer, Hindu prayers, music and birds. It is really pleasant. The building itself is wonderfully constructed of recycled architectural components, so has the look and feel of a historic Kerala home. The room and bathrooms were both spacious, with functional AC and hot water. Motty can make any arrangements you need - cars, boats, Ayurveda. He is also knowledgeable of Kerala history and is happy to share. Lali prepares a wonderful breakfast that is taken in the garden patio, also well designed with architectural antiques. The price point is a little high, but given the overall...

After reading the Tripadvisor reviews and a favourable article on the Guardian.com, we were very excited to be coming to stay and use Motty's as a base for exploring the backwaters. While the house is charming enough, we didn't find Motty or his wife particularly pleasant or welcoming; the bottled water in our room was open and stale, the bed unmade and sheets dirty. Our room overlooked some kind of industrial facility and Allepey itself was really unattractive.||||Saying this, breakfast was delicious and Motty organised a trip around the backwaters for us with a lovely guide.||||The real shame is that these felt like isolated moments of satisfaction in what was chiefly a disappointing and underwhelming experience. I'm still surprised to read positive reviews from so recently because I wouldn't recommend staying here at all. ||||Incidentally, we left Motty's after one night and the other guests staying at the time expressed equal...