님라나즈- 타워 하우스

The hospitality industry is so profit driven it has lost its perspective on its true purpose. It is rare to find a great hotel but funnily enough it is rare to find a very bad hotel or a bad hotel experience. Neemrana Tower House in Cochin, was a bad experience for my family. I booked a family room (1 king bed+1 queen bed) with an extra bed for 2 days and nights, for 4 persons from May 13th to 15th, 3+weeks in advance after clarifying details on their websites, other platforms and by calling the Manager operations, Ms. Vinita Vijayan herself. I was told that yes it was available and that booking any later would not guarantee the same facility. The booking was done online in full payment for 3 persons with extra bed charges to be paid at the hotel on arrival. I reconfirmed our booking a few days before our travel as well. At no point were we aware or told that the premises were being renovated. Come 13th of May, when we reached the hotel just before 4pm after traveling from Pollachi, we noticed that the hotel was under repair with no staff in sight to immediately receive or guide us. I walked into what seemed like the reception, saw no one and then looked further in, to see a lady who was the manager working on her system in her office. I introduced myself and had to ask her for guidance and help for parking and baggage. After 15 minutes of that, we checked in. I even paid up the additional extra bed charges for 2 days. As we were moving to our room, we saw that all the rooms were being renovated. Our's seemed to be the only one ready. On asking about the pool the manager said that it was being renovated too. Basically apart from meals in our room or the dining area, the rest of the hotel was unusable. On confronting the manager, she said she had informed us and it was updated on the website. Both NOT TRUE, which I double checked. She offered no compensation or even explanation. That's when we got upset and I asked for some reparation of what was an obvious con. She was unapologetic and almost indifferent! Long story short, we took care of our own comfort. I insisted on a refund, which was promised with no timeline. Refund of the extra bed was offered too of the day we were staying and the next, but the manager refused to commit in a mail. The next morning despite assurance of a formal mail about the refund as payment was not immediately possible, there was nothing. After insisting, a short mail was sent promising 1 day's refund. We checked out at 10.30am. After about 2 days, 1 day's + 2 days additional bed charges refund was done Throughout the stay there were no efforts to make us comfortable. The breakfast was lack lustre and just average with runny scrambled eggs. Definitely not going to trust the Neemrana brand again. Beautiful property, horrible management.

This friendly and welcoming hotel close to the Chinese fishing nets in Fort Kochi is a lovely place to stay for a couple of nights when visiting Kerala. Our room was large and very comfortable with robes, plenty of bottled water, great walk-in shower and a separate seating area. The hotel is so interesting with many areas to relax in. The pool is really good (except for the crows!). The breakfast is quite basic but fine and, though you can get a meal in the evening, I would recommend finding a local restaurant instead for more exotic food. All the staff are helpful and kind. We got a great recommendation for a spa with tuk-tuk arranged for us to get there and back.