I went to the same hotel in November and all i can say is 'What A DIVE'.
Hell on earth. We should of stayed at The Silent Retreat (now called The Grand) but we got dumped there instead. What a waste of £900 plus getting there. I sent my first letter to them on 3 December 2005.
Here is a copy of our complaints that i sent.
Complaints of Holiday at The Silent Resort, Calangute, Goa. 13/11/05 - 27/11/05
On arrival to Goa we were not informed about the fact that we were not staying at our booked hotel, The Silent Retreat. We had to discover this our selves.
We were informed that the hotel we booked was closed, as there was a new owner.
On arrival to the hotel, we were brought to our room. Of this there was the following problems noted,
1. The toilet did not flush. I noticed that the water had being turned off for the toilet. I turned it on only to have my fiancee scream that while she was on the toilet it started flooding, as the stopcock did not work. I reported this straight away and was told that it would be fixed. I was informed later that day that it had being fixed, only to find that this was not so. It took 3 DAYS to fix. Then both your representative and myself found that the toilet leaked from the toilet bowl.
2. The water tank used for hot water started to leak on a live plug within the bathroom. I reported it and once again was told that it would be fixed. I was then told it had being fixed, only to find once again that it had not. This also took 3 DAYS to fix.
3. There were stains all over the furniture cushions and walls, of which one looked like dried excrement on the bedroom wall. I did report this to your representative and was assured that he would inform the manager. I never heard anything about this after that until I filled out my Customer Service Form.
4. The fridge within our room was Filthy Dirty with a smell coming from it. I reported this also and was assured that it would be taken care of, but once again, it never was cleaned within the whole period that we were there and we had to endeavour to clean it our selves.
5. On arrival I opened our Pool view Balcony only to find that all I could see was a small part of the pool area and most of our view was a Blue Tarpaulin cover, which turned out to be a cover at the side of the Bar/Restaurant. Also there was a Perfect View of an Old Disused Fish tank, which was Half Full Of Green Stagnant Water, which was in my view, perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Even though we did not book this option, I feel that if you are providing a service, then a good service should be provided.
6. The pool area had cracks all over the tiles and the pool was full of dirt, and had on many occasions, had a dog drinking from it and had frogs swimming freely within. The pumping system was, in my view, medieval and the chlorine was administered by hand at the end of a day. There was 4 evenings of which I never saw this practice being done. This I feel has to be a breach of Health and Safety Regulations.
7. There were no Fire Alarms in our room and I never saw any in the whole hotel complex. There was only one Fire Extinguisher visible within the hotel complex when we arrived. This within its self has to be another major breach of Health and Safety Regulations.
8. Out of the 14 nights that we were there, our Linen and Towels were not changed 6 times. We did complain about this but it happened there after many more times.
9. There were 2 cats and a dog roaming around the Bar/Restaurant and hotel complex area freely and started to beg for food when you were eating. There was also an infestation of flies around this area, which I feel shows the lack of cleanliness within this eating area.
10. On our second last evening a major incident happened while I was having a shower. The HOT WATER TANK in the bathroom BLEW UP while I was having a shower. It started spraying hot water all over the bathroom, scalding me with hot water. I reported this and it was fixed over that night and next day (the tank was changed twice). I felt disappointed mostly about this as I felt like I was being blamed by the reception about this, as if it was my fault. I did also find that I was not the only person that had the hot water tank 'blow up' on them while we were there.
11. There was no mini-bar within our room and even after complaining about this, we never received one, while others did.
12. The service by the staff was terrible, with the waitering/barstaff ignoring both my fiancee and myself on many occasions. I felt that even with an added 10% service charge (non optional), the staff would only serve people who left tips. We had on one occasion food brought to us 3 times that was cold. The staff tried to over charge us on many occasions and you had to ask for your change to be returned also on many occasions.
13. We were most distressed and upset to find that the hotel, The Silent Retreat, (now renamed The Grand) that we had originally booked and were told was closed, was indeed open, and had being opened from 1 day Before we arrived and had being taking customers in 3 days After we arrived. These customers we found out were also Airtours customers. When I asked about this I was told that it was only over bookings that was going into this hotel and that there was also building work going on. My fiancee and myself asked The Grand's staff to be shown around and even with building (minimal amount of work, which could not be heard from the pool area at 12 midday) work going on, it was more appealing and tidy then The Silent Resort. Your representative also said that it had something to do with costing. I asked why we were not put into this hotel when it opened, and was told that it would not have happened.
14. The facilities that we were expecting when we booked our holiday at The Silent Retreat were not provided with our stay at The Silent Resort and we feel that we were knowingly dubbed into spending our money on a holiday that was not provided.
I have received a letter from Airtours yesterday and received just £80 cheque and £94 voucher. What a joke. I sent it back today.
I rang and asked for the info about when The Silent Retreat's contract was done and dusted.
By what i can gather they have lied and broke the law.
But all in all we did love Goa and will return again.
Any advise
