Kishor Krishnamoorthi’s WebsiteKishor a.k.a Mjuboy’s Blog

During our trip in Trivadrum, we encountered 3 different hotels, Ginger Hotels, Trivadrum, Hotel Rockholm, Kovalam and The Leela, Kovalam.

Ginger Hotel, Trivandrum

Upon my arrival at Trivandrum Central Station at around 7 at night, we decided to take an autorickshaw and go to our first hotel, Ginger Hotels. Admittedly, it was quite far away from the main city, located near the Techno Park but it was one of the few good mid-range hotels in that region so we had decided on it. We took an autorickshaw there and reached there after about 20 minutes. To our surprise, the auto driver wanted return fare as well, and we had to fork out a total of Rs.125 for the journey of about 10Kms.

Checking in to the hotel was a fairly straightforward process since my friend had already a booked a room on the phone. It was only a matter of giving them his passport of which they took a copy and then gave us our key. The twin room was decent with a well working air-conditioner, comfy beds, complimentary mineral water bottles and a hot shower. Minor complaints are that the LCD TV was too small and the remote of the TV was not working on the first day and started working on the second day, I assume the changed the batteries during cleaning. We were satisfied with the room and decided to go and have some dinner. It wasnt the best dinner buffet that we’d seen so we decided to explore the area for some restaurants. We came across one ‘B Six Bar and Restaurant’ which sounded a bit dodgy but decided to go for it since we were hungry. Service was just about average, food was okay, I dont recommend it too much for a meal.

Next day morning, we took a look at what was offered for breakfast and decided to eat at the 24hr Cafe Coffee Day inside the hotel itself. We had a simple but filling meal there which was definitely better than what we would’ve had at the hotel’s own restaurant.

As for internet, the hotel was charging about Rs.60 an hour and therefore, we decided to go to another Internet Cafe that we had spotted on the way there. We found it after a ridiculously long walk only to be disappointed by slow and unreliable internet. Nevertheless, I managed to check my email, etc but my friend could not manage to get much done. For dinner that day, we did not want to go to the lovely B Six again and went to Subway even though I was reluctant. Once again, bad service, lack of several ingredients, marginal food, I spent most of the time complaining rather than eating my sub.

Regardless of the experiences outside the hotel, we more or less enjoyed the stay there. The restaurant could undergo several improvements but there always is Coffee Day until that. The checkout process was slightly long winded but that is not too much of a problem unless you are in a hurry.

Hotel Rockholm, Kovalam

We had an early checkout at Ginger on the 3rd morning and shifted base to Kovalam where we stayed at Hotel Rockholm. We came across the hotel after reading about it in ‘Lonely Planet’ and found the hotel which is secluded away from all the other hotels on the beach making it ideal for some peace and privacy. The staff at the hotel were very very friendly, I cannot stress too much about how nice they were and it was one of the major factors that made us stay there.

The check-in process required us to fill in a detailed form which took a while and we got our key after that. The room was large, much bigger than the one at Ginger although this one was Non A/C. We felt that we really didnt require an air conditioner in that weather when we were staying right next to the beach. We had fairly big balcony too, which gave us a nice view of the waves splashing against the rocks. The bathroom was big too and we had our own geyser for hot water. And even though it was good hot water, the temperature of the water dwindled slowly after about 5-10mins and I had to adjust the knobs to maintain an even temperature.

The television was of similar size to the one at Ginger and although it wasnt LCD, it had a working remote from day one. The sounds of the waves did get occasionally annoying and we had to have a high level of volume to watch the TV properly. Beds were comfortable and I slept like a log.

Breakfast was great at the restaurant, with an extensive menu and delicious food. We also got room service for dinner which was prompt and good. The main beach is a short walk from the hotel, which is located near the lighthouse but this walk was convenient since it kept us away from the noisy crowds at the beach.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Rockholm and I would strongly recommend it to anyone planning on going to Kovalam or Trivandrum.

The Leela, Kovalam

Our experience at The Leela was quite nice, to say the least. Coincidentally, they were having a Hyderabadi Food Festival when we went there and I have to say that of all the Biryanis I’ve had outside Hyderabad, it had to best. The other dishes were not upto the mark though but I guess we can slightly excuse them since they were about a 1000 miles away from the origin of those dishes. Howeve t,The other dishes were nothing special as well, they were good but not as spectacular as one would expect them to be. It was a nice dinner experience though, we spent about 2 hours eating slowly and relaxing in the atmosphere. The air conditioning was quite ineffective though and since it was raining heavily outside, we had no choice but to sit inside sweating.

The service was efficient and it took about 7 minutes before out empty water glasses were refilled. One thing I noticed about certain staff was the fact they looked very blatantly like they had been simply paid to smile at the guests and it felt quite fake and unnatural. My friend didnt like his oddly curved fork but they were only happy to replace it with a normal one. Overall, it was indeed a good meal but more due to the ambiance rather than the food. I would’ve personally enjoyed it more if the food was better.

I hope the above review of the hotels have been helpful to you and will make it easier for you to decide on your hotel for your next trip to Trivandrum.

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!