As it is with every hotel, some people love a hotel and rate it very high whereas some others loathe the same hotel.
We were a honeymooning couple in
February, 2008 and decided to go for Alor Grande mostly for the location (located at a good point at North Goa and accessible to most other places in the North) and also I must admit for the cost. We booked our 3 nights- 4 days trip through SOTC. It seemed to make sense to us not to go overboard on the hotel cost as we would barely spend time at the hotel and to spend also on other Goan attractions. Again, this might not hold for people who are in Goa just to laze around and spend maximum time at the hotel.
Alor Grande’s USP is it’s pool and the surrounding sunbathing area. We saw that the foreigners seemed to really take to the place. On the whole, we had a good stay. We took the buffet lunch and breakfast option and though the food is not worth going ga-ga over, it is decent North Indian food. The non-vegetarians may like some more variety as there was only one chicken item on the menu each day.
The tours that we got along with our package (a half-day tour to North Goa and another half-day tour to South Goa) left us very happy and with no complaints. We were taken to Goan attractions like the Old Goa church, a cruise on River Mandovi, the Calangute and Vagator-Anjuna beaches, the Mangeshi temple, Fort Aguada, the dolphin spotting.
The staff is friendly (maybe more to foreigners ;)) and we were taken good care of. The pick up and drop to airport was fine. We only had to really persuade the staff to give us the promised free bottle of wine :). Again, that was for kicks as we are tee totallers :)
On the whole, Alor Grande seems a good idea for its location and proximity to other places, for the accessibility (it is right on the road compared to other hotels) and for the value for money.
I hear that it is getting renovated now. Good luck to the staff !