Few weeks back I had the chance to had a short vacation in Goa, 2 nights to be precise. I am a Club Mahindra member since last year, and though we have taken holidays in their associate resorts at Yercaud & Pondyearlier, this was our first time at one of their’own’ resorts. We were a group of six adults and two children and were coming from three different locations to join at the resort.
I and my family took an early morning flight from Bangalore to Goa and reached around 8.00AM and as we have requested CM to arrange a pick up, same was duly arranged. I think rate charged was appropriate. Vehicle was clear and driver polite.
We reached resport pretty early, much before the check in time, but duty manager Mr. Palash was polite and arranged one room for us and even entertained our request for room as close to beach. We had two studio units. Rooms are OK, perhaps can be called 4 star by ratings, but what was amazing was thoughtfulness in small things. Rooms had kitchenettes fully equipped with microwave, tea kettle, toaster, unbreakable crockery, cutlery, even dish washing detergent and scrubs! It was fantastic for people like us travelling with two small kids.
The proprty is nice and green with two swimming pools and is heavily geared towards family holidays. There are loads of things for children to do. One can even hire cycles and explore countryside around resort. Resort has a direct private access to beach with a security guard manning the exit. Though CM does not have own water sport, private facilities were available right on the beach. We enjoyed jetski ride and dolphin cruise. The vendor had safety equipments like life jackets for all, even for my three year old daughter!
The staff at CM is very polite and accommodating. There are lots of trainees in CM which always serve with ethusiasm. However there is tendency of cleaning staff to stare at the guests in swimwear and that can be irritating. The house keeping is very efficient.
The varca beach is nice, not very crowded and has powder white sand. The weather was nice and we had a good time.
However I will say that maintainence of the resort is little less than what I would expect from a Gold crown RCI resort. The garden near beach had leafs scattered all over and looked unkempt. One of the two kiddie pools was closed as the water cleaning system was not working. This was in peak seson, on a weekend! The other pool had no water lights on inspite of multiple requests to staff! The giant chess at the garden had broken chess pieces and rooms had no umbellas(it rained one nnight!)
We did not use much of restaurants but room service was prompt and food portions adequate. The front desk staff is very polite and quick to respond.
Overall we had a nice time and cant wait to visit CM Goa next trip:)