I was looking for one night stay in Kochi with price range 4000-5000, Goibibo website suggested me one Eden Garden Heritage Farmstay at around 3500 per night. Having stayed in heritage properties in MP, Rajasthan and Gujarat and Farmstays in Utter Pradesh and Haryana, I thought that a combination of both down south would be interesting and booked the property at usual rigid Goibibo policy of no-refund. The property also carried 4.8 out of 5 rating, so I was assured of standard.
When I reached there I found that following information was misleading:
ACCESSIBILITY: We reached near property using route suggested by Google Maps, but were unable to locate it. After much struggle and guidance from owner to cab driver managed to reach nearest motor-able point. The property is situated at the end of dog poo infested narrow back allay having an open gutter and last 200 meters are to be covered on foot . We somehow dragged our luggage through the allay and reached property. Room offered was at first floor and was accessible only by a narrow, rickety, spiral staircase. I faced difficulty to take luggage through it. Place is not suitable for kids - for they could fall off, elderly - anybody not used to climbing slippery narrow wet stairs on a spiral staircase or anybody having luggage piece of more than 15 KG.
HERITAGE TAG: Properties tagged with’heritage’ usually are having some antique looking furniture pieces, some ambiance lighting with ethnic looking light fixtures and bed linen and cushions to justify this tag, but our room had a plain plywood bed with old mattresses(causing a great rift in between our offered King size double bed), low market synthetic printed bed sheets and synthetic khaki color blankets - Color and fabric choice seemed deliberate to hide skanky bed linen. Table just contained a painted plyboard over it which was having tea-cup marks all over and chairs were plastic. Floor was painted red directly over earlier layers of grime and paint was wearing off at places, it was also sticky with latest layer of grime. There was absolutely nothing to justify heritage tag used by Goibibo.
FARM STAY: Farm stay properties usually offer some experience to justify tag like small farm, elephant, camel, horse, cow shed or bee-hives etc. But our place was in corner of a very shabbily maintained about an acre plot where an old house with tiled roof was situated on other corner of plot to justify heritage as well as farm tags. I ventured near that house but an old guy sitting there gave me some unpleasant look forcing me to return to’cozy’ comfort of my room. It is also in the middle of dense population. There was nothing to justify this tag also. You cant say it a Farm stay unless mosquito breeding is considered a farming activity.
SUPER DELUXE ROOM: Room and bathroom was shabbily maintained and were dirty by any standards and was oozing cheapness plastic/tin combo doors in room and bathroom, hard mattresses, dirty bed linen. Owner was aware of mosquito menace but room neither had some mosquito net or mosquito coil/repellent. 18 inch TV on wall.
PHOTOGRAPHS: All the photographs on Goibibo - by owner and by so called 20 odd independent reviewers use almost identical orange filter for shooting building and rooms to make its look analogues to a famous luxury hotel in Fort Kochi. A small boat(2-1/2 feet long) deliberately sunk in very small pond to photograph it like large pond having capability of carrying a boat. Low angle was used to photograph small(2-1/2 feet wide) walkway with old house in background to make it look like huge mansion having driveway containing roundabout in the middle. Fish eye lenses were used to make room look large.
The room is not worth more than 500 per night.
When I confronted the owner in morning by asking to justify misleading advertisement and exorbitant price. It was flatly told that it is a low market home stay and how Goibibo markets it and what customers pay for it is between them only.