When we decided to do a holiday in Goa, the first thing we looked at online was the hotel accommodation. Travel was already taken care of – “by road, a long drive”!
Since our plan was to visit in the 2nd week of October, we knew the rates were going to be higher in any place. Many star hotels were considered and then dropped due to this reason. Finally, zeroed in on Lemon Tree Amarante in North Goa location.
When we reached at the hotel by the help of GPS, at first we could not believe that a 4 star category Resort would have such a dull look from outside! Being a resort we also expected spacious car parking place, but to our dismay, we had to negotiate through the vehicles already parked there to get a slot just in front of their reception!
Our stay was for three nights and I think we were offered a good rate considering the season in their Heritage Room with one complementary dinner apart from breakfast. They have two level rooms below this category. Heritage room has also got a sit-out to enjoy the morning tea with newspaper. Check in formalities were smooth. The room was located quite inside in the compound from the front office. We had to go through the swimming pool, their restaurant and a garden to reach the room.
The room had an ethnic look with old styled/red tiled floor and has a slopping roof height of which would be somewhere around 18 to 20 feet! It has a King size bed, a wardrobe, a working table, two seater sofa set with a teapoy. It also has a Locker Chest to keep our valuables.
Toilet was clean and had a bathtub. It had all toiletries required for a family. Literally one doesn’t need to take anything like brush, paste, soap, towel, moisturizers, etc.
I want to just give the fellow readers an idea about our stay in Lemon Tree using a Rating scale. That will give you a good picture at one glance. I am also writing the justification for the given points:
Look from outside: 2 stars - It definitely doesn’t have that 4 star category resort look from the front side. 1st we thought our GPS is showing incorrect location. We may miss it, if we do not search with both the eyes.
Parking Lot: 3 stars - I think, maximum 10 cars can be parked in their two parking lots. We found it difficult when we first entered to park our car even after informing them beforehand. Later, we took it to the backyard parking lot.
Location Advantage: 4 stars - I would give 4 stars here, primarily because it is located in the happening place i.e. North Goa and nearest beach is at just 5 minutes walking distance - Cadolim Beach. Other famous beaches like Baga and Anjuna are bit far off like 6 to 10 KM distance. There were plenty of restaurants(Veg and Non-Veg), Liquor shops, department stores, and other shopping spots in the vicinity. But being the famous churches, temples and other picnic spots are in South Goa, we need to take a car or bike on rent to visit such places. There is also a spot nearby to enjoy boating just in 3 KM distance. Aguada Fort is also nearby, I think it’s just 5 km from the Resort.
Food: 2 stars - I won’t rate much for their food quality because frankly it was not that great. Veg and Non-veg spread was there, but not to that good. We had dinner once, but that’s also just okay only.
In-room dinning: 4 stars - We got morning and evening tea using their in-room dinning facility. Tea served was good. But cups were not properly cleaned. We had one dinner also using their room service. The taste of the food was not that bad though. Only issue was, while on the day of check out, since we had to drive back early in the morning, nobody responded to our calls in the morning of 0400 O’ clock to order tea. I think their in-room dinning service starts only from 0600 am.
In room cleanliness: 4 stars - It was clean. Washroom was also neat and clean. But since the property is old, one cannot expect that sparkling commode or tub. It was okay though. Sofa seat and cushions were looking very old and was not that neat and tidy.
In room facilities: 4 stars - Already mentioned earlier.
Staff: 4 stars - Very courteous. Including the security, maintenance guys, waiters at the restaurant, executives at reception, etc.
Swimming Pool: 4 stars - We liked the swimming pool very much. Big pool, clean and bluish water. Swimming attire is available at the resort for a cost(only for ladies). Surprisingly, it was not highly chlorinated water as well. The depth of the pool is somewhere around 4 to 4.5 ft. My daughter and I really spent some wonderful time in the pool.
Greenery: 4 stars - Greenery all around in plenty.
Free-bees: 4 stars - Wi-fi for one device. Nominal amount for extra device. We used for one device and it had very good speed. One Red-wine bottle, Breakfast, one night dinner out of three days, very good bakery biscuits with morning tea. Otherwise also, they had kept heater jug, water bottles, various flavoured tea sachets, coffee powder and milk cream for making tea or coffee ourselves. Though we did make tea ourselves couple of times, preferred the one got through their in-room dinning service. All necessary toiletries. Apart from these, some snacks/chips/soft drinks were also kept in a shelf in the room, but that do not come for free.
Tariff: 3 stars - Comparing to the season, I think we were offered better rate.
Overall, I would give 3.5 stars rating for our Lemon Tree Amarante experience.
Checking out formalities were done in a few minutes and we could start back on time as planned.