This week I had planned my vacation to Goa, India and planned to stay at the Park Hyatt Resort at South Goa for some part of the trip(20th July – 22nd July 2011). Given below is my experience that may benefit others who are planning to travel to Goa.
Location of Hyatt – We were booked for two nights in Park Hyatt. However, once we landed at the Goa Airport at 1 p.m. and boarded the coach taking us to the resort, we were informed that we would be taken to the Grand Hyatt in North Goa(the under construction property of Hyatt) instead of Park Hyatt in South Goa. We were given the reason of some local protest going in the region of Park Hyatt. After spending an hour at Grand Hyatt we were informed that the protesters have gone and we would be transferred to Park Hyatt. We reached Hyatt around 6 pm instead of planned 2 pm spending more than 2.5 hours over 80 kilometers in the bus and around an hour at a construction site. We were also informed that several guests already staying were not able to leave the resort due to the protests.
Disappointing Hyatt: Instead of taking guests to an alternative resort in South Goa not affected by protests, Hyatt decided to make the guests travel in bus for most part of the day.
Tips for future travellers: In case you are planning to travel to Hyatt in Goa please be advised to book some other resort since you may get stuck in the Hotel for days due to local issues.
Rooms at Hyatt – To have a good time we had booked Sea View Rooms at full price and not gone through a travel agent. To our utter disappointment the only thing visible from these rooms at Hyatt is the park and no sea. The hotel staff agreed that there is no difference in view from a sea view room or a park view room. However, since the room was facing the sea, they charge more money.
Disappointing Hyatt: We paid more money for the same room as park view rooms which had similar view with no difference.
Tips for future travellers: Please be advised to take above into account while choosing the rooms at Park Hyatt. There is no sea view at park Hyatt unlike other actual beach resorts in Goa.
Air conditioning at Hyatt - We reached our rooms at 6 pm after spending most of the day at bus. Again, disappointingly the air conditioning of the room was not working. The AC regulator showed 23 degree centigrade but actual temperature was easily around 30 degrees. We called up hotel service at least 5 times in the next couple of hours asking to come and repair the AC. But no one turned up. It was only after we threatened to checked out that Hyatt staff turned up at 8 pm to repair the AC. After half an hour of repairing we were told that this is the best temperature they can get in this room and we will have to stay in this hot room. We immediately asked for room change. It was 10’o clock at night when we finally got settled in the new room. The entire first day of our precious vacation was wasted where we did not even got a chance to unpack, freshen up or go anywhere.
Disappointing Hyatt: The rooms at Park Hyatt are in very poor condition with basic amenities like AC and television are not in working condition. Also the best temperature central air conditioning can give you is 23 degree centigrade. As per the hotel staff, it can’t get better than this even in summers.
Tips for future travellers: The Hyatt will make sure that your first full day is wasted so that you spend an extra day at your hotel. Please plan your holiday accordingly.
Locked out of the room – Also in between this, we were locked out of our room. The swipe keys provided by Hyatt were not working. We were given an explanation that our key might have come in contact with the mobile phone and hence was not working. However, the key in question had been lying on the table all the time and we think it wasn’t checked before it was issued to us.
Disappointing Hyatt: We had to wait for more than 20 minutes outside our room waiting for the person to get the keys even though all the staff were carrying the master keys.
Tips for future travellers: Please don’t keep your key in the same pocket as your mobile phone since your will not be able to enter your room then. Also, check the keys for opening before leaving the room in the first place.
No privacy – One afternoon when we were sleeping suddenly the housekeeping staff entered our room. Although the room had already been cleaned in the morning, there was no reason for the staff to enter. On top of it, the Hyatt staff did not wait for the door to be opened and just barged into the room using master key.
Disappointing Hyatt: All staff has been given master keys to keep checking what’s happening in the rooms.
Tips for future travellers: Be prepared to be walked in on in your room at any time by Hyatt staff.
Duty Manager at Hyatt – While checking out we requested not to be charged for the first day since that entire day of our precious holiday was wasted by Hyatt. We were told that that’s not possible and the payment has already been charged on our credit card. On demanding to see the senior management at the Hotel, we were informed that none among the senior staff is available at the Hotel. When we said we wanted to complain we were given 20% discount on first day tariff. We explained to the management staff that it was not about money and we were seriously disappointed and wanted to express it to the senior management. But to our disappointment no one was available in the hotel to be talked to.
Disappointing Hyatt: Since we had asked for a local cab instead of the Hotel cab, the hotel staff didn’t even offer to help us carry our luggage from the counter to the cab. We had to carry out bags ourselves to the cab(though it was in Hyatt campus itself).
Tips for future travellers: Please be prepared to carry your own bags since Hyatt staff is too busy focusing on earning money than on guest comfort. If at all you plan to book a local cab then, please make payment only after your bags have been transferred to your cab else you are on your own after the money minded hotel staff has taken their money.
Positives about Hyatt – Having said the above, the restaurants at Hyatt are really good and chefs go extra mile to make food according to your taste. Please do try all the restaurants at Park Hyatt.