Holiday Inn Resort

We have just arrived back from the Holiday Inn at Mobor Beach Cavelossim on a B and B basis. We were initially very worried after hearing about building work, damp rooms etc but I don't know what planet the other travellers were on when rating the hotel bad? The hotel is excellent, clean, the food excellent, the staff are fantastic in fact we have not a bad word to say! Our room did smell damp when we first arrived, but what do you expect when the air conditioning had only just kicked in, and in April it is hot and humid? Once we were settled it became home and it was a pleasure to retreat to a cool airconditioned room after a hot hard days sunbathing!! The hotel lobby is pleasant and airy and words can not describe sitting there with a refreshing drink and watching the sun set over the sea between the palm trees. In other reviews it states that the hotel is geared up for couples and not so much about families, but again there is a little open hut where the staff entertained our two children ( aged 9 and 10) with plate decorating, Mendhi tattoos, Glass painting, Easter Egg Hunts and they genuinely chatted and had fun with the kids! The Pool and Pool staff were great. It has its own Spa Village where there are a variety of Aruveydic massages and treatments which were good. There is a business room with fax, computers etc, a gymnasium, a few shops, casino and tea shop - with chocolate cookies to die for! It has direct beach access and you can walk along the shore ( we blagged our way through the Dona Sylvia hotel and cut through to the centre of Cavelossim) It is a pleasant way to get to the main stretch and get a taxi back for about 100Rps. The hotel is a little out of the way and a stones throw from the Leela Beach Resort, but there are a few stalls and restaurants outside the hotel. There is some building work going on but it is was not intrusive as it is to the side of the hotel and we guess it will be complete for when the new season starts. We would not even hesitate going back to the Holiday Inn and on a first impression would choose it over the Dona Sylvia and the Haathi Mahal. We had an alround fantastic holiday and cant wait to get back.

We have yet again not been disappointed with the Holiday Inn, we went in April last year and as soon as we came home we booked it for this year. We had our upgraded seats with First Choice and the staff were fantastic although some people in the premier seats love to keep ringing the buzzer. But we when we arrived at the hotel i had already been on trip advisor to see what the reviews had been like and was a bit concerned about the hotel renovations but when we got there they wer only finishing of the internal fixtures and fittings which we not noisy at all. We went to the fish grill which is part of the hotel but not the same prices as the hotel for some reason so a good steak (and they asked you how you wanted it done because normally outside the hotel they give you it as it comes) so a good steak fries and lots of mixed veg was 150 rupess which is just a touch over 2 pounds and it was delicious, and they do a lovely rose wine, also went to the goan village which is in cavalossim that was nice just behind Mikes place, went to Mikes place a lot last year but would'nt really recommend it this year only went twice and both times we all had dodgy tummys so wouldn't got there again, but the hotel is fantastic, people are wonderful, weather excellent everyone remembered use from last year we also had the same taxi driver as last year kep his number and rang him as soon as we got there to ask if he was free on certain days and he made sure he was able to free up his time for us also the beach sellers all remembered us and especially my mum (ha ha) as she drove them around the bend, but it was still the same as last year so i did the touristy bit last year so had a great chilling holiday this year and have been home 2 days and already booked again for next year but were doing 3 weeks next year with First choice and only costing an extra 120 pound each for the extra week which is fantastic.

Just got back from a brilliant week in South Goa and stayed at the Holiday Inn all-inclusive. There were eight of us and we all flew with Monarch. The flight was long but we did get to stop at Bahrain. The duty free here was fantastic and the best duty free in the world. The all-inclusive package with Holiday Inn was great. We had booked three rooms but we had an hour wait until our rooms were ready. The rooms were all well sized and we had a deluxe room, which gave us so much space and a queen size bed. The room was cleaned every morning and housekeeping would also come in the evening to provide evening service. Holiday Inn is very well maintained and only a short walk to Mobar beach, which is the longest beach in Goa at 23km. The pool was very clean and cleaned every morning. The water was nice and warm. Food at the resort was fantastic and there really was no need to eat outside the hotel. Breakfast was served between 7.30 and 10.30 am and the choice of breakfast was from Indian to English. At lunch we would dine at the Mardi Gra, again serving excellent food. You had a choice from eating from the lunchtime buffet or of the all-inclusive menu. In the evening we would eat at the Village grill, again a buffet laid out. Every Wednesday there is a flea market and we had visited this by taxi. The taxi drivers are very good. The taxi driver waited until we finished shopping and brought us back to the hotel. This outdoor market was very big and we bought back loads of items spending less than £20. You really have to barter. The local shops are very good too, but every shop owner wants you to come into their shop and buy and they wish you good luck. It takes 20 minutes to walk if not 75p if you take the taxi. Beach sellers would hassle you everyday selling sarongs, jewellery, drums and fresh fruit. They also do henna. The beach sellers were all women and very friendly and we would sit with them and talk about life in Goa. You may come across Sonya, Premodona, Ganga and others. We all had a massage done - highly recommended. The beauty pallor was very good and cheap, and Maculate the beautician very polite. All the staff at Holiday Inn are very friendly and you are left alone to get on with your relaxing holiday. The Holiday Inn is located in great place and there are also other hotels along the road. It is very safe to walk at night and during the day. I can’t wait to go back and people have said that Christmas in Goa is brilliant.

we have just returned from 2 wonderful weeks in goa staying at the holiday inn. we had booked the club rooms which had 7 ft beds and were very spacious and comfortable. The food on site was very good with plenty of choice between goan cuisine and the more english tastes for those that wanted it. The staff were extremely friendly and so polite , nothing was too much trouble for them.While we were there my nephew celebrated his 18th birthday, They made him a cake and we arrived to decorate the table with balloons etc ,we were surrounded by waiters all waiting to help. We visited the river view restaurant which was lovely, we watched the kingfisher diving for fish from the pontoon on the river sal.We took a dolphin trip and went to visit the elephants which we organised ourselves as we didn't want to do the full excursion. We hired the hotel mini bus for the day , there was 10 of us, the trip cost about £18 each, but for that we had travel there and back which was a 3 hour journey and the driver waited for us and transferred us to the 2nd elephant island destination, we rode the elephants ,we watched them work, we went on a raft to the elephant island, we fed the elephants, we swam in the river with the elephants and washed them and we had a power shower sitting on their backs in the water. It was a long day but well worth it, an experience that will never be forgotten! We bartered with the locals in the shacks and with the beach sellers. For those worried by news of building works---There is no noisy building work going on there at all. there is a bit of finishing off of a new conference room but that is at the side of the hotel and you dont hear anything from it. One point to watch if your all inclusive is , on the first day you arrive make sure you are signing blue receipts as they are all inclusive - white receipts are billed to your room and it takes a little while to set up all inclusive on your room number!We took some pens and pencils and colouring pencils and gave them to Wolton who is a captain at breakfast time, he has a lot to do with his local church and they help the local school. He insisted on us leaving our names and address so that the children could write to thank us.The beach is absolutely lovely and we enjoyed several walks along there at sunset. The local beach shacks are warm and welcoming and we spent a great couple of evenings dancing at Sams!Overall our holiday was a wonderful eye opening experience of how others live and different cultures to our own. Even our teenage children want to return and I am sure it won't be long before we do!

We stayed (two of us) at the Holiday Inn Hotel the last two weeks of March 2006 and had a wonderful time in Goa and at the hotel. We flew with First Choice and upgraded to Premium Star Class, it was definitely worth the extra money - leather seats, neck cushions, blankets, plenty of leg room and room in the width. We had a glass of champagne and strawberries when we boarded and drinks were available of all types throughout the flight. The food was very good (no plastic plates). The Holiday Inn is very good value for money; we upgraded to a Club Room, which gave us more living space and a queen size bed. The room was modern, well equipped and cleaned every morning to a high standard. The grounds were well maintained, a path leads to the beach, which is only a short walk. The pool was a pleasure to swim in, lovely and warm. We swam in the sea, although the waves were strong we had great fun and it was warm too. The beach was beautiful; we walked along in both directions every day for a couple of hours. In Cavelossim there are parades of shops and a pharmacy where you can change your money up, it is only a 20 minute walk along the beach or road (beach was much cooler). Phoning home is very cheap, 10 minutes for only £1. Eating out in Goa is very cheap, we stayed Bed and Breakfast, you do not need to go half board or all inclusive. It was so warm we skipped lunch. Breakfast was varied – Indian, eggs and bacon, fresh fruit, cereals. This could be eaten inside or on the terrace (plenty of tables). We ate in Betty’s Place, had wonderful Red Snapper, Tiger Prawns, Sea Bass and curries. One night we had drinks and a two-course meal, for only £6. Fisherman’s Wharf is good too, you can eat overlooking the River, the food was good and the service spot on – if you want to be waited on and have your wine poured properly you will get this here. Most of the time we ate in Sam’s Shack on the beach just outside the hotel. Sam and his staff take the time to talk to you and the food was lovely – try the lobster, we shared one with all the trimmings, it was only £10. Sam’s curries are good too and the Jumbo Tiger Prawns. He also does freshly made fruit juices – try the pineapple one. We also had breakfast there one morning to have a change from the hotel – delicious. There are places to eat the in the hotel of an evening we did not try these as we wanted to try the local restaurants (the hotel bar and food prices were twice as much as the local places). The beach shacks are a great place to relax and watch the sun go down. They also do party nights with music and fireworks. Beach sellers do not hassle you if you politely say no thank you – you can buy jewellery, sarongs and fresh fruit. We got to know two beach sellers quite well – Karina and Premadona – if you talk to them you get to find out so much about the Goan way of life. We bought jewellery and sarongs and had one necklace hand made in front of us for £1. It is very safe to walk outside of the hotel, you get to see more of Goa if you do this and the locals are all friendly. You may even come across the odd Cow or Elephant. The best way to get around is by taxi as the buses are jammed packed. We went to Margo and Panjim by taxi and visited a Spice Plantation near Ponda, which cost us about £20 for the whole day. The Spice Plantation is worth a visit, absolutely amazing and you can buy all your spices and cashew nuts very cheaply. Taxi driver’s will take you to where you want to go and wait for you no matter how long you will be (you pay when you get back). Goa is beautiful and friendly, the weather was about 35 degrees Celsius but we did not suffer with this at all, you get a cool breeze from the sea. We can’t wait to go back and the Holiday Inn is a good base. Next door is the Leela, we walked around the gardens and it is nice however for the money we would go back to the Holiday Inn – the staff were friendly and you are left to it to get on with your relaxing holiday, the location is great if you want to go outside of the hotel by foot.

We have been going to the Holiday Inn for the last 10 years. It did need a refurbishmentin 2004 and they have been upgrading the rooms. However all this fades away when you take into consideration the wonderful staff and also the fab location. If you want a party holiday go North. This is a place to chill out.. We recommend Sams on the beach and try his party night and watch Sanjays dance moves. Also Bettys is fabulous. Goa is the place to have rings made and go and see Jack in the hotel as his rings are fab and our evaluations in the UK are 5 times what we paid for them!! Yes there has been building work, but who in their right mind stays in their room when temps are in the 30's and you have a wonderful beach to "sleep" on..

We've just returned from the Holiday Inn and had a great 2 weeks. Though there is not a lot surrounding the hotel taxis are cheap and the beach is very good. Our room was one of the newer ones (233) and was kitted out as you would expect of a 4 star hotel, our first room which we asked to move from (as there was no safety deposit box) was a little tired and needed a freshen up, this was in the block next to the Leela Beach. Some friends of ours were in the same block and were at the rear near to the building work and the Leelas generator which is really noisy so you'd be best asking for a different block. The staff in the hotel were extremely friendly and helpful as were the goan people.The hotel does put on a daily programme of actvities for day time and evening, though appreciate this is not to everyones taste. We went to the Goan night and had a really good evening.The hotel food is really good though obviously more expensive than eating outside, we particularly enjoyed the beachside seafood grill and the Chinese (around £15-20 for 2 inc all drinks). The hotel also has a great patisserie for lovely cakes and cappuccinos.We were concerned about reports of building work but it was so minimal it didn't affect our holiday-it must be nearing completion (we were there from 9/1-23/1).This hotel compares favourably with other hotels of the same grade in non europoean countries, the breakfast was better than most. The hotel is linked to a nice restaurant by the river called fishermans wharf just 5 mins walk away, we also ate in the famous Bettys on regular occasions reccommend the papad rolls at 30 rupees ! and the garlic king prawns (more like mini lobsters they are so big) if you like fish, kingfish and pomfret are great choices too. You can also watch dolphins directly from the beach they appeared half a dozen times while we were there. The hotel and Bettys run really cheap (around £4 per head) dolphin watching and birdwatching trips. Finally had a great massage at the ayurvedic centre in the hotel next to the beach bar- £20 for a massage done by 2 ladies for 1 hour( you get men if you are a man). Finally try the sula sauvignon blanc if you are a dry white wine fan, I can smell the gooseberries now and it's a great surprise if you think Indian wine might not be so good. I've posted more detail on the discussion forum under just back from holiday inn.

Your travel company may not tell you or if they do, they will play down the amount of building work and refurbishment that is going on at this Hotel. A Confrence centre at the front of the complex, a Spa behind the accomodation block on the right and refurbishment THROUGHOUT the left hand accomodation block. The disruption and noise can be heard in the accomodation blocks, the breakfast patio, the pool and the grassy sunbathing areas. We had hammers, electric drills, saws and angle-grinders going off at all times of the day starting at 0920 on new years day in the rooms below ours!!! Every time we complained the management denied that any work was even taking place, then they would relent and PROMISE (their word not mine) to stop the noise, which they didnt manage for more than an hour. The head manager PROMISED that no work would take place during the remainder of our stay - we were awoken the next day by the grating noise of drilling and grinding! We were offered a room change to a damp room equally near to other refurbishment or overlooking the generators!! A housekeeping boy knocked and immediately let himsef into my hotel room at 2215hrs - i didnt have time to hide my modesty! When i complained to the management they simply said that the housekeeping were running a little late ( after 10 oclock at night ?) and didnt seem to understand my distress / anger at having had my privacy invaded! Basically dont believe a word the mamagement tell you - the waiting staff on the other hand are a delight; polite, friendly and fun - much more typical of the Goan people. Goa is a beautiful place to visit and i would encourage anyone to go - but I would avoid the Holiday Inn until after the building works have finished.

Having arrived in Goa on 2nd Dec for 2 weeks, we started our journey to our hotel on a coach which was a 1940's Leyland style. The seats were in a recline position which was fixed, therefore the 1hr journey was spent half laying and half sitting, not very comfortable following a 10hr flight. If you can afford it, take a taxi it costs approx £12. We were the only people left on the coach when we arrived at the Holiday Inn at 8.50am. On booking in we were told by reception that our room would not be ready until noon, my husband complained, saying that we had never experienced this problem on our travels beforeore and that we where expecting our room to be ready for us on arrival and surely as we were the only guests to arrive at this time, it would not take 4hrs to clean a room for us. The receptionist said that it was quite normal in India but would try to hurry it along. By 11.15am the room was still not ready but we managed to speak with our tour rep who informed us that it states in the brochure "rooms available after mid-day" and that we would have to wait. Unfortunately the holiday was booked on the internet and we were not aware of this. Between 11.30am-12.30pm three taxis arrived at various times bringing new arrivals, they registered at reception, the bellboy was called and they and their luggage were taken to their rooms. I asked why these guests were given their accommodation immediately whilst we were still waiting and was told that these people had stayed at the Holiday Inn before and had requested certain rooms. I failed to understand what differance that made. We eventually got our room at 1pm (5hrs after arriving at the Hotel). The room was nice and very clean, but when I pulled the patio door curtains back we were looking out on a building site 30ft from our patio. We phoned our tour operator in England and asked them to sort it out and we were moved the next day to a ground floor room overlooking the breakfast patio area and beneath the sundowner bar. It was quite noisy early morning as the staff prepared their hot plates & tables etc and the bar was very noisy at night especially on the Kareoke nights which went on untill 12.30am. The first week of our holiday was quite enjoyable, the food in the a la carte patio area was good, swimming pool excellent, the poolside food was poor but the service from the young waiters was excellent,they were all very polite, always had a smile on their face and could not do enough for you. We tried the food at a couple of the taverna like restaurants near the hotel, Betty's Place was very good. Unfortunately at the start of the second week my husband went down with a severe stomach bug, the reception staff were quick to respond to my request for a Doctor and within 20mins he had arrived, given my husband an injection and left a prescription for antibiotics which I got made up in Cavelosim. He spent the next 3 days in bed and felt quite weak for the rest of the holiday.During this time the young lad who cleaned our room was especially kind ,as was his supervisor who actually made us a flower arrangement to help my husband get better she said. On our departure she gave us a christmas card signed Tanuja, how lovely, especially as her religion is Hindu. Two days before leaving we were approached by the same receptionist who booked us in originally saying she would like to speak to us regarding cheaper holidays and asked us to meet her at reception at 4pm. We went along and were immediately introduced to a timeshare Tout for the Averina Beach Club, which also happens to be the Holiday Inn. He tried desperately hard to sell us a package, we did view the two bedroomed apartments built behind the ordinary hotel accomodation. They were very nice but, when speaking with two english women who own a timeshare, it had cost them £409 each to fly economy with Monarch from Gatwick plus £120 per year service charge and £24 for taxis to/from airport, in total £962. A discount of 50% is given on food and 40% on drinks in the hotel. Very good value if you are happy to return time and time again to the same place. The food in the Hotel is at least twice the price of the taverner/beach shack's and a luxury tax is added to the bill, not much cheaper than home. The cost of our B/B only stay at the holiday Inn including the cost of meals/drinks (mainly water)was £2,400, which I don't think is that cheap. Our last day was spent trying to relax under the trees near the pool but the builders at the front of the hotel were busy using a heavy duty electric drill to break up concrete, maintenance staff were carrying out work on some of the timeshare buildings with an electric drill and the shower by the pool was not working properly so two men were smashing the tiles away with hammer and chisel followed by a tile cutter. There are two building sites, one at the front (Left hand side) and one at the back of the right hand side. If you are going to the holiday Inn make sure you get a pool facing room. The majority of guests at the hotel are Russian, they have a problem making themselves understood and some can be very rude to the charming chefs/waiters. If you can, try to take our bic pens, pencils and sweets. Wolton is a waiter at Breakfast/Lunch times, there is an orphange, school and old folk's home in his village, all run by the Catholic church. The children can only go to school if they have pens/pencils etc,and the poor families often go without a meal so they can send their kids to school. Oh and by the way the guests who were shown to their rooms immediately on arrival were TIMESHARE OWNERS, if their rooms are available immediately on arrival (no matter what the time is)why not the ordniary paying guests?. We won't be returning to the Holiday Inn, but we will always remember the very polite,hard working,happy and smiling people of Goa.

I had read the reviews before booking this hotel and they were mixed so had no real expectations. We were pleasently surprised. What you make of it will definitley depend on where you have been before, especially if like us you have been to other parts India before. The Hotel...First let me warn anyone going soon that there is building going on at the minute which we knew nothing about. Alot of people complaining about that (us included), meant we didn't use our balcony as its opposite about 40 buliders. Complained but were told the hotel is full, couldn't be bothered making too much fuss as only there for a week but others did and got moved. Staff, generally very helpful. Overall very clean, food was the best I've eaten anywhere in India. The service at the bar was variable but they knid of got there in the end. Goa... laid back and no where near as poor or stressful to explore as other parts of india so a great place for a first visit. But South Goa is fairly quiet, especially in our hotel at night. My last word of advice is avoid flying with Monarch if at all possible. Many people the week before had a 50 hour delay and were treated appallingly by there crew in that time. We had no delay but the flight was so uncomfortable and the entertainment was utter rubbish, and the stop in Bahrain added loads of time onto the journey. Overall though can't argue, paid £630 for a week and think we defintley got our money's worth.