Classic Sarovar Portico Thiruvananthapuram

Firstly, the hotel pool is closed for maintenance - not mentioned on the website or in any emails. Secondly, our room smelt of cigarette smoke (especially the bathroom, which was generally grubby and very dated) and the smell was worse after the room was "serviced". The main issue was how unhelpfully the staff handled an issue about laundry service. We needed to wash some clothes but when we asked about this, the reception told us they didn't do laundry (despite it saying the opposite on the Hotels.com page). The next morning, we were told that actually they did do laundry and they would get it back to us the next evening. However, after an hour of nagging the reception desk that evening, the man who claimed to be the manager, arrived with our still-dirty clothes. They refused to offer any discount/refund other than a free dinner (this happened at half 9 so we'd already eaten) or a 3 minute taxi to the train station. Overall, they did not take our issues seriously and misrepresented their facilities online.

Excellent place to stay, good parking and great support staff

We had a lovely welcome at 05.00 and were shown quickly to our room. The room was as expected, clean and spacious and with a/c which kept us cool. The hotel is centrally located for attractions and shops but in a back road which was relatively quiet, away from road noise. All staff were lovely: very polite and helpful. The restaurant food was delicious at breakfast, lunch and dinner and was clearly prepared carefully for everyone’s well-being. The rooftop pool was refreshing and where else can you swim with kites flying right over your head? I think we had borrowed their drinking pool for a while and they were checking us out! Overall, a good choice to acclimatise after a flight and although slightly overpriced I would not hesitate to return, especially as the food was good value for money.