My hopes that a stay  in another KDTC hotel would prove to be an abberation were dashed once i arrived at the KDTC Tamarind Easy Hotel in Mannakad. While it scored marginally higher than the hotel in Nilambur, by virtue of having a receptionist available on arrival, that is where the positive difference ends. It had the same combination of mould stained, cracked walls, limited restaurant fayre, and strange, not pleasant smells.

Whilst if didn't share the Nilambur KDTC's penchant for burning rubbish outside my window, the hotel instead suffers from very bad traffic noise. Unfortunately the hotel is at the crest of a short steep incline so all the night time freight lorries have to change down a gear just before reaching the hotel and this makes for a noisy stay. 

While checking in was almost painless (the hotel was booked via hotels.com) the same cannot be said for checking out. The staff who were available for an early checkout clearly hadn't been trained in what to... More