having stayed at the magnum quite a few times..i found this time was awful..the hotel has been on a downward spiral for about 5 years..this is due to lack of maintainence and lethargy by the staff..the whole place is falling apart ..in the rooms the air conditioning units are falling to pieces,only half the light bulbs work,the bathrooms are in need of a very thorough cleaning..fitments are loose or hanging off..the pillows are old the mattresses are even older..the towels are frayed an old..the list goes on...the stair wells are filthy and never cleaned..by the pool there are 10 sunbeds for 60 rooms no umberellas..the gardens are unattended..i must admit some of the staff do try but are severly restricted through lack of investment in the place..i approached the owner on this visit about the state of his hotel..told him it was a disgrace..he said he hadnt the money..but arrived in a chauffeur driven £30.000 car.i believe is house is magnificent and bigger than the hotel..so i know where the money is going..also i booked bed and breakfast as usual..first morning i was told that the fruit and the eggs you used to get were no longer on the menu and had to be paid for..after approaching the manager and the owner ..three days later it was re installed..i have stayed here because of the location and friendly staff .but alas it now caters for indian visitors and mainly russians who spend therte two weeks drunk all the time..a sad demise of a once nice hotel.. on the third night i had visitors to my room...two rats who had entered via the air conditioning unit..which i immediately asked to be changed..this was done the next day..not pleasant..all in all not a good place to stay anymore..

We cheched in on the 5TH of November for 3 weeks, ans was put in a first floor room, facing the back of a busy noisy hotel kitchen. After 2 nights without sleep, we asked to be moved. We was moved to a ground floor room by the pool. 2 days later my partner was in the shower when the contents of the drains came flooding out from the drain in the shower floor. We reported this but it was not possible to fix that day, We were told we could use another room to have a shower. The room given to us had no water at all in ??? We had to stay in our room that night, unable to use the bathroom due to it being ankle deep in water and human faeces. The next morning we moved to another hotel. I DID NOT USE THE POOL ONCE DURING THE 5 DAYS I WAS THERE, THE POOL WAS CONSTANTLY SURROUNDED FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER BY PEOPLE FROM MUMBI OR BENGAL 3 TO A SUNBED IN FULL INDIAN COSTUME, THERES NO WAY YOU COULD SIT IN YOUR SWIM WEAR & READ A BOOK OR HAVE A SWIM, YOU WOULD NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE. THIS IS NOT A HOTEL FOR WESTERNERS

This is where we always stay when in goa but to our surprise the main key person Mr.John who used to handle the show has left the premises on medical grounds and now some wanabe Mr.Sanjiv looks after the show there we had done telephonic bookings as always and when we reached there we were given two shady sad rooms in which we were told new acs have been installed and after waiting for three odd hours we were given these rooms on checking in we found the so called new acs were not working and on complaining we were told this is what it is take it or leave it so but obvious we left it ,the small pool has insects swimming and dumped with garbage rooms had a stink and were not cleaned at all so pls dont go here just a friendly suggestion ...........so that you guys dont mess your trip.

This was our second stay at the Magnum, the previous time was 6 years ago.

Our room (111) was on the 1st floor, sort-of overlooking the pool but in reality overlooking a field that had some rubbish dumped in it.

The rooms were:
Sitting room approx 13’ x 10’ with a large sofa (which may have been a bed settee), 2 easy chairs, coffee table and TV which had a number of channels including CNN, BBC World News, National Geographic, Discovery & ESPN. It had a ceiling fan and doors led onto a decent sized balcony with 2 chairs and a table.
Kitchen area with large fridge and sink.
Bedroom which was small with 2 single beds, a wardrobe, chest of drawers, ceiling fan and air-conditioning unit.
Bathroom

The A/C unit wasn’t very effective and had no temperature control. It just about made the room cooler than with the fan. We didn’t have to pay extra for it, I’d have been very disappointed if we had paid for it.

The bathroom was OK but could have done with a deep clean of the grout between the tiles though.
There was always plenty of hot water.

Bedding was changed every other day and the sheets were clean although not white.
Towels seemed to be changed every day although they didn’t change them when they cleaned the room but instead knocked on your door anytime between 6pm and 7:30pm.
I don’t know if this was designed to obtain a daily tip (it didn’t work with us!) but it was sometimes inconvenient if you wanted a shower earlier although you could probably have rung Housekeeping and requested one.
For some reason we didn’t have clean towels for a couple of days and after going back to the room from a long day on the beach and seeing the same towels we’d had since Tuesday (this was Friday) I marched down to Reception to complain.
To be fair, they gave me fresh ones straight away. It just seemed to be a sloppy part of the service.

The rooms were cleaned adequately enough and the walls were painted a nice pale yellow but there are some areas where they could give a better impression of the hotel with just a few minutes of work.
For example, the towel rail in the bathroom was loose as it had 2 screws instead of 4, the bathroom light was the same. Knobs on wardrobes & drawers either loose or missing. Not very important but minimal repairs would give a better impression of the accommodation.

Although we had booked B&B, we never ate breakfast in the hotel so I’ve classed this as ‘self-catering’.
We didn’t have any other meals or drinks there either.



There is a small oblong pool which looked clean, with about 10 sunbeds round it. It didn’t seem to get a lot of sun during the day.
There are 7 or so tables round the pool for drinks.
The pool area and other communal areas were clean and the staff were very pleasant.

The safety deposit boxes were in Reception and seemed to be accessible all the time.

As our room was towards the back, there was no noise at all.

The best thing about the Magnum is the location, right in the middle of Candolim. It’s close to the Elephant Shop for drinks and money change and there are lots of bars and restaurants within a few minutes walk.