Let me start with the best thing about Sanctum Spring, the manager Mr. Anil Kumar. After sending Sanctum Spring an e-mail, Mr. Kumar responded promptly and offered us a special rate (Rs. 2300) which was 30% lower than their published rack rate. After asking information about the way of payment he responded that no advance payment was necessary and he sent us the booking voucher by e-mail. What an exceptional service! Also during our stay Mr. Kumar showed an interest in making our stay a pleasant one.
The room was spacious and clean with a very pleasant balcony with a view of the garden and a bit of a sea view. Now the worst thing about Sanctum Spring: the beds are rock hard. After a sleepless night I requested an extra mattress which - in all fairness - the manager arranged immediately and the problem was solved.
The hot water in the shower was hit and miss. Most of the times there was hot water but more than once there wasn’t.
The air conditioning was another hit and miss. The air conditioning stopped working one evening at 10 PM which was fixed within half an hour. But another time I woke up sweating in my bed at 2AM because the air conditioning had stopped working in the middle of the night. No one was there to fix it, so we had to open the door to the balcony and put on the fan to get some cool air.
We had breakfast three times. Two times it was a really lovely breakfast, served by a really friendly guy. Freshly fried eggs (cooked to perfection), fresh toast, a pot of good strong coffee (rare in India), butter, marmalade, fresh pineapple juice and some bananas. But one time the guy said no one was in the kitchen and apart from fresh coffee just offered us just some disgusting leftovers from a breakfast buffet. The difference with the other two breakfasts couldn’t have been bigger.
The location of Sanctum Spring is perfect. The hotel is located at Helipad in Varkala, which is very near beautiful Papanasam beach and all the restaurants and shops at North Cliff.
All in all we had a pleasant stay and with the discount it was value for money.
- Sanctum Spring Beach Hotel
