The Barefoot at Havelock

An excellent jungle property on the beach. The rooms( tents) were great, the food was top notch. The only reason i gave it a 4 is the tardy checkout experience where the front office staff made us wait for 45 mins for some inane reason. The front office checkout experience is the only weakling of this otherwise great property.

Let’s first say a lot of things went wrong here. Most of it was fixed, but there is a lot to improve here. On arrival the toilet did not flush properly. This was resolved by replacing the entire bowl for a new one (leaving a nasty stain on where the old bowl used to be). Then there was hot water for like 30 seconds before it stopped. Mentioned it 2x, they ‘fixed’ it 2x, but in the 4 nights I stayed here I only had cold showers (lukewarm would be a better description). Then the airconditioning broke after a power outage. This was solved by replacing some part of the device. I have to say at this point they aknowledged the fact that a lot of things went wrong and they gave us free dinner, which was very nice. Then the next day: I booked a diving trip via barefoot scuba, their sister company. At the desk of the hotel I discussed with them that pick up should be at 7. No pick up. ‘Sorry mam’ was their reaction. They could arrange a pick up an hour later. I was so disappointed by this that at first I cancelled, reconsidered 5 min later and went anyways. Diving was amazing, but the pick up at 13h went at 13.30. The next morning at check out, although it was said that the reception will be staffed 24h, apparently not with people that can let you pay the bill. So I had to wait until someone showed up that could ‘help’ me with that. Leaving us with 30 min to have breakfast (which is served, so it takes a bit longer than a buffet) and check out. The hotel furthermore is just not properly cleaned (mentioned this, part of it, the hairdryer was sort of cleaned, but not really). The main parts like the toilet floor, the bed and shower floor are clean, but don’t look at the walls or deviced like hair dryings or hand dryers. Which also makes us a bit less enthusiastic about taking your shoes off whenever you enter the reception or restaurant. On a positive note and the only reason why it gets a second star, is that the in house naturalists are amazing. We did two intertidal walks with Prathamesh and we really enjoyed outselves. Also Ruben helpt out whit arranging the shuttle for my diving when they did not show up. All in all, I will not return here.

We stayed in Barefoot for 4 nights. We had an amazing experience. Barefoot is idyllic in a sylvan setting and a perfect place to unwind. It is only few minutes from the scenic Radhanagar beach stretching more than couple of kms. The staff in the resort are fantastic, the food is delicious. We are spoilt by the hospitality and want to come back again.