Anahata Retreat Beach Front Ashwem Goa

Anahata was a brilliant find with its lush green property, proximity to the beach, and elegant yet minimalistic rooms. The rooms were air-conditioned with 24/7 hot water, huge comfy beds, and fluffy pillows. The beach is literally a minute away from the resort's restaurant. Plus, you can hear it in the room too -- you fall asleep & wake up to the sound of the waves! The housekeeping kept our room tidy and bug-free, and the service staff attended to our needs promptly. If I come back to Goa, this is where I'm going to stay.

A disappointing stay in a fantastic location. The beach is clean, L'Atelier restaurant good, if over-priced, and the staff are charming and friendly. Where the retreat falls down is in the poor infrastructure. My shabby bungalow with its cruddy paintwork had seen better days: the mattress was old and indented by previous guests; the shower scuzzy, the bath mat worn and unclean; the cheap, murky toilet looked like something one would find in the slums of New Delhi; hot water sparse. Scant investment has been made in this resort since it opened some 15 years ago. Yet it is charging up to 40,000 INR more per week than a five-star hotel down the coast. The Anahata beach front Resort Ashwem cannot rest on its laurels of former glory.

This place is decent overall, barring some serious hygiene issues & view from the sea facing cottages. They apparently have 3 sea facing cottages. While the view is great from 2 of them , one is essentially a trees facing cottage with the SAME tariff. So that was quite a flop show despite being assured over the phone by the Sales Manager that the view would be excellent & same from the two rooms that we had booked . So do not go either by the images on the website completely or by his word. Upon voicing our dissatisfaction quite politely (as captured on camera as well) , the Sales Manager had a complete meltdown at the reception in front of everyone & started yelling , asking us to go find a place elsewhere despite being told several times to lower the volume & take a deep breath. So that was a bit shocking for us because one expects a professional at the front desk of such an established property rather than an amateur who can’t handle customers concerns at all & goes into a strange spiral , shouting that he has been in the industry for a decade , etc. while fuming & palpitating. I hope the owners get better people to manage the property because while we understand that someone could be having a bad day but it’s not really our job on a holiday to deal with such random melt downs when we bring our concerns to their notice. Secondly , hygiene is a big issue there. They don’t even bother to wash water bottles at all . The bottles they keep in the rooms are very dirty . But the good thing is that when we brought this issue to their concern , they atleast fixed it for us. Breakfast menu is quite elaborate with good options but they are quite understaffed & half the things are usually unavailable . Our sea view cottage , Hawa had a brilliant view while Kalinda was an absolute flop show. Their complementary yoga class is good though . Mandrem beach is clean & the walks are a pleasant experience . The house keeping staff is polite , prompt & courteous in general. The restaurant has a great view of the sea. If you’re phobic to dogs , avoid this place.