First Incident: Unhygienic and Filthy Room provided to Guest: Horrifying holiday experience while staying at Varca Beach Club Mahindra resort. The day we checked in there was a rush in check-in and check-out and approximately 80 guest checked-in and checked-out. In all these rush the Club Mahindra housekeeping staff did not clean the rooms properly before then let in another guest. After check-in we spent our time at the Activity Zone and in the night my 4 year old son was fast asleep and we came back to our room and laid down in the bed. In the night I smelled some lousy smell, however we ignored the smell and went back to sleep. In the morning when we wake up to our horror we found out that the bed sheets were stained by Human excretion to which we slept the whole night and my son was laying upside down with his face in the shit all night. We called the housekeeping manager and he cleaned the room thoroughly, however the fact remains that there was a serious lapse in hygiene and in providing a clean room to a guest and the Asst manager – Front Office of Club Mahindra Varca Beach resort admitted that in the rush of preparing the room the housekeeping staff didn’t notice and even did not change the bed sheet while preparing the room for the next guest. My son developed severe loose motion next day and we suspect that in his sleep some of the excretion may have entered his mouth which triggered his stomach condition. We informed the same to the Client Service manager and to the Asst Manager and they didn’t even bother to call any doctors. After returning back we took my son to a doctor who prescribed antibiotics for the next 1 week.

Second Incident: Security lapse and intrusion of Privacy: We had put in a DND sign on the door and one evening I had to rush out to bring my son back to the room from the lobby as he was not feeling well. I had put on the DND sign and there were several valuable (Cash and Cell Phone and few ornaments) were kept in the locker. When I brought my son back to my room I found out that even after we had hanged the DND sign, housekeeping staff had entered the room for evening service. We also found out that the locker was open. This is a serious intrusion to guest privacy and security. No one is supposed to enter the room when DND signs are hanged outside. We had some rolled up bundles of uncounted 100 Rupees note and we felt that some cash were missing and since the cash was not counted so we cannot exactly say how much was missing. My wife was very insecure after this incident as if the housekeeping staff can enter the room even after DND signs are posted, they can enter at any times when she is alone in the room.

Third Incident: Unhygienic Resort atmosphere and surroundings: We were staying in Studios and in one unit there was a dustbin just near the entrance which were used by resort guest . There were many such bins all-round the resorts. All the bins and particularly one near our unit were filled to the brim with baby Diapers, women pads and all other garbage and these bins were not cleaned for Days. As it was raining the garbage started rotting and it started emitting foul smell which made very difficult for the guest to walk by and for us very difficult to sit in the balconies. This particular dustbin was not cleaned for 3-4 days straight even after repeated complaints were made to Housekeeping staff and later to the lobby receptionist

Fourth Incident: Very Bad Housekeeping service: We experienced very bad and slow housekeeping service in Varca Resort. For any request say for providing towels, Coffee powder sachet, soap the minimum response time was at least 2-3 hours. In once such incident, one afternoon we came back from the beach and we had sand all over our hands and legs and we all wanted to take a bath. When we came to our room we had found that the shower gel container was empty and the housekeeping staff while cleaning the room has not filled the container and we called housekeeping staff to replenish the container with the shower gel. We waited for 3 hours and in this time we made at least 10-15 calls to housekeeping, however no one turned up to provide the shower gel. Finally we used a shampoo which we were carrying to take a bath. In the Evening we were visited by a member relation lady who wanted to brief out Mahindra latest resorts. In our discussion I briefed her about this housekeeping incident and she acknowledged that all guest are complaining about this and since the resort is full to its capacity we should expect such delay.

We had spent a lot of our money and time to visit varca beach and in the end we had to cut short our trip , buy expensive flight tickets and had to come back to our home. At the time of securing the membership a lot was said and mentioned by sales representatives about Club Mahindra and how some of the resorts are awarded Gold Crown by RCI and how we can avail 5 star accommodation and hassle free holiday for the next 25 years. I am deeply saddened and feel cheated by these incidents and if this is stateof affairs at Club Mahindra then continuing these 5 Star shitty experience holiday is definitely not something which I would like to look forward to.

I am definitely cancelling my membership and I am bringing this to the notice of Times of India so that they can make their readers aware of the pathetic condition of Club Mahindra resorts. I would also file a case in the consumer court against Club Mahindra for cheating and for providing unhygienic and unhealthy rooms to their guest and for intrusion of Privacy and for causing health issues to a 4 year old boy.