This hotel is located in a prime location on Calangute high street. As soon as you step out of the hotel, to your right are many restaurants and the main part of the high street and to your left more restaurants and stores. There is an ayurvedic massage centre on the hotel grounds and a bar called the Banana Moon serving drinks. The hotel has a phone booth offering cheap calls and internet cafes are everywhere. There is a football ground opposite the hotel where the locals play footie and cricket. It's amazing to see so many people gathered around when games are being played.

The beach is a leisurely 10 minute stroll, 5 minutes if you can walk at a decent pace in the heat!! Calangute beach is probably the busiest beach in Goa offering watersports, restaurants and is packed in the daytime.

The hotel accommodates on a room only basis but this is not a problem as there are restaurants everywhere to choose from. The rooms are basic and very comfortable with twin beds, shower room, wardrobe, dresser, satellite TV (and I mean proper SAT with movies and music channels, not just the news). Beds are made daily and linen changed every other day. The hotel cleaners were honest, I left my MP3 player and camera on my bed a few times and came back to find everything in its place.

The only problem with my room was that it did not have A/C. The fan in the room just blew around hot air and at times it was unbearable in the room. I would get out of the shower and be sweating, but not having the fan on was even worse. I think there are A/C rooms at an extra price, but you will need to pay extra. There is also no extra option for a fridge in the room so I would always have to ask the guys in the restaurant to store my water in their fridge. I really think that you need a fridge to store water in the hot weather, kids or no kids. I would also have to remind the cleaner at times to empty my bin and change my towels. I had a few problems with the shower but this was fixed. There is not a kids club and I don't think they have cots or high chairs. No telephones in the room either.

I experienced at least 3 daily power cuts in the hotel and there were times when the water was not always available to take a shower, which was irritating at times as it is humid in April, but this is India, so you have to expect this at times. There are two room views, the high street and the pool view. If you want peace and quiet, choose a pool view room as the high street is very busy in the day. The disadvantage of pool view rooms is they are facing the back and there is not much cool breeze. The room layout is such that you get limited sunlight and will need to put the light on to read. There is no option for a safe to keep your passport, so you will have to lock it in your suitcase or carry it with you.

I would buy bleach in the supermarket (next door) to put in your toilet to keep it smelling fresh. It's cleaned daily, but not with bleach. I am not a cleanaholic but I like a fresh smelling toilet. Also, bring a torch. When there are powercuts at night, the corridor is pitch black and you can't see anything. Bring some earplugs to drown out the barking dogs.

There is only one pool (no kids pool) but the deep end comes in at about 5ft7. The pool was cleaned once, the day before I left and it looked murky before that so I never went in. The beach was only 10 minutes walk so this was not a problem.

The staff are all friendly and they will go out of their way to help you. The guys at the Banana Moon bar went out, brought fresh fruit and prepared fruit salad for me for a small charge, even though they don't serve food.

I would definetely return to this hotel again. the cost was 650rps per night and well worth the money. If you want luxury, this is not the place for you, if you are after a basic comfortable place to lay your head after travelling and a chill out zone for a few hours when its too hot, this is the place.

The great thing about this hotel is that you do not need to dodge the dogs. There are no dogs in or on surrounding the grounds as it is on the high street. The dogs bark like crazy and kept me up a few nights.