The Mountain Courtyard Thekady

Location and Atmosphere is stunning. Rooms are not upto the mark. Looks very old. Staffs are not a proactive one.

A bumpy ride up to the property. We were not immediately enarmoured. It was all sharp edges, rectangles and squares in a blue, brown and grey building and rather unfriendly.

I wouldn’t recommend it for older individuals with mobility problems. Steps up to dining and breakfast rooms and our room. The gardens around property was small with no opportunity for walking. The gym was located in the basement and contained equipment that we did not use. A treadmill would be useful.

We were given a large room - dark brown with a tall screen between the bed, sitting area and bathroom. Again rather austere. It overlooked a forest area. Bird chorus in the morning woke us up but we did not mind this.

Staff were friendly enough. We found the dining room staff really kind and helpful. Pandy and his team worked hard and were in close attendance and very willing to meet individual preferences. Well done!

Food was well cooked but like many places we had been to, no green vegetables. Much of the food was in Keralan style, interesting enough. Most hotels served a similar cuisine. It lacked imagination.

Quite a busy hotel - probably promoted by travel companies. A decent hotel but not one we will return to.

Our recent experience with the Corporate General Manager, Mr. Shankar, was extremely disappointing. After sending a booking enquiry and following up politely due to no response, we were met with completely unprofessional behavior. Instead of addressing the matter calmly, he responded in a raised and aggressive tone over the phone without any valid reason.

There was no disrespect from our side—only a simple follow-up on a time-sensitive request. However, the conversation was handled in a rude and confrontational manner, which was both shocking and unacceptable for someone in a senior leadership position. It appeared as though he may be short-tempered, as the reaction was completely disproportionate to the situation.

In the hospitality industry, professionalism and respectful communication are basic expectations. Unfortunately, this interaction reflected the opposite. Very disappointing experience.

Lovely hotel set in beautiful surroundings. Staff are friendly, attentive, and helpful. Staff were always checking if we needed anything. Food is really good too! The small playground provided great entertainment for our toddler. Room was spacious, clean and comfortable. We really enjoyed the afternoon tea and snacks that are provided in the garden. We also watched the Indian dancer in the evening, which was good.

We arrived at The Mountain Courtyard Thekkady from Munnar and it was one of the best experiences of our trip. The hotel staff was so accommodating from the moment we entered. At dinner Chef Vinuraj personally came out and described the various dishes and especially his own personal chicken recipe. Unfortunately we do not eat chicken being pescatarian so Chef Vinuraj prepared a special Kerla fish for us. I have never had such delicious fish along with the Pulao. Also, our waiter and the restaurant manager personally came and made sure we were well taken care of. Not only will I be back but I will recommend my friends in the US visiting to come to this hotel.

The overall experience of the Resort was below average. I did not expected such low hospitality at five star Hotel/Resort. One of the worst experience of premium hotel. The staff was roaming around with dull faces, no proper attention to the guests, untimely room service, House keeping behavior was totally shocking. At all costs, try to avoid this Hotel.

This is an excellent location for exploring the area and staff was very nice especially the dining staff. We enjoyed the free cooking class. The grounds are beautiful. I don’t understand the star system in India but the rooms themselves would not be 4 or 5 star in Europe or USA. They are basic and need new sheets/towels. But they have knock-out views and are a good value for the price which includes breakfast.

Very nice willing and friendly staff , so many thanks for Ramish he was available all the time to make our stay nice and comfortable Something I don’t like is not all bed sheets are in the same brightness some seems to be yellow.

I had a pleasant experience staying at this hotel. The reception team and staff were kind and helpful such like Mr. Mohammed Harith (house keeping) throughout my stay. The resort’s location was also quite convenient and attractive except the road lead to the hotel was a bit dangerous. Furthermore, I was disappointed to find that the room had an unpleasant odor upon arrival, and the bed sheets were stained and appeared yellowed, likely due to frequent use and insufficient maintenance. The gym being found in very dirty, limit, and very poor equipments which it’s not useful. The restaurant is in old condition.
This aspect detracted from an otherwise positive experience.

It was a fine stay. However some things they should take care of.
Rooms are outdated. And our room was smelly. The floor was not cleaned well. Cup to put your soap on it. I think renew stuff like garbage bag. Furniture and it will be a 5 star worth.
Food and breakfast was good.
Thank you.

This hotel is a little out of town, but is located in a beautiful forest environment. Arrival is smooth and a staff member escorts you to your room, to point out amenities and let you know about timings and activities here. My room was beautifully appointed, spacious with a glorious balcony and view. The lunch and dinner restaurant is very good - great service and good food. Staff are very professional and super-friendly. My room had a good bathroom, shower and bed. I had a very early start one morning and they were able to bring me some packed breakfast without any fuss at all. I went along to the cooking demonstration and really enjoyed that. Thank you to all here.

Very welcoming hotel in lovely surroundings. The food was some of the tastiest we have had in Kerala. The restaurant staff in particular were very friendly and helpful. The hotel arranged extra activities included in our stay which was a bonus.

It’s a beautiful location outside of the town

A very beautiful space.

The Ayurveda treatments are amazing
The staff are very attentive and friendly. Dia was a fantastic therapist

Reception helped us to organise trips
It was clean

The al a carte menu was lovely food with a good selection. The service was very good all the staff were very friendly and polite

The garden is beautiful area my only disappointment was there were no comfortable seats to relax on in the gardens

Worst experience ever. The hotel have always shortage of staff, even the rooms are very small and the dining room is in a pathetic condition and look like a hostel dining room with all old furnitures and no maintenance at all. The activities room is in a shabby condition full of old and useless things like the table tennis table is cracked. The swimming pool is dirty. I don't recommend anyone to stay in this hotel. We even lost our swimming costume that we forgot in the garden.
Location: 1/5

Rooms

Just a beautiful hotel with beautiful vibes. Loved our stay.

The resort is up a hill with a dedicated road, a few kilometers from Kamily and Thekkady. I booked a Tamarind room but was upgraded to a Banyan room, a much-appreciated gesture. The rooms are spacious with tiled floor. There are many wooden tables and a wooden writing desk and a small cupboard. The walls have some wooden finish, there is a narrow partition extending all the way to the high slanting ceiling and separating the sleeping area from the sitting area. Because of the dark wood finishing, the room seem to need more lighting. The bathroom is big with a walk-in shower, there is a good supply of toiletries. There are many room types, but the Banyan Cottages seem to be a good choice. Some rooms are located in a 4-storey building, while the higher-grade Banyan Cottages are located in five small buildings, each with four rooms, two a few steps up and two down. The buildings are in one row going down the garden. The hotel ground is big with many benches for relaxing with service from a garden bar. There is a good-sized swimming poll a short walk down. There is a sufficient supply of bottled water, tea and coffee. The reception is medium size with good seating area. The staff are friendly and helpful. It is a sort of a medium size forest resort highly recommended for relaxing, and the price is reasonable.

It’s a beautiful resort located amongst nature, embracing nature a part of the nature instead of modifying it. Rooms were large, surrounded by so many trees and greenery that we felt like living in a forest itself, woke up to sounds of birds. 5/5 to resort, rooms, and ambience. It’s also located closer to main attractions.
However, kids play area was a major disappointment, located in the basement it looked shady, loud, and lacked anything for kids to spend more than 10 mins.
Breakfast too a little disappointing for a 5 star resort, spread was limited in terms of options as well as lacked taste.
Check in was okay, they were not able to find our booking as done through an aggregator and mentioned we don’t have one. Spent 15 mins to sort this out and realised another family was facing the same issue.
We found staff behaviour different from the hospitality we received over Kerala. There were no smile, no greeting, and no thankyou. They were not impolite but were neither welcoming as well which we found very weird. Only person who was proactively helpful was the parking security guard.
I believe resort has extreme potential given location and nature however it needs an overhaul to utilize it fully.

Good room breakfast and dinner good

The hotel would have scored higher but the rooms wear a little basic. Nevertheless, we had a good time here with lovely food, fabulous gardens and a balcony which meant we could enjoy the mountain air. Close to the tourist attractions and we were able to enjoy a number of these during our brief stay.

A Lot to comment in positive and negative. Negative points to be improved easily with good management decisions. Note: we are foreigner family speaking 4 languages but not Malayalam nor Hindi…this is very important to mention here (some communication issues).
First thing first: we spent 5 nights in the premise, which is enough to elaborate an equilibrated review, and we rent during this occasion 2 rooms.
1) Reaching the hotel, a picture conform to our expectation with a location nested into the forest (cloudy mornings filled with birds songs and silhouette rain forest trees ..lovely).
2) Access : road is narrow and prudence is required if you come with your own vehicle of unexperienced taxi. Given the slope rate and some sleepy sections, avoid to come with Tuktuk after your excursion if you are family with kids ..reception proposed us for excursion start toward city a tuktuk..does not make sense for family of 4..very heavy for tuktuk and unsafe.
3) Checking in is smooth and personal helped with luggages. A very quick introduction is delivered and a sheet of papers summarizing some trips for the near protected park managed by government rangers.

4) Excursions (TRIPS): we were told for booking go to the city and get to the ranger government location..we did or we tried …but as foreigner some tuktuk never understood what we asked for and had to go back to the hotel:
To avoid this conversation “ where is the government entity ?” response “In the city”, where ? “in the city”, where in the city ? “Thekadi” , Q: “where Tekadi ??” ..no response..since there is no address on the sheet of paper.. after insisting..”ah it s at the junction..” Q “which junction which street ???”… finally they called a car driver and explained him we wanted to get to the ranger office.

We noticed that 95% of guests were from India, some come with their own vehicle, for them all easy since there is no language barrier, we can feel this proportion as the staff sometime forget that we do not have local phone number or data plan… luckily some ladies at front desk do their best to help such as miss Jody.

Among hotel activity you can enjoy cooking demo…interesting as we are foodies but..the cook is a bit too silent and just add ingredients without explanation..that was an occasion to laugh and share with other local guests.
Traditional dancing: nice but a bit sad since there was a single dancer in murky underground.
Kids toy area: outdated stuff mostly broken ..can feel aging things
Tea/coffee time 4-5 very pleasant in the park, as well as fire at night.

5) Rooms are large and in good shape. However for a “resort” fridge totally empty no snack no drinks.. If you fancy a fresh beer like I do that’s not the place..no license in this establishment. WIFI totally lagging and several power outages experienced
6) Food : Dinner
We love Indian food, but the dinner was terrible the first day, low quality not well cooked and soggy poppas, chapati etc..all the buffet was the same.
Breakfast was ok…but for 5 days: unmatured papaya proposed while we were in full pineapple season.. Dosa ok but not well prepared like outside of the resort
Tried the “a la carte”: was not good either…and don’t even venture like my son for chicken burger.. was definitely not chicken .
I spotted a rat at breakfast time in the restaurant rushing along the wall and hiding behind chef bar.. I did not want to make a fuss as the room was full of people and just notified discreetly to the young chef who was there… I noticed he called a colleague with an uncomfortable smile. I understand we are in the middle of a forest and rat may have sneaked in easily.. not a big issue for me but some ladies won’t like it.

SPA Section:
Kids massage: daughter super Happy
Lady Ayurvedic Massage: Madam happy but mentioned deco ultra basic not like nice hotels we had experienced before ..very simple room, again outdated furniture and not renovated according to Ayurveda luxury massage experience.

Swimming pool is there: at weather temperature which is vivifying for me (un-tempered), but too cooled for others as I have seen. There is a room to add a little gym and even jakuzi would enhance greatly the experience..even outdoor. No or too little for exercising not in the culture as it seems.

Overall impression is mitigated but definitely much lower than overall previous reviews written. It looks like a resort but it is not.