KSHETRA RETREAT

Had one of the worst experiences. Rooms were not cleaned and it had multiple stains in the linen. This place doesnt have few basic amenities such as Hot water, mirror in bathroom, Waterbottle nor drinking glass, wifi and basic hygeine. It was new years eve and we booked this place through third party website and the host charged us 12k per night which was absolutely not worth the price we paid. Would not recommend this place. Not a single person was there from the management side/ staff to attend to any of our needs and in fact even at the time of check out no one was present and we had to just leave the keys at the receiption area while we were checking out.

I have attended the New Year's Eve party at KSHETRA RETREAT, and unfortunately, it was a night filled with disappointment and frustration. I had high expectations for a memorable celebration, but the event fell far short of delivering a satisfactory experience. In addition to that the hype they showed on posters and Instagram post was too much missleading.

The most significant letdown of the night was the DJ party, which was touted as a highlight of the event. However, the music selection was subpar, and the DJ failed to create an energetic and engaging atmosphere. The beats were monotonous, and it seemed like the DJ lacked the skill to read and adjust the playlist accordingly. The overall vibe of the party suffered tremendously, and it felt more like a dull gathering than a New Year's Eve celebration.

Adding to the disappointment was the complete lack of support from the staff, as I found there wasn't any worthful performance despite bringing it to the attention of the staff, there was no immediate effort to rectify the situation. The staff appeared indifferent to the concerns that we have raised, displaying a lack of professionalism and customer service. It was disheartening to witness such apathy, especially during a special event like New Year's Eve.

Furthermore, the overall organization of the event left much to be desired. The venue was so pathetic very less people gathered there and place was a small courtyard without sufficient space to move around comfortably. The lack of sufficient amenities and refreshments added to the discomfort, creating a less-than-pleasant environment for guests.

In conclusion, my experience at KSHETRA RETREAT's New Year's Eve party was extremely disappointing. The underwhelming DJ performance, coupled with the lack of support from the staff, made for a memorable evening in all the wrong ways. I would caution anyone considering attending future events at this venue to manage their expectations accordingly.

Not sure where to start with.

First thing first don’t come to this property seeing the pictures. In reality it is worst than what you imagine. You cannot fit in this property under any ratings. It is mere lodge to say which needs serious improvements on all fronts.

Firstly to begin with … Since were running late and it was past 2pm, we give them a call to inform them. Wait their number won’t work for whatever reasons. We had to search online and try all possible numbers to finally get a call back from one great staff of Kshetra. The staff rudely states that they don’t have any booking under my name. Next the staffs points it out on me for getting the booking done through Agoda. Next, he states that they don’t take any booking from Agoda anymore and just hung up on me. In shock I give him a call to recheck and explain our situation and to tell him that I do have the email confirmation from Agoda for prompt payment and bookings. They he In his rude best suggests me to give a call to Agoda customer care. Agoda customer personnel had their standard responses and confirmed that onus is on us and not on them and they will not bother to take responsibility for customers and that they are mere vendors who hosts rooms on their website. They given some ticket No which they will follow up and get back to us in 48 hours. I quickly tell the personnel that, but my booking is for only one day. By the time you respond I might leave Varkala… We were so worried as to where are we going to stay that night in Varakala. So I try giving Kshetra guy a call to inform the scenario. He wouldn’t pick up the call at all. After good 15 mins of turmoil and putting customer under undue pressure, the Kshetra guy informs me that – Sir, booking is okay, you don’t worry okay, we will do something, you don’t worry, we will do something’.

Little did we know what will follow… Contactless check in which no one bothers to appreciate here because it’s the last service expected from this LODGE. One uncleaned, badly spelling room with, unwashed blankets, curtains and okayish basic toilet was allocated. We quickly asked him are you kidding why this room is allocated…and we were told this is the only one available. We as a customer felt duped that night. No hot water either. If you need you have to walk all the way upto the reception desk which will not have anyone… then after waiting for 15mins you will have to place the request for hot water and they after half an hour one medium size bucket of hoy water which has to be shared with all that guest in one room. No towels will be given until you ask for it. But don’t dare to use the towel that will again be unwashed… Don’t dare to touch the screen on windows you will get bitten by spiders and other insects.walls hade pungent smell and there were termites on wooden work… if you dare to open the windows you will see beer bottles, all age old wastes dumped for Kshetra customers to see and understand the vintage property and its legacy. We are not done, you cannot have good sleep, why? Bed bugs.they bite you all night for you to wait for dawn to leave the vintage property of Kshetra.

Mind you we did not pay any peanuts for that room. We have paid just like anyone else who might have booked rooms for a year end trip to Varkala. You all know how much the rates will go during the week of Christmas up until the new year.

Words can't describe how glad our team is to visit Kshetra Retreats during Xmas. From start to end the entire experience was amazing. The distance to cliff from the stay is hardly 100 mtrs and this location is marvelous. They have a lot of paintings and courtyard to relax and unwind. Spontaneous and prompt service with a welcoming attitude. Cleanliness and sense of responsibility is really good too. Really helpful staff and good ambience for the stay.

I stayed here with my friends couple of months back. It is located near the cliff, walking distance. Really friendly and attentive staff. The place needs a little maintenance but apart from that, it's a great place to chill. Plenty of hangout spaces inside. We enjoyed the stay.

My ayurveda treatment was in the same building so stayed here longer than I would have liked. Room and bathroom is in bad shape, walls peeling off, mouldy smell in the room, only one charging point and wasn't working, after asking a couple times fixed the next day. Not even one day anyone came for cleaning or got new linens on their own, i had to ask one day out of the 4 days to clean my room atleast. What made the experience worse was the behaviour of staff, Jijo was the only guy who spoke properly, "Sham" was so rude and spoke very agressively, no manners at all, most staff don't understand English or Hindi so communication is a big problem too.
THE SCAM PART: I was quoted the rent WITH TAXES when i had come to see the room, during checkout when i asked for invoice, Jijo said i would get it later by evening on mail but never received, when i checked later the manager who was rude and not helpful at all throughout had the audacity to say that i needed to pay 12% extra to get an invoice! As a single woman i didn't even feel comfortable there, totally skip it. I moved to another place very close from there and it was 10x better quality at half the price of this so pls look around and save your money and vacation.

We are overwhelmed to experience a wonderful hospitality during our visit to Kshetra. We really appreciate for all the efforts that your team have put to do the excellent arrangements. Right from the beginning everything was just perfect. The staff's were really well-behaved and friendly.
Well, infrastructure looks really attractive, rooms are super clean. We loved the book collections the early morning yoga sessions. Homely meals and the calm ambience makes it just perfect.

You can mention the following code while booking offline/ oncall for special discount.
Code: designer_ antara

Guys don't think twice, just go for it.

Kshetra Retreat is so good, if you are looking for a stay in Varkala. We travelled as a group of 12 guests. Its a calm and good property with amazing ambience and the host Manjulal is very friendly he makes sure you feel comfortable at all times. This property ticks all the boxes from breakfast to the service and the rooms are very well maintained. The staffs are very friendly I don’t remember even one instance where they said no to any of our requests. Better hospitality than a star hotel for a very affordable price with no flaws to nitpick about.

Very worst. No respect for guests. Never treat guests as human. Please no one come here. Worst experience. If u all need a peaceful trip please don't come to this kshetra.

Amazing secluded place to stay in Peace.
The breakfast is so homely you feel connected with.
Abhilash and Jijo being the best host and arranging auto/bike for rentals.
I’m in love with this place and Varkala

Worst stay
No proper maintenance
No good breakfast is provided
No hot water
No bucket for bathing
Rooms are not clean
They are collecting tax amount but they are not giving GST bill
They are making a huge fraud

Peaceful resort to stay with family and friends at affordable rates.very clean and arranged rooms.

The photos they shows on the website does not match with the real ambience of the property. The place in the photo shown to us seem to be really clean and neat and also calming but in real it is very dirty. There is no tv, no toileteries, no proper road, no hot water, no restaurant. There is a bad smell inside the room. The place is full of garbage scattered around. I don't recommend this place personally.

One of the best ambient hotel. Their service and rooms good. People are more friendly service. And also location near to the beach. Need little maintenance otherwise everything is good. If you really like ambient and peacefully atmosphere definitely go for it.

We decided to stay in Varkala for 3 days but ended up staying for more than a week. All of this goes to the beautiful property and the staffs. The property is beautifully maintained. You get budget rooms with spacious room and good bed. A perfect place for workation too where you wind up the day by taking a beautiful coastal walk to the North cliff. I had one of the best vacations and best Onam I could think of in a long time. Hope to visit Varkala soon and definitely stay in Kshetra Retreats again.

The team meet the needs enjoyed our time there @ Varkala. Wonderfull team.good service.food @center coutyard was awesome.saw a lot of foreigners staying for Ayurveda @ kshetra retreat.lovely time.

# Kshetra# The ambience was very good, We have took a group of 140 members to Varkala. Room was neat and clean. Maintainence was superb. They issued a good, cleaned kitchen for cooking and all of them in the property guided well and helped in all ways.
Since we are new to the place, they treated us like a family member. Surely will visit soon with many groups.safe property for all. Thank you for your excellent Hospitality.

Cliff is my kind of place. Always good wibes. I have gone there 4 times in toto but my stay was always average or poor.
Kshetra retreat has finally ended my search for an awesome, peacefull and affordable stay so close to the cliff. Other places of stay had poor service almost unfinished flooring and bathrooms and me and my gf was really concerned about the fact that we are not getting a good stay near to the cliff.

Yaa but finally we found paradise and home. Kshetra retreat is the one.
Hats off

If you're looking for a convenient stay with a good relaxation, by the beach, away from crowd, with a decent fare, then Kshetra Retreats should be the one topping your list of resorts for stay at Varkala.
Situated on the North cliff, this place offers a beautiful courtayrd for relaxation. The owner of this property is very friendly with the customers and builds a good rapport with them and genuinely communicates with them.
This place offers spacious rooms
There is a facility for breakfast provided, consisting of bread toast, coffee/tea, fruit salad and a main course dish such as idli/dosa/puttu/idiyappam and they were extremely delicious, given the fact that you don't easily find a South Indian cuisine elsewhere on the cliff!
Overall, a very good resort for a short duration stay with friends and family, while visiting Varkala.

Beautiful ambience. Unique place to stay️. Loved their hospitality. Fully recommended to stay.

It was nice experience staying there. The place has very good scenic beauty with big Nadumuttam and Lotus ponds. Rooms were good and ambience is commendable.

Kshetra Retreat is as good as it gets if you are looking for a stay in Varkala. Its has a beautiful courtyard and paintings on wall and the host Manjulal is very friendly he makes sure you feel comfortable at all times. This property ticks all the boxes from breakfast to the service and the rooms are very well maintained. The staffs are very friendly I don’t remember even one instance where they said no to any of our requests. Better hospitality than a star hotel for a very affordable price with no flaws to nitpick about.

Gave 2 stars as staff there was polite.

Location is okish and road leading to is very narrow.
Cliff is few minutes walk.

The rooms shown are soo different than in pics here. It can be a good place for bachelors to stay but not for families. Rooms seem really old and had cigarette smell all over.
Staff did mention rooms were vacant since couple days yet cigarette smell isn’t acceptable.

We had a non refundable booking on MMT but Decided not to stay here as place wasn’t like what we expected after reading reviews.

Edit: for the owners response below:

1: If we left within an hour despite having a non-refundable booking, That shows our expectations were different than portrayed here in reviews.
2: Your place is great for bachelors not for family.

3: Regarding grudge (Which you mentioned about) : If i really had one, iI would have put one star and gave all negative feedback. Really don't care about loosing 2-3k when we know place isn't worth to stay back.

The stay was good mainly because of the amazing staffs (Jijo + Shaheen). They're always at your service, very well spoken, polite and always trying to help you out! I remember it was a rainy night when I came first to Kshetra, but had to go out for dinner to the cliff, the roads were submerged in water already due to rains, and I didn't know the way also, Jijo came and dropped me to the helipad area so that it's easy for me to explore. Whenever we needed a scooter, Jijo quickly sorted it out and in fact we got a very new scooter to explore things around. My travel partner, who happens to be an expat here, was elated to see French books in my room and happily finished one of those. So overall it was a good experience!

Never and ever book this. Better to sleep in car itself than bookin this.
Looks more like cooked up reviews
Worst experience.
Foul smell inside rooms.
Unclean.
Full of spiders and frogs inside.
Nothing.
Total waste of money.
They were not ready to give refund for 1 room even after we didn't use 1 room due to foul and awkward smell.
Worstest experience

It’s just simply wow! Such an amazing stay, Rooms are spacious and relaxing and staff were very friendly. Highly recommended place, do visit and enjoy your vacay

Good ambience, clean room, Very friendly staff, Very close to beach n restaurants.
Had a wonderful time here.