We stayed here from 24th Jan - 26th Jan 2008. We didn't have much time & wanted to see what Goa was about. I would recommend to stay longer than 2days. The resort is amazing, really built for relaxation & peace. We had Triple Share option. The room was a good size, the only problem was that we did find insects in the room (cocroaches), the staff came and sprayed the room. The bathroom needs a face lift. The overall appearance of the hotel is wonderful. The grounds are spread out, you can lay under a coconut tree for hours & no one will bother you. The theme nights are good. We only had the opportunity to experience the 'Indian theme night', but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was Great! Sitting on the lawn & enjoying the buffet Indian cusine & being entertained with dancers & fireworks was well worth it. The cocktails are good! They do have happy hours so take advantage of those! The pool is huge & the staff are helpful in every aspect. You have to try the spa - The 'Hot stone Massage" was great! Overall Good stay!

Spent 7 days at the Kenilworth, overall it was a really relaxing week. But to begin with, we got a room of a lower category than booked, i.e. without balcony and moreover on the ground floor where everyone could look into the room, as the footpath to one of the main entries was just in front of the room. After complaining, we were offered a luxury tent or a room with balcony from the second day onwards. Although the tents look quite well equipped, we decided to take a balcony room on the second floor. The view was into the adjacent garden, quite nice, but there was noise from trucks mostly until 10 PM. The toilet flush didn't work, but it was fixed next day without the need to report. Also, two defunct light bulbs were replaced without us having to complain. We got accustomed to the room and soon felt at home, as the beds were very comfortable, there was a coffee maker with daily replenished selection of coffee and excellent tea. Mineral water was delivered daily. The housekeeping did a really good job and it was always a pleasure to enter the clean and tidied up room. There was no ironing board in the room, however the directory indicated one would be delivered on demand. Air-condition good. Laundry service very good, same day re-delivery without surcharge. The television was ok, at least CNN was available, but not BBC. The bathroom amenities were fine. No daily newspaper, but one neighbouring room always had a fresh newspaper, possibly a special arrangement? Note: In the coffee shop there is a selection of local newspapers.

The Beach: The hotel is located at the beach, in a distance of about 300 meters mandatory in Goa. The beach is quite clean, only few stray dogs, and the usual peddlers asking five times the market price. Beach shacks are plenty offering good food. The "little Moscow" directly to the left when you exit the hotel is ok, the tenant very friendly and the tiger prawns good, but actually not cheap, 300 Rupees per prawn, and you can rest on the sun beds free of charge.

The Surroundings: There are some small shops just outside the hotel and also a dentist with very modern facilities. Taxis are outside the hotel and you can bargain. A round trip to Margao should not cost more then 250 rupees.

The Food: There is mostly a main buffet in the garden, but if you have booked half board as we had, you are only admitted to the “side” buffet at the coffee shop, unless you pay a surplus of about 550 Rupees. For breakfast you get eggs on demand, scrambled, sunny side up, omelette. that's fine, but the choice of real crusty bread and cheese is really disappointing. However in general, the Indian food is good or some even delicious, specially the vegetables, less the meat. At dinner there was live Indian classical music sometimes, but that was disturbed by incredible noisy techno sounds from the beach, due to a conference organized by the hotel.

The Pool and the Spa: The pool said to be the largest in Goa, it is really very nice and clean, the setting beautiful, actually, it consists of two pools and one jacuzzi, all on different levels. The Spa is modern, relaxing and very clean, we had Ayurvedic massage that was good but rather expensive, high taxes are added on all rates of the Spa! The pool and spa attendance is excellent and the towel service perfect.

The Infrastructure: Although the infrastructure as a whole is on a high level compared to the Indian average, there are some details to point our - there is no real kiosk selling things like cigarettes or newspapers, but a shop that sells postcards for 10 rs that is a good price, the foreign exchange rates offered by the hotel are fair and realistic, do not hesitate to change Euros or USD. There is a Disco/Casino that was mostly deserted, except for one or two slot machine players. I won 300 INR at a slot machine. The Kashmir shop has beautiful items and, even though prices appear high, you could get some value for money, as the items are of fairly good quality, there are some beautiful ornaments for sale I unfortunately couldn’t afford.

The Garden: The garden is beautiful, although not so lush as the incredibly green garden of the neighbouring Majorda resort, but still outstanding. It is groomed every day and the friendly garden workers greeted us when we walked by. The architecture of the walking paths is not very efficient and it takes a few days to find out which path leads to which place. The birds - the craws - at sunset are a nuisance and should be expelled by example explosives (they do that in the Majorda), and just a detail, there are no hamacas.

The Staff: I must say the staff is the real star of this hotel, so much friendliness, respect and helpfulness we felt to be upright and not just because we pay a lot for the stay. However, the English of some employees could improve, but instead, they are learning Russian to please the many Russian guests.

Some Excursions: We went to Margao, also called "Bombay of Goa", yes it is a bit crowded. The "tourist vehicle" cost us 250 INR for the roundtrip. I recommend to go to Angelas coffee shop (near the very centre, the red Municipality building), which is a simple coffee shop but very relaxing and friendly, they also have a collection of up to date newspapers. In Margao you will also see some really disadvantaged beggars, you may give some consideration. Another excursion lead us to Paradise Beach (Palolem) about one hour by car, this is a "secret" hint, it's one of the nicest places I've seen in India, We paid 1500 Rupees for a round trip of about 6 hours, a reasonable price. The beach is beautiful, clean, the Ocean calm, I recommend the Titanic restaurant that also serves exquisite Mexican food, and occasionally, a cow walks along the beach. Of course, there are peddlers but they are quite relaxed. On the way back from Palolem to Utorda we visited Cabo da Rama - except the view, not really spectacular, what a pity not more attention is paid to history, the canons just lie on the ground and are rusting away. Dabolim Airport: Smokers, be aware that there is no smoking facility at the airport, they take away your lighter at the security check and thereafter, smoking is prohibited anywhere.

Spent a blissful 5 days at the Kenilworth, Loved every moment in this great Hotel. To start off, the timing was perfect. Goa in the end of September was Bright and Sunny with an occasional shower thrown in. South Goa, were the Kenilworth is located was deserted and bereft of the hordes of Tourists.(North Goa- Calangute, Baga etc were crowded and happening). The Check in at the Kenilworth was a breeze, Selza at the reception showed us to our rooms which was spacious and ready (the bottle of complementary port wine and Cashew nuts were an apology though, 200ml of local wine and 100 grams of Cashew nuts ).
The cuisine at the buffet was varied though primarily Indian and Goan. The food was good and not too spicy and even my 5 year old Son enjoyed the food.We went on an all inclusive plan and it was a good idea as at this time of the year there are no beach shacks and the location of the hotel is pretty away from civilization.
The Gardens were immaculate, The swimming pool fabulous with all kinds of depths suitable for even young children( we spent a bulk of our time in this massive pool).Ask for Charles if you want swimming lessons, he is a pro.
We were especially pampered at the SPA which is good (being our anniversary, Theresa, the guest relations manager sent us a complementary cake and discount coupons to the spa which we duly availed. )
On the flip side though, There were no activities for children, The video game arcade was an apology and largely non functional.
Internet prices were a scream, at this level WIFI should be free and not Rs 225/- per hour, the prefixed local tour was not to look forward to and they should have more option viz. a beach tour, or a religious tour or a shopping tour.A word of caution though, a mafia like taxi stand operates from just outside the gates who would not let any other taxi person enter the premises. We managed to contact Luis from Colva who drives a 8 seater Innova and is a jovial and most helpful.
All in all great for Families coming without a loaded agenda and planning to just unwind and laze around.

We just got back from one week stay at the Kenilworth Hotel in Goa.

The hotel, can't be faulted. There was building work going on at the hotel but this did not affect our stay.

We arrived at the hotel and was greeted by the receptionist with drinks.

We checked in which took about two mins and then were showed to our room.

As soon as they opened the bedroom door - we had a smile on our face. We had a delux room which was well decorated and very spacious. It had it's own private vendor. The bathroom was very spacious and clean too.

We were shown round the hotel, they had a gym, a room which has a bar, disco and casino - very modern decorated and we spent a couple of nights in there as it had a great atmosphere.

They had a indoor games room which had playstations, ice hockey and machine games - all of which you could play at a small price,

There was a restuarant in the resort - the prices we're cheap but it was cheaper to eat out.

They were building a large swimming pool but the original one was still in use and so was the jacuzzi.

The staff at the hotel were very customer focused at there wasn't anything they wouldn't do for you.

The beach was 50 meters from the hotel - in the hoilday season there are normally shacks open on the beach but at the time we went there they were not open as of yet.

One the beach there was a shack / restuarant called Zeebops - great place - only a 3 min walk from the hotel and much cheaper.

The hotel arranged a half day tour to take us around Goa - the tour was for 7 hours and was amazing. They took us to Old Goa, to a a temple, to a special wine shop and then sent us on a cruise for a hour. We had an amazing time.

There are taxi's just outside the hotel which are all part of the resort and will take you anywhere you want at anytime.

We went into Margoe (the city) which only cost 300 rupees in the taxi and had a great meal there for about 400 rupees for both of us. There were shops there too - very busy but you could buy most things there. We exhanged our money in Margoe as it was a better rate than at the hotel.

There are many dogs walking around Goa but they were all very friendly. Nothing to worry about.

If you do go to Goa then I would advise you to stay at the Kenilworth, as it's a amazing hotel, clean, spacious, has everything in the resort so you don't actually have to go out if you don't want to. It's THE place to truly relax.