I keep saying I will not pay too much attention to the comments on tripadvisor but always look before I travel! Once again, it seems from other reviews I have my own opinion. Having been to Goa and stayed at one of the "better" hotels which had rooms like prison cells, I did not expect much from this other "Third World" country but I was astonished! The hotel and my room would warrant four stars in any Med. destination. We were warned about building work, but it was all out of site of the main areas of the hotel and amde little or no noise at all.
Lots has been said about how good the staff are, clean towels every day and so on so I will just add my confirmation on those subjects. Instead, let me give you some tips about the place. Outside the hotel, you will be met by a bewildering array of taxi and Toot-Toot (Rickshaw - basically a motorised, covered motor bike affair) drivers, all wanting your business. Like everything else, there are good and bad amongst them. I suggest you ask for Vikram who I found to be amongst the cheapest, completely reliable in that he will always meet you when and where he says he will, and totally honest (my wife left her purse in his vehicle and when we got back, he had kept it for her with not one rupee missing).
For food, don't eat in the hotel. The food;s OK but it's too expensive compared to outside and your money goes into the hands of a corporation instead of the local people. Just out the back of the hotel on the beach is the Samudra Sands who do a mean Pineapple pancake and excellent food or a trip into Lighthouse Beach (75 rupees each way) will leave you spoilt for choice but having tried them all, I would recommend the Coconut restaurant as the best quality food. Molly's up the road from the hotel does English food (well Cottage and Shepherd's pie anyway) and offers a Sunday Roast, but like the rest of the coutry, the beef is a bit chewy - chicken seems to be the staple diet unless you like fish.
Also at Lighthouse Beach at the lighthouse end just before the long parade of shops start is a little clothing stall run by Johnny Boy. Trust him, he's a good bloke, but check the prices at Trivandrum market first - Tuesdays and Saturdays are best and Vikram will take you there, wait for you and bring you back all for 300 rupees!
Don't have a Massage in the hotel either - they wanted 15 000 rupees for a session whereas the doctor who works in a small clinic just by the Samudra Sands and who USED to work at the hotel, charges 1 000 for exactly the same thing!
Shop around for currency conversion. Not worth it for a few quid but if you want to change up a bit, the hotel offered 80 to the pound and I found lots of other places at the same time offering different rates up to a high of 87.8 which, for £100, is almost £10 difference!
Finally, I say I prefer Goa simply because it's been touristified a bit longer. I don't mean it's got to the Watney's Red Barrel and Fish & Chips yet, but you get bars with music, Karaoke, or even CD's playing in the background. In Kerala, there's nothing like that. Alcohol is technically forbidden, although as a tourist, you are served it gladly at any restaurant, but there are no bars as such and no entertainment other than the rubbish they put on at the hotel.
Hope you found this useful? Have a great holiday!

Having read previous reviews( October), I arrived with some trepidation! The hotel is at present 3 star, but extensions currently being carried will improve the hotel and earn 4 stars. The works are at the stage where they should not cause problems if you stay there.
Try and stay in the exotica or honeymoon rooms which are the newest, the hotel seems to be always full and you may have to insist you have the room you booked!! Bear in mind this is India,you need to be persistent!!
Now is the best time to stay as the wet season has just finished, it is not too hot and "mozzies" are not around.
Restaurant is ok,generally buffet and Indian food but if you ask they will do excellent fish lobster and tiger prawns.There are also restaurants on the beach adjacent, which also will do good fish.
Staff are very friendly, rooms are well cleaned as is resort ,(ignore previous comments)

Having just returned from a wonderful 2 weeks holiday at the hotel I cannot stress that for Indian resorts it is really very good. The staff were excellant, nothing to much trouble, always very helpful and very friendly from the time you arrive. Food was good and if the buffet did not have your requiremnet the a la carte menu came up with some very good alternatives, if that was not to your liking just ask and it was there. The room we had was perfect and very clean, everyday clean sheets and towels and the room and bathroom washed through and left smeling really fresh, housekeeping and service for hairdryer, and any other requirement to the room was excellant also kettle and all tea and coffee making facilities were kept up together every day, you could always have a drink at no expense. Free morning paper at your door each morning was a bonus. Also the pool and poolboys are really good, with free towels on the sunbeds.
The beach was very interesting as the local fishermen brought their catch in every morning, it was a joy to watch as the spirits of these men was high everyday even if the catch was poor. Also Lawrence at the Sea Gull resturant/bar, just a few yards across the beach, is very well worth a visit, the hospitality and food is just great with very very reasonable price, although the hotel is also verry very good on prices, no rip off.
Go there and enjoy a lovely relaxed holiday.

After 3 trips to goa, thought we would have a holiday in Kerela, the flight by First Choice was a ggod start (plenty of Legroom), normal indian airport chaos, but arrived at 0630am, room was ready, so had a sleep and then started to explore,
The Hotel is on a beach, but the beach is SO small and there is a large sea defence wall, also the fishermen are on the beach every day, so the pool was the answer, the pool boys where very helpful and we made good friends, the hotel is struggling to cope with the tourists, and at times can seem to be very rude.
BUT we wanted a chill out holiday and this place is perfect, eat in the shacks on the beach not the hotel, breakfast was varied but always the same!
There are power cuts most days, the rooms are clean but basic.
We really enjoyed our time at kerala and plan to go back soon.
Taxis are cheap and the lighthouse beach is nearby (Main Shopping Area). Kelera is a DRY state, drinks are available but come wrapped in paper!
Sea food is amazing, all in all a interesting holiday, we cannot wait to go backi

To summarise the review below, this hotel is filthy, unhygienic and is a health hazard. It is billed as a 4-star property, but comes nowhere close.

Stayed at hotel in October 2006. We arrived at midnight and were informed us our room would be an EXOTICA room and not a deluxe room as per schedule. Hotel claimed EXOTICA would be better quality.

We were checked in to room 503. Shower curtain covered in black mould,1 towel only which left a lot to be desired. Sheets, pillows, bedcover damp and badly stained,bed quilt underside covered in damp mould. This room we said was totally unacceptable.

We were then moved to room 101. We were very tired by this point, so felt no option other than to accept it. The bathroom was of a very poor standard - no hot water, no sink plug, stained shower curtain, 2 towels grey instead of white (they had clearly been white at some point in the past...),hair drier flex unsafe. The whole room was generally dirty. The bedding was slightly better than room 503, but still was not at all acceptable. The curtains and nets were absolutely filthy; the fridge unhygenic, not connected, rusty and unstable. The waste bins were disgusting, and the hotel literature mouldy and out of date. The windows were also filthy. Nail clippings and hairs were clearly visible on the floor, and old newspapers were covering the bottom of the wardrobe.

At breakfast the following morning we had to search for decent cups as many were cracked, chipped and unclean. We noticed other guests doing the same.

The next morning we complained to the Manageress. She said other rooms could be viewed just after 10 am. NOTHING CAME OF THIS.

We then spoke to another guest who had had a similar experience. She had resorted to sleeping on her own personal towels, and said that she was relocating to another hotel.

Thankfully, following our daughter's intervention back in London, we were moved to the Travancore Heritage hotel (excellent - in a completely different league to the awful Uday Samudra).

This hotel was booked by our travle agent as part of our honeymoon stay in Kerala. We had booked and paid for a sea view room. On arrival we were shown to room 801. It stank of stale urine and mustiness. The vierw was of one of thee building works. The sea was not visible. On explaining our concerns we were told that there were no other rooms available and that the air conditioner would take care of the odour. We removed the bed covers but had to leave the curtains(the source of the smell).
The next day after another complaint we were moved to room 519. Hovever, now along with the same smell we were subjected to hammering and building work from 8am til 8.30pm. A call to the travel agent had us moved to room 611 which finally got us a sea view and was quiet but still smelled of stale urine.
The food was non descript. Chicken tikka masala was definitly not chicken tikka!! Waiters, eager to please removed my plate on two occasions during the week before I had finished my dinner yet I had to wait 10 minutes each evening for to sign for my meal.
There were two pools but one was closed for retiling and the beach was not suitable for bathing as it had polluted sands. Hawkers proliferate just outside the entrance to the beach while taxi men at the entrance charge 200inr for a trip to Kovalam ( the usual price is 30-50 inr)
The hotel caters for airline crew over nighters and the occasional conference, avoid like the plague if you are seeking romance or a sun holiday!!

We also travelled in April (the last two weeks) this year to Kerala, and stayed at this hotel. It was our second trip to Kerala, as the first time had been just after the Tsunami and we felt it deserved a second holiday to enjoy it at its best.

We chose the Uday Samudra because it was such an excellent deal for the flight and the accomodation - It looked like a nice hotel, it was FAR cheaper than most of the other package holidays to Kerala at the time, (eclipsedirect - the online version of First Choice Holidays) and we felt that it offered a good balance between a good standard of hotel with a pool, and being close enough to the local Lighthouse Beach for other restaurants. We were right.

We too have travelled a lot and stayed in hotels in many many countries around the world -but at the end of the day you can't spend your whole holiday trying to compare one hotel to another in a totally different country and bemoaning the fact that its not like somewhere else - the whole point of travelling is to see new places, enjoy new cultures and take the diversity as you find it. It would be a boring world if everywhere you stayed was exactly the same.

It isn't the most glamorous or the most exotic hotel we've ever stayed in - but then again its certainly not the worst or even one of the 'it'll do" types. It was a great value hotel, with good facilities, a very nice pool area, good standard rooms and polite friendly staff and we enjoyed it as much as we have anywhere else.

The food in the hotel restaurants was absolutely fine - plenty to choose from and always a good variety of indian dishes whether you chose from the good value buffet menu, or from the al a carte. The evening entertainment was good - we enjoyed an excellent Kathakali performance one evening, and another night we had two wonderful musicians who played along in the background whilst we ate good curries and enjoyed the music.

There was a lot to choose from at the breakfast buffet, whether you wanted something a little more plain like eggs on toast, or a fresh omlette made to order, fruit or were happy to try out a curry for breakfast - something for everyone. And whilst the lunchtime pool side restaurant was a little too western for my liking and didn't offer too much off the pizza, chips, burger, (and a very good pakora that seemed to have found its way onto the menu by accident) trail, it satisfied that mid day snack feeling if you had one.

Having said that, there was nothing to stop you getting off your backside and walking 200 yards across the beach to one of a few good indian retaurants that had tables at the sea edgel who offered much more of a choice, all delicious and yes - of course it was cheaper to do that. Have you ever known a hotel restaurant be cheap? Of course this is hardly worth mentioning - when you are talking about the difference between £2.00 and £2.50 - nothing to worry about really.

The beach was more for entertainment value than for sunbathing. It is a fishing beach and most mornings you would see and hear the local fishermen hauling in their catch - this is a fabulous thing to watch - and doesn't really lose its novelty value even after 10 days.

There were a few eagles flying overhead too - lovely to watch - land and sea eagles we were told, but they flew in quite low so you can take lots of great shots of them especially as they swoop near the shallows to try and catch the fish.

We had the same problems regarding the security safe in our room as most of the other reviewers did, and in the end we gave up, and hid anything of value. We had a lovely cleaning boy and our room was spotless every day after he'd been.

As for reserving sunbeds, there were two very nice pool men, who happily sorted anyone out with a sunbed, suntowel and a parasol for shade - they just had to be smiled and waved at, and as if by magic, there was somewhere to lay down - - the pool area is lovely, and very popular - people stayed put from after breakfast to late in the evening just enjoying the weather and the smashing swim up bar area if it got too hot.

If you ran out of reading material, the hotel had a little book 'library' trolley near the pool area which always seemed to have something to read - if you finished something, you just swapped it with something new.

The staff were all very pleasant, smiling, accomodating and friendly. We were treated very well and greeted kindly every time by most, if not all of them.

We did a couple of trips with some friends we met at the airport on our way out, and we organised these directly one with the restaurant at the beach, and the other with the travel operator outside the hotel. One trip was to feed, bathe and wash elephants, and the other to go on the houseboats. These were good value, but I would suggest probably doing the two together rather than splitting them up. The elephants compound is en-route to the backwaters, which we didn't realise until afterwards.

We had airconditioned houseboats and I think this was probably the best idea as it really was hot on those boats. Again, the food was cooked fresh by our own chef and was really delicious. The views and waterways are beautiful, a real snap shot of life, and my only regret is that we didn't take more pens for the children who run along the river side waving and shouting. Whatever you take will never be enough. We also took a small football with us, and threw it to a small boy who was thoroughly giddy to have caught it, and ran around waving it at his friends.... A small part of Kerala will be forever Leeds United :o)

The only downside was probably as it went dark, and the lights came on, and then out came the midges and the mosi's. Remember to take long sleeves with you and plenty of deet.

We caught cheap little rikshaws from outside the hotel into Lighthouse Beach quite a few evenings so that we could catch the sunset and watch the people on the beach as it set, and did a little shopping, and ate in the restaurants there as well. The fresh fish platters are worth every penny.


At the end of the day, we loved our holiday there. We met lots of people at the hotel, and the company of the people we met really made this holiday stand out . There was a friendly vibe to the hotel, and I think this rubbed off on everyone. So thank you to all of you who were there when we were - we enjoyed your company, the hotel and this part of beautiful Kerala.

If the aim of a holiday is to come back tanned, relaxed, happy with the added bonus of new friends - then that's what we did - and I would recommend it to anyone.

After reading so many excellent reviews we were expecting something special. As we used to inspect hotels for a living, we know what to look for and thought so many people couldn't be wrong! I want to re-address the balance so as you know what to expect.
The hotel is OK, it's reasonably well run, but if you are well travelled do not expect it to reach 4* far eastern standards. It doesn't. Cleanliness is iffy in both the rooms and restaurants, and some of the rooms could do with an upgrade (we moved as the one we were allocated stunk!).
Breakfast was alright, but definitely not the special spread you'd think from reading these pages. Even if you ate an hour before it ended you could find empty serving platters and no attempt to refill them. (But food would eventually be brought to you from the kitchen if requested) As I've said before, if you've stayed in good quality hotels before this is nothing out of the ordinary.
There was a lack of sunbeds, and the habit people had of reserving them, even when away for hours sadly continued.
Although the restaurants outside the UDS were OK, they are nowhere as good as we expected - and overpriced. A main course dish could easily cost £2 - £4 - this may appear cheap, but in reality the same dishes were much less elsewhere. They were in general all serving good, fresh, simple food and we only had one poor meal.
The UDS is worth a visit - but this isn't a luxury hotel. Its a good 3*, and if it's your first trip to Kerala and you get it at a good price then go for it.

Hi
We stayed at the uds from the 14th -28th april this year(hello to all those we met and talked to, mr & mrs rat(ricardo & partner, mr & mrs tango(great dancing) the boat family(daughters 18th) and last but not least mr & mrs talk a lot(you know who you are and so does everybody else who stayed there then!!!!)y considereded to be 4* is really the equilivent to our 3*. Perhaps we(english) expect too much. Now on to the uds.We had a really nice welcome(5am ish)of a drink and a painted spot on the forehead. Rooms were spotless and large. The bed was queen or king(only having a double at home, it felt very big) and were by the main pool.We had contacted the hotel direct to up-grade but this was not done,we did not bother to complain as the room was great anyway.The rooms were cleaned every day with fresh sheets and our cleaner was a lovely chap always smiling(like all the indians we met)and very helpful.One time we threw away a cd player as it broke and he called my husband to fill out a consent form to say we had let him have it outher wise he would get the sack(so how the mobile phone dissapeard i don't know)when he left the hotel. we found the breakfast great and catered for all. One waiter would not let us get our own omletts or toast, he insisted on getting them for us.We had several drinks from charlies and they were slow but on holiday who cares!. We also had a meal there 1 night(i was craving burger and chips)but it was in a word crap(but what do i expect wanting english food in india!!!!)but the waters edge resturant next door was fab. The mutton curry(hubby is a butcher) was fantasic so much so we had it for the 1st 4 nights. Sanjay(waters edge) is great for any trips and he is honest, like all the indians we met.Please go the uds it is the most chilled out hol we have every had( through trip advisor we met up with a great couple at gatwick,who we spent most of the 2 weeks with and are now firm friends with. Thank you trip advispr), try it before you knock it.

My husband, 12 year old son and I stayed at the UDS in April this year. This was our first visit to India and we had a fantastic time. The UDS was a lovely hotel and the manager kindly gave us exactly the room we had asked for (nearest the beach and with an extra bed for our son). The room was spacious even with the extra bed and was just right. The staff were polite and helpful and we had none of the problems that some previous reviewers have mentioned. We found the waiters in the restuarants to be extremely attentive and cheerful and the meals we had in the hotel were of a high standard. The breakfast buffet provided a variety of Indian dishes as well as some continental for the less brave! The evening entertainment was excellent and always seemed to draw quite a crowd around the beautifully lit swimming pool area. Just outside the hotel is the beach area where the fishermen can be seen bringing in their catch at various times of the day. This is quite fascinating to watch and listen to! Around the beach area there are a couple of men who sell hand painted cards. These are lovely men and we spent quite a bit of time with one of them, Sanghi, who is a very interesting chap and took us on a beautiful boat trip on a nearby lake. We ate a traditional Kerelan meal on banana skins and saw some passing village life on this lovely trip which only cost around £12. Later on in our stay we went on an overnight backwater trip which we organised through JJ, the waiter from 3rd Rock cafe which is just behind the hotel. This trip was fantastic and is a must for anyone travelling to Kerala. Just remember to get an air con boat but take something warm to wear in bed as it is too hot without the air con but a bit chilly with it (as we only had a sheet on our bed!) Around the hotel the restaurants are all of a high standard - I think our favourite was The Waters Edge where Apoo, the waiter was very friendly and the food delicious. We also liked the 3rd Rock and Samudra Sands. We found the Indian people we met in general to be genuinely nice people and I think this is what made the holiday special. We took a day trips to Trivandrum and also Ponmudi (jungle walk and tea plantation) organised by the hotel taxi service. We found these to be excellent value compared to First Choice's trips which we thought were overpriced. We also took a trip down to Varkala beach which is worth a look at and it more picturesque than Kovalam Lighthouse beach. If this is you first trip to India you will love it. Just be aware that on Lighthouse beach everyone will want to sell you something, especially on your first day when they can spot the newcomers a mile off! For anyone going to UDS you will have a fantastic holiday. Say hello to Sanghi on the beach for me, open your heart and enjoy the journey.

Mandy