By

July 21, 2019

Villas in Goa bring together a bundle of expectations. While privacy, personalized itinerary, and an idyllic holiday are some of the more rosy expectations, lack of 24x7 quality service and longer turn around times to ad-hoc requests can often prove to be the damper.

When I booked the stay at Summertime with my family, comprising of parents, siblings and a hard-to-handle toddler, I tried to get everyone prepared for the offbeat holidaying experience, which I so love but cannot expect the same out of every other traveller.

Our 3 nights at Summertime proved that there was little I should have been concerned about. With an amazing 12.5 meters long pool, deep enough for a good workout and small enough for leisurely fun being an obvious highlight, there were 3 other aspects that really added a special touch for all us, making the holiday one of the best we’ve ever had as a family together.

Firstly, the accommodation itself. When you book a stay at a home-stay, seldom do you expect that the owners have the same taste as yours. Add to that the attention to each and every single detail showcases the love that has gone into the property, one which is felt throughout all elements of our holiday. With large rooms, humongous baths, elegant & comfortable furnishing, the place transports you to a vacation of your dreams.

Secondly, the rules. When you book a holiday and one of the first things you receive is a list of do’s and don’ts at the property, it tempers your expectations a great deal. However, once you arrive at the place and make yourself at home (literally), you realize the value of those rules and why that is critical in making sure all guests get the best of their stay. Smoking outside, separate plastic glasses for beverages by the pool, and a set menu are meant to ensure safety, cleanliness, and order for all and is certainly something that we appreciated during our stay.

Lastly and most importantly, the staff. The team of Vaibhav, Prakash and Dinesh are warm, prompt, friendly and ever available for literally all your needs. What impressed me most was the promptness with which the staff would, on their own, run to remove all our clothes from the pool area whenever the showers would begin or even clean the floor up to avoid our toddler-in-chief eating banned items off the floor.

Last but not the least, a special word for the owners and Nora, the chief-everything-officer for our stay. All our concerns, apprehensions and requests were promptly and effectively looked into and they were able to establish a deep trust factor, which unfortunately is largely missing from the industry today.

On behalf of my family, I sincerely thank the Owners, Vardhan their son, Nora, Dinesh, Vaibhav and Prakash for a wonderful stay and look forward to planning another odyssey to Summertime.