As a group of six, we booked three rooms for xmas 2011 at the 'luxury' resort of Soul Vacation in Colva, Goa

As advertised, the 'resort' is set in beautiful tropical gardens arranged around the pool comprising approx 10 villas with typically 4 rooms in each - so far so good

We arranged for two taxis to pick our group up from Goa airport and were met by two courteous and cheerful drivers who loaded our luggage and drove us the 25 minute ride from airport to hotel

On arrival at 11pm on the Friday before xmas, we were a little disappointed to find that the bar and restaurant was closed, there was no room service and the place appeared to be deserted..... No matter, we walked the five minutes or so into town and found lots of venues that were capable of resolving our hunger and thirst

The rooms - built, according to the bar man, approximately ten years ago, have had no significant sums spent on them since construction - far from luxurious, they can best be described as adequate..... Think mouldy shower areas, rickety cupboards and grubby sinks and you will start to get the picture. Unfortunately, dated and mouldy isn't the worst of it..... Our aircon didn't work for 3 of the 4 nights (its 35degC in Goa in Dec - you need good aircon!) we stayed there and when it did it was noisy and inadequate, the 'flat' screen tv (not a particularly important feature of the room for us) was a 1990's CRT rather than an LCD or Plasma that you normally associate with the term 'flat'. The bed was a small double by modern hotel standards, and was reasonably comfortable, but unfortunately, the poly cotton linens were dire and the duvet and pillows were of the spongy synthetic type from a bygone era

The pool - at a distance and per the website photographs looked really appealing, in reality, the water was cloudy to the point that we didn't put anything other than our feet in it - we didn't see it cleaned for the four days that we stayed and not a hint of chlorine or other sterilisation was evident

The restaurant - realistically a breakfast only venue provided very limited fare -basically a choice of two fruits, pineapple juice, an omelette or a vegetarian curry - all very good (especially the omelette), but where was the orange juice, dosa's, indian breads, yoghurts, pastries, scrambled or other eggs, cheeses, cold meats and so on that are normally to be found in a 'luxury' establishment

So to conclude - Soul Vacation is in a good location, has lovely friendly staff and can muster up a half decent cappuccino at breakfast when the machine is working (that'll be extra though), and if you paid approximately £50 a night for your room you may feel that it was reasonable experience - if you were expecting a luxury or boutique hotel and paid £150 a room as we did, you are going to be fairly disappointed

Even though 'Soul Vacation' didn't meet expectations, please don't be put of visiting Colva - it is a simple and rustic beachside town with a wonderful vibe, great bars and restaurants and lovely people - check out the boomerang bar with its fantastic tandoor, delicious breads and resident masseur.....superb!

on arrival at the hotel the first thing I noticed was the reception area which is not even 3 star. My gut feeling was that this is not what I had read in the trip advisor reviews. The welcome was medico and for the price of 10000 rupees a night was not what I expected. We were left to our own devices while they prepared our room. We stayed in the pool area which is small but had to find someone to get us a drink - very slack service. The room was nice and spacious and this is really the only positive thing I have to say. At breakfast the next morning I was shocked to be told that I had to pay for a coffee. I had to go to the reception and complain.The buffet was the worst I have seen in any hotel in this price bracket. Even the coffee maker had a bit of sellotape holding it together. The spa area was quite nice and the staff were helpful. I could go on and on about what a let down it was but on a final note Colva is a dirty manic place where people try to rip you off. It is nothing like the kindness and politeness of Patnem , Agonda and Palolem. I would not go back to this area if I was paid. A souless experience

The resort is not as good looking as it appears in the photographs. The rooms are pretty ordinary with standard amenities. Bathrooms are not well ventilated and had an air of dampness. Food is OK, though on the costly side. They organized a "Gala" dinner on Christmas evening, but there was nothing gala about it. Certainly not worth the extra 2500 that I was charged. Just a buffet arranged in the pool area. No dance , no DJ. The beach is around 500 meters from the resort. There are few decent restaurants around the hotel. The staff was good and helpful. The resort is good for people who just want to laze around. Have your breakfast in the morning and then just go to sleep on the sun beds around the pool. Nothing else to do, unless you are a spa person. Most of the guests were foreigners.

We booked a room here through an online travel portal. The place is not like what it is on the site so don't go by the photographs. The room was nice but the place had an old, 'not maintained' very well feeling to it because of which it was not very clean. It is very close to Colva beach and you can easily rent a scooter or taxi nearby. The room was fine though. I went to check out the spa which is supposed to be a highlight of the resort but was not very happy with the arrangements I saw. The rooms of the Spa seemed dirty. Don't pay a bomb for the hotel not worth it.
As long as you don't go with very high expectations, you'll be fine. Also, we traveled in September 2010 but since it is not available in the drop down I selected September 2011.