Poetree Thekkady

The views from this hotel were great! Staff was super friendly and helpful. Rooms were clean and maintained well. Had the dinner and breakfast buffet which were delicious and had plenty of veg and non veg items. Overall would highly recommend!

Hotels are generally cookie cutter styled, transactional plus a little bit more. You pay for the stars of luxury that you require. You sample the offerings from Rooms to F&B. You comment on the fluffy duvets and excellent “but clinical” service and you move on to the next hotel. If nothing has seriously gone wrong, the whole stay is quickly forgotten. This is certainly not so at the Poetree Thekkady. It’s been a week since we left and are back in Australia and the experience has been eminently unforgettable. One quickly realises the star of the show is the GM, Mr Madan. He has the sage countenance, aplomb and diplomacy of S Jaishankar, India’s best Foreign Minister. He has curated a wonderful team of like minded people like Mr Sandeep as F&B Manager and Ms Sneha as FOM and Ms Anju as HR Manager, all of whom we were delighted to be introduced to. He is seen at the check in and at mealtimes and always stops to chat. Mr Madan’s instructions to his team are to “not worry about the SOP manual”. This has empowered his team to go beyond and beyond to create such individual experiences for guests that will stay in our hearts long, long after we have checked out. Two of the supporting act stars are Suresh from the Front Office team and Shalinie aka Heidi in F&B team. Suresh from the FO team is charming. He refused to let us go without conducting a photoshoot for our family that is to be treasured. His profile is a caricaturist delight, that had us all in splits during the photoshoot. Yes we came across as a laughing happy family in the photo shoot, but half the credit for that goes to Suresh just for his comical facial expressions that brought out our best smiles !! The star supporting act of the team would be ( drumroll) Ms Shalinie who at just 22 is a live wire entertainment package who is on the same 1000% output whether it’s breakfast lunch or dinner. She regales you with her wit, her charm, and her old soul wisdoms passed down by her grandma, besides making sure that the kitchen team get your order just right, get it out hot, and at the same time and at the same time as everyone on the table with impeccable service. Her honesty and passion for her work is simply delightful. I would have to mention the Chef Mr Roy Matthew for the excellent food buffet at breakfast and a la carte for lunch and dinner. We enjoyed his traditional Kerela specialities as the kids their western dishes. The other staff are wonderful. Their interactions are limited by their English language skills, but they are personable, smiling and charming, nonetheless. Besides the people, now to the hotel itself. The views around from the room and the restaurant and pool were incredibly beautiful especially when the fog rolled in. Housekeeping and Gardening were spot on with the whole grounds, rooms and public areas so clean always. The pool always crystal clear and inviting. The Christmas lights were tastefully decorated with a Star of Bethlehem beautifully shinin