Hotel Usha

The bedroom, bathroom, and lovely balcony were clean, and the garbage was taken out regularly. Coming back after a day at the beach always felt good. The beautiful yellow house sits in a lovely garden, and the grounds have a very positive, pleasant energy. It’s quiet while still close to the beach and restaurants. Usha was sitting in the garden when I arrived and greeted me right away with a friendly smile and a warm, positive presence. I knew then I was in the right place. I recommend it. Thank you, Usha, for the great hospitality!

Usha and her husband made me feel at home, and Usha cooks a great lunch. The rooms are cute and cool, with an easy walk to the beach and restaurants. I really enjoyed my stay here. The palm trees and lovely garden make it a relaxing spot in Kovalam. Highly recommend.

I spent two very comfortable nights at Ushas Hotel!

🙏 This concerns a prepaid fortnight, Wed 13 Nov to Wed 27 Nov, booked in advance through Booking.com. It was the start of our first, long-awaited trip to India. May peace prevail. 🌺🌼💮🏵️ It took me a few weeks to feel able to write about this. I hope nobody else has gone through it. In good conscience, I can’t understate my experience with Usha, because that could lead another living being into a situation with an unusually high risk of attempted extortion or psychological harm. This is a warning. From minute 7 after we arrived at the building until a few days later, what Usha herself offered us could not be called hospitality. To be blunt, I’d call it sustained abuse: coercion, unwarranted conflict, neglect, disdain, and other attempts to manipulate us, including fabricating lies and making excuses to exonerate herself from the wrongdoing. For example, within minutes of our arrival she changed what had been advertised and agreed through the booking website, asking for considerably more money while downgrading our room. Later, after we’d tried and failed to manage with the poor condition of the pseudo mosquito net, I respectfully asked for advice about mosquitoes and she screamed at me. When we asked where to put biodegradable trash, it turned out to be just outside our bathroom window. When we enquired about housekeeping, she lent us a broom. Across four decades and six continents, I’ve never encountered such an unexpected collection of undesirable situations in one hospitality business. Being in her presence was uncomfortable, and receiving her distress was downright disturbing. In case these healing tactics help anyone else leave difficult relationships less burdened, here’s what I’ve been trying. To make the memories tolerable, I hold on to two things I’ve been told: “We give what we have inside” and “Hurt people hurt others.” To help me empathise from a safe distance, I consider that she may once have been a lovely, innocent child who was regrettably mistreated too much over the years, and is stuck in yesterday’s traumatising drama, sometimes reliving it in different roles. 😔 The plaque on the building says Usha's Resort, so to make the memories laughable I nicknamed it A Last Resort. I’m also focusing on gratitude. I can thank Usha for lowering my expectations of Indian accommodations and peoples, which made all other unpleasantness tolerable; inspiring me to look up Indian government standards for 2-star accommodations, which proved helpful; apparently not mistreating her husband, who seems decent and trauma-free; and providing more comforts than a campsite, for those of us who aren’t opposed to camping adventures.