Santiago Beach Resort

“Great small and friendly hotel”

This is a nice small and friendly hotel. The rooms are dated but clean. The restaurant is around the pool area and serves tasty food. It varies depending on the chef that day, but it is always fresh and well cooked. The waiters are friendly and nothing is too much trouble. The pool is lovely but t… more

This is a nice small and friendly hotel. The rooms are dated but clean. The restaurant is around the pool area and serves tasty food. It varies depending on the chef that day, but it is always fresh and well cooked. The waiters are friendly and nothing is too much trouble. The pool is lovely but the sunbeds are flat and need to replace with recliners. Vijay and Jimmy from the jewelers are absolute gems. Such beautiful soles. The surrounding area is very convenient with shops, restaurants, bars and beach within a couple of minutes walk. Jack jewelers and the tailor opposite are very friendly and worth a stop for a chat.

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“A Mixed Stay at the Era Santiago Hotel, Goa”

Goa has a rhythm—a mix of chaos and calm, grit and grace. It’s where travelers come to escape, to find sanctuary from the daily grind. Unfortunately, at the Era Santiago Hotel, finding that sanctuary feels more like a quest than a guarantee. Let’s start with getting there. Don’t bother asking a ta… more

Goa has a rhythm—a mix of chaos and calm, grit and grace. It’s where travelers come to escape, to find sanctuary from the daily grind. Unfortunately, at the Era Santiago Hotel, finding that sanctuary feels more like a quest than a guarantee. Let’s start with getting there. Don’t bother asking a taxi driver; they’ll stare at you blankly. No signs will help you either. It’s a game of trial, error, and GPS prayers. By the time you arrive, you’re already halfway to regretting the booking. The experience doesn’t exactly improve once you check in. There’s daily cleaning, theoretically—if you crack the code. Here’s the trick: hand your key to the front desk during a specific, unmarked window of time. Fail to do so, and you’re stuck with yesterday’s grime. Even when the cleaning happens, it’s…well, minimal. Expect dirty floors, a slimy shower, and beds that are straightened but not refreshed. And then there’s the toilet paper. Or rather, the lack of it. You get a miserly ration upon arrival, and replenishment requires a shameful journey to the front desk to plead for more. This isn’t a luxury you expect to ration at a hotel. Oh, and don’t get suckered by the “standard vs deluxe” room scam. Here’s the truth: all the rooms are exactly the same. The only thing “deluxe” about the upgrade is the price tag. You’d think with all the other challenges here, they’d at least offer something genuinely superior for the extra money. They don’t. Then there’s the hot water—or, more accurately, the tepid water. Forget about a steamy shower to wash away the day. The best you’ll get is lukewarm at peak hours, and at worst, it’s just cold enough to make you question every life decision that led you here. This might work for a beach hut, but not a hotel that aspires to call itself a resort. WiFi? Let’s just say I’ve had better connections on a Delhi train platform. It’s patchy at best, maddening at worst. The smart TV in the room—fitted with paid services, Netflix, and Prime—relies on this broken network, so good luck streaming anything without a stiff drink in hand. It’s a tech scavenger hunt, one where you’re left pressing buttons and guessing passwords until you lose the will to try. One of the biggest disappointments is the lack of retreat from the constant clamor of Goa. The streets are filled with hard sellers, and you’d expect a hotel to offer some relief. Instead, you find them right there in the lobby: a jeweler, a suit maker, and a money exchanger. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice enough guys. Heck, I ended up buying two shirts. But the hard-sell vibe at the start felt intrusive. And don’t even think about lounging at the pool unless you’re fast enough to snag one of the nine sunbeds—permanently flat, of course. For a hotel with 70 rooms, it’s almost laughable. But here’s where the Era Santiago redeems itself: the restaurant and bar staff. These guys are the soul of this place. They know your name, your drink, your mood. They’re like a team of mind readers with impeccable timing and endless kindness. Need sightseeing tips? Done. Want to drown your frustration with the WiFi in a perfectly crafted cocktail? They’ve got you. And the food. Oh, the food. It’s the one thing this place gets right—so right it almost makes you forget the rest. While the main menu caters to the international crowd, it’s the Indian menu that shines. Ask for it. Then try everything. Vindaloo, butter chicken, prawn curry—it’s all magic. They don’t just feed you here; they spoil you. The pool area, for all its limited lounging options, is also pristine. Cool, clean water and immaculate surroundings remind you why you came to Goa in the first place. It’s a brief moment of escape, even if it’s shared with 69 other frustrated guests vying for a sunbed. The Era Santiago isn’t a disaster. It’s just a missed opportunity. For all its flaws—and there are plenty—there are glimmers of excellence in the people and the food. But a hotel shouldn’t rely on its restaurant staff to save it. And here, it does. Would I come back? Maybe—for the mutton curry. But I’d bring my own WiFi hotspot, a roll of toilet paper, and the knowledge to never, ever pay extra for the “deluxe” room—or expect a hot shower.

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“Recommended with reservations”

I am a glass-half-full type of reviewer, looking for the upside to a holiday. There are lots of positives about the Era Santiago, but also some negatives to be aware of. The Era Santiago is a small hotel. This means that you get to know the staff and (Heaven forfend!) talk to other guests. The a… more

I am a glass-half-full type of reviewer, looking for the upside to a holiday. There are lots of positives about the Era Santiago, but also some negatives to be aware of. The Era Santiago is a small hotel. This means that you get to know the staff and (Heaven forfend!) talk to other guests. The amenities and standard of decor may not be up to the 4 and 5 star hotels but there is a certain charm to the place. So, the executive summary: + Great location - on a quiet side-road but only 3 min walk to Baga town centre and 10 mins to Baga beach + Clean, good housekeeping + Good a/c and ceiling fans + Large rooms (with fridge) + Large shower with plenty of hot water + Outside areas and pool kept immaculate + Excellent, friendly staff who ask for (and remember) your name + Good quality food, made to order + No issues with hygiene (salads often ordered with no ill-effects) + Local gin and rum for all-inclusives, perfectly drinkable + Schweppes tonic, not cheap alternative + bottled beer (Kingfisher Premium for all-inclusive and other beers available at standard prices if want to pay for them) but... - Very limited area around pool to sunbathe (lots of shade) - Sun drops behind buildings and trees by 4pm - Limited cocktails for all-inclusive (Pina Colada, Tom Collins, Screwdriver) - Inconsistent recipes - Poor entertainment - Poor at special occasions A quirk of my bedroom was that the wall-mounted TV was at the entrance to the room, meaning I couldn't actually see it when sitting on the bed. This was a bit bizarre but may have been just my room as I looked into another and all seemed normal. The waiters and cleaners are by far the hotel's biggest asset. Being a small hotel there are only four or five and you get to know all of them by name. They are friendly without being overbearing. If you are sitting alone with a drink one might come over to talk to you, but leave you alone if you don't feel like being sociable. Really, if all waiters were like this, the world would be a better place. Thank You David, Lokesh, Pritesh, Sada and Walter. Unlike most other all-inclusive hotels, food here is cooked to order from the menu. If you fancy something different the staff will try to oblige, and the portion sizes are huge. It took a few days to work out how much to order for a party of four adults (definitely not four starters, four mains and four sides!). The usual range of Goan local drinks is available - Kingfisher lager (by the bottle), gin, rum, whisky, vodka, etc. Pepsi is served in 250ml bottles (rather than draft) so you know it is fresh and unopened. Iced coffee also delicious and available throughout the day. The menu deserves a special mention. There is an extensive range of Indian and international cuisine, but when it comes to ordering it is more like a set of guidelines: many of the dishes are 'off', and the waiters don't seem to recognise some of the names! So what happens is that, as you order a particular dish, the waiter will suggest something else, probably similar and something the chef can cook. I got the feeling that the menu was printed some time ago, perhaps when other chefs were in charge. Also, you can order the same dish three or four days running and get different outcomes depending on which chef is on duty. But important to say that all the food is delicious, it just sometimes a surprise. I have to write about the elephant in the room, that is Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. At all hotels I have ever stayed in these are big nights: lavish buffets, top-class entertainment, and a good time had by all. The buffet on Christmas Day fell lamentably short of lavish and the entertainment was genuinely appalling: when the musicians took a break mid-evening and put on a CD, Perry Como got a round of applause! It was so bad it was (almost, but not) good. One of the reasons for the poor showing might be the lack of all-inclusive customers. I was told that the hotel used to be packed with UK couples pre-Covid, but the fairly small contingent this year doesn't allow for massive spend on the holiday celebrations. Perhaps this will change as more customers return. Such was our experience on Christmas Day that we chose to not risk New Year's Eve and booked a table at a local restaurant. Reports from other guest about the hotel's celebrations were similar to the Christmas Day debacle. What a shame, because it makes my overall review of Era Santiago one of recommending it as a destination, but not over the Christmas period. Given the good nature of the staff, I fervently hope this will change in the future and someone can update this review with a better experience. In conclusion, will I come back? Not next year, but maybe in five.

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