Review of Empire Guest House 2*

Guys stay away, this place should be shut down! I arrived at 5am in the Goa train station, travelling as a solo female and had booked a taxi through them but he never showed up despite them confirming to me over the phone. Luckily Goa has a governmental taxi station and I could get one there. But the nightmare begun. The place is run by a couple, Jahan (John) and Nazneen. John was the one I did the booking through but he is never there and Nazneen, his wife, runs the place. From the first minute she started asking for "her money", so I thought she is just being unwelcoming. But day after day, she refused to help with anything I had asked for and ended up harassing me! As a simple example, I struggled to book my flight for Mumbai for 2 days with Wi-Fi on the beach but had many errors so I eventually asked her to share her 3G connection for 5 minutes to finish my booking but her reply was to send me to the main road where I should ask for rickshaw drivers to take me to places with internet (! ). The most shocking part was when she asked for my passport to make a copy but said she couldn't return it to me faster than in a couple of hours. I refused to leave it with her for the first 2 days but on Friday I gave in because she was insisting and they don't have a xerox machine in the house. I went back to the house at 6 pm and all the doors and windows were closed. I started knocking at the doors and calling them but no reply. I could see they were inside and the lights were on but no reply. I left messages saying I need my passport back and called until midnight — nothing. I had my flight on Saturday so I woke up early and I went down to take my passport. That's when she said to me that if I want my passport I need to pay her more money! I couldn't believe it, she was making up stories about the bed sheets (who were never changed during my stay) and was screaming at me to give her money if I want to see my passport. She threatened me saying that I have all the luggage and documents at her place and the police will not do anything to help me because she knows them. I started screaming but the staff around was to scared to do anything. I called her husband who was reluctant on the phone, telling me to give money to his wife and I'll get the passport back. As I was speaking to him downstairs in the yard she ventured to attack me, she tried to hit me right there! I had announced one of my friends about the situation and the location but he was too far to reach for me in time. Imagine the terrifying feeling, being trapped in India with a violent woman attacking me on her property, no people around and no passport while my flight back was in a couple of hours! I screamed very loud and promised I would give her money but that I needed to go to the ATM. In the heat of the moment I grabbed the passport, had my backpack with me and just ran away on the door, jumped into the taxi and told the driver to take me away as quickly as possible! As for the rest (as if it still matters after you read this hell-like experience), there are no facilities whatsoever in this place, no internet, no towels, no soap and no toilet paper! I was told I need to buy my own toilet paper even though the prices are 3 to 4 times higher than properties around. Guys, especially if you are internationals, read well about my experience and stay away from this place! Please stay safe!