Tips for Kerala

My husband and I are visiting India for the first time, next month. We are flying into Kochi and then back out from Thiruvananthapuram ten days later. We are older (wrong side of 50) travellers and not too keen on really roughing it.

I've been finding it hard to find good budget to mid range accommodation to book for our first night in Fort Cochin. Any suggstions anyone?

Does anyone know if we are likly to find it hard to pick up accommodation at this time of the year as we travel round?

Also, any suggestions of places we really shouldn't miss would be most welcome. I can already see that there is just not going to be time to fit in as much as we would like. My husband is a great walker, but I'm more into crafts and cultural things.