The Richmond

Location and overall upkeep of the hotel is commendable. Friendly Staff made our stay more comfortable.

Location is excellent. Staff was good, helpful in general to guide on nearby tourist places, restaurants etc. Rooms are spacious at the price offered. Breakfast was not that great and staff was not all courteous , attentive during the breakfast. Half of the things were over at 10 am during the breakfast. Wi-fi details should have been given at the time of chekin but had to ask couple of times for it to get it and speed was very OK.

Gorgeous hotel right in the centre of the French quarter and not far from the seafront. Lovely spacious room with nice furniture and decor and probably the best we have had in India for this price range. Fantastic bathroom and would like to copy this design and tiles for our home and loved the pebble effect floor tiles. Nice selection of toiletries too, much more than the usual offering of just a bar of soap. Staff were extremely kind and helpful too and good breakfast included in our room rate. Wifi worked really well in our room too which doesn't happen very often in India. Would have stayed here longer if it wasn't for our very difficult to get train reservation already being booked.

room had no windows.claustrophobic,impossible to stay and gave room to my driver and checked into another hotel.

Most of the employees are extraordinary friendly and service minded. Rooms quite ok, i prefer rooms with windows to street. I liked the breakfast when it was served as a buffet, it was real nice. Do remember that we westerners often prefer JAM with the croissant :-) Thanks for a lovely stay!

This is a nice hotel. It's situated in the old colonial quarter and is near several good restaurants. The Aurobindo ashram is a few minutes away by auto-rickshaw as is the shopping district. The hotel food is OK but nothing spectacular. There are plenty of options outside the hotel, though. The room was large, comfortable and the air conditioning was consistent. My two complaints are lack of around-the-clock room service and lack of hot water in the bathroom. The staff is courteous (especially if you speak a bit of Tamil) and will help with arrangements to visit Auroville. I've stayed in two other hotels in Pondicherry and think this is the best of the three.

I loved this hotel. The rooms were beautiful, the staff was welcoming and accommodating, breakfast was delicious (and complimentary!)....Thank you Richmond! I will definitely stay here again if I come back to Pondicherry. Reccommend this hotel to everyone.

The Richmond hotel has the veneer of being a nice hotel, but our stay was anything but. We were given a room that was just above the kitchen and the noise of pots clanging around and people talking went late into the night and started in the early morning. Even with ear plugs we could barely sleep above the noise. The center of the hotel has an open atrium and noise from the kitchen travels throughout the entire hotel. I'm not sure it would matter where your room was in terms of noise. I went to several different floors of the hotel and they were all noisy. I also didn't like that our room didn't haven't a window that faced outside. Further more, the staff seemed to be haphazard and fumbling about. At one point, we asked for water and it was brought to our room. Without knocking first an employee just opened our door and walk right in. I had just gotten out of the shower and was standing in the room with my towel on. My husband and I just looked at each other mortified and waited for the man to leave, but instead of leaving he entered the room and walked into our hallway to show us where the mini bar was. The whole thing was really unprofessional and uncomfortable. In any other normal situation a person could have knocked first, handed us the water, and told us about the mini bar from the hallway. The staff at this hotel needs some kind of training as to how to treat guests. It also needs its kitchen to quiet down.

This compact but attractive hotel is well located in the french quarter not far from the Goubert Ave seafront promenade. Our rooms (two) were nicely painted, clean and well-appointed. Two problems though - these rooms are both on the main floor immediately beside the bar and D/R - thereby being noisy - and they have no windows, so no view and no emergency egress option. We had three meals in the hotel restaurant, right beside our rooms. Food for the most part was OK but because the midday options (between "lunch" and "dinner") are limited, we ended up with three deep-fried selections - pakoras and cashew chicken from memory - that tasted much the same. Breakfast buffet was quite good with cereals and fruit (which we usually prefer), eggs, a variety of breads and sambar options. We tried everything and were not displeased. Our principal concern is room location. Some of the hotel staff sleep overnight in the DR. That's fine in some respects but not so fine for patrons trying to sleep nearby. Thus, these rooms should be avoided. Our problem might have been related to the foul-up over room booking. We booked and paid for two rooms through Expedia but the hotel was paid for only one via a 'middle man'. Fortunately the hotel had internet hookups so I was able to show the sincere desk clerk an email from Expedia showing our booking of two rooms, thus we were allowed to stay. This confirms the necessity of having all logistics solved in advance.

Fairly modern looking room. Bed spread was slightly stained. Walls are thin so can hear neighbors. No wifi in room but they do provide ethernet cable. Wifi available in lobby. Breakfast selection decent. Reception was helpful.