Sinclairs Retreat Dooars, Chalsa

Should have included non veg soup

1. Welcomed by friendly reception staff, who also helped arrange vehicles for safari and commute to the bus stop on the day of leaving. 2. The rooms were quite large, with double beds that were capable of sleeping of 2 persons in each. Booking.com didn't allow me to go with just one room for 3 adults and one child, so I ended up booking 2 rooms for my family, but later ended up without using the second room at all.

1. The layout of the property. Lots of greenery, but the rooms are at quite a distance from the reception or dining area, so walking around after dark is best done in groups. 2. Had an issue of food poisoning with the sambhar served during breakfast, so that was a horrible experience. Overall, for the food prices, the quality doesn't feel as reassuring. 3. There are monkeys on campus. Not one or two, but almost like 30-40. Over a period of 2 days, we grew friendly towards them, but it can be unnerving for others.

Huge fields of green. For the Dooars vibe, you needn't even step out of the resort.

The food could be a little more reasonably priced. I mean, one small thin tawa roti costing Rs 69/- is a bit too much!

The location and the place

Bring a senior citizen I felt little problem to reach the dining room as it is quite far from my room.

A bit more variety on the breakfast.

There was very little to like about the place. Avoid.

Sinclairs Retreat was supposed to be the best hotel in the area (and certainly the costliest) but the whole place felt like a big garbage dump. In my visits to over 60 countries, I have never stayed in a place as bad as this. It was downright filthy. Garbage was strewn all over in front of our room (Room 143). Since some it was discarded food items the whole place started stinking by next morning. Apparently, the situation arose from them renting out the place for a wedding before our stay and they did not bother to clean up before checking us in. At the very least, we should have been warned about the state of affairs (using the messaging function within Booking.com) and that would have enabled us to choose a different hotel. But greed on the part of Sinclairs meant that they wanted to get the tariff while putting me up in a decidedly sub-standard place. The only thing they did efficiently was to take the full payment for my stay when checking me in.

Great place away from the hustle n bustle

Staff behaviour, great loaction and cleaniliness. I addition to that the sprawling complex to move around. Ample parking place and quality of food.

A limited menu option.