Where do I begin? First of all, this is far from an 8.5-rated hotel. I’m sure it was impressive when it first opened, but it is now severely run down and in desperate need of a major revamp. The photos must date back to when it was brand new, as the reality is heavily worn, damp, and broken.
We booked two rooms. In one, the air conditioning didn’t work at all. For hot water, you have to ask reception to turn it on ten minutes before you want a shower. The receptionist said I could dial 9 from the room phone—except the phone didn’t work. The bed linen and towels had that unpleasant ‘damp’ feeling (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve experienced it). One room stank of smoke, and the floor was so dirty that we had to wear socks to avoid our feet turning black. Although the shower pressure was strong, the head was broken and sprayed water in all directions. There were no sheets in either room, so we had to request them, and each room had only one towel—we had to ask for more (twice, in fact).
The icing on the cake was at 6 a.m., when someone knocked repeatedly on our door. I assumed it was a drunk guest or someone up to no good. When I asked through the door who it was, they spoke no English and just said ‘water’. I proceeded to open it, and from what I later found out, he was checking for a leak. He simply walked into our bathroom, turned on the light, and left—without apologising, turning the light off, or explaining what was happening. I went down to reception, as if it was so important, a senior manager should have handled it. He just said, ‘Oh, sorry, leak,’ and confirmed it wasn’t from our room. We had such a long day ahead, and it made an already rubbish stay even worse.
I don’t know how they achieved an 8.5 rating. After all these issues, I would avoid it unless it’s super cheap and you have low standards (perhaps 500–800 INR per night).
The only good things were that the chap on day reception was nice, the Wi-Fi was good, and the location is decent—providing you don’t mind the road noise. We didn’t.