From the Sublime to the Ridiculous - Delhi Hotels

The Imperial is one of the world's greatest hotels. You don't have to say 'The Imperial Hotel, Delhi' any more than you'd have to call Raffles 'the Raffles Hotel, Singapore'. The Imperial was the first of the almost legendary 'Four Maidens of the East' - the Strand Hotel in Rangoon, Raffles in Singapore and the Great Eastern and Oriental in Calcutta are the other three.

About 6 years ago we took a tour round Rajasthan with a group of strangers who soon became good friends. When we returned to Delhi in search of a bit of luxury and a slap-up dinner after two weeks of incessant 'rice and daal' we booked the 'Spice Route' restaurant at the Imperial and loved the restaurant so much that going to stay at the Imperial went onto my 'must do before I die' list. The opportunity came when we booked a trip to Ladakh in June 2006 – a time of year when nobody wants to be in Delhi and the hotel prices are correspondingly competitive.

There are many great reasons to stay at the imperial – here are just a few:

1. Location
The Imperial is located on Janpath just one block out from Connaught Place which is the hub of New Delhi for shopping, eating and getting around. It's just across the road from the giant government crafts store - The Central Cottage Industries Emporium - where anyone who wants an easy stress free shopping experience can load up on all their presents and goodies or for the slightly more adventurous there's a host of smaller craft shops between the hotel and Connaught Place that are well worth a look. Finally everybody knows exactly where the Imperial is - no taxi driver will ever get lost looking for it.

2. Peace and Quiet
There's no denying it, Delhi is a noisy place. If you aren't careful you can find that your hotel is on a road junction with vehicles 'horning' (yep, that really is the correct local term!) each other all day and all night or you may also find that your lovely quiet hotel is next door to a major building site. The joy of the Imperial is that its eight acre garden site enables the hotel to be set back slightly from the road. So even though you are slap-bang at the heart of things, it's remarkably quiet.

3. History and Tradition
Although it was only built in 1931 just 20 years after New Delhi became the capital of India, The Imperial is steeped in history. It was the venue for the negotiations between Indian independence activists and the British 'rulers'. When you stay there you are rubbing shoulders with the ghosts of some of history's greatest men like Jawaharlal Nehru, MK Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten.
We paid $220 (approx £120) for one night at The Imperial. This rate was for an 'Imperial Room' (the smallest and least expensive option) and included breakfast and airport transfers on arrival and departure. A very average international standard hotel would have cost only £10-20 less so I believe the extra was well worth it.

~Arriving at the Airport~
On leaving the airport a gentleman from the hotel was waiting in a prominent place with a name board. He took our luggage trolley and lead us to an air-conditioned car and came back to the hotel with us and the driver. Once in the car we were offered bottles of chilled water and subjected to some light 'banter'. When I mentioned that we'd eaten there before, he asked if we'd like him to book us a reservation for that evening. So by the time we got to the hotel about half an hour after pick up, we were all sorted for dinner.

~Arriving at the Hotel~
As you turn onto the driveway two security guards step out of a booth and check the underside of the vehicle with long handled mirrors. You then drive up to the entrance passing through the colonnade of 24 tall, elegant palm trees before stopping under the entrance cover. Flunkies in turbans and smart uniforms open the car doors and take your luggage. The greeter walked us into the reception hall and over to the desk where checkout was completed quickly and without fuss.

~First Impressions~
As you enter the hotel the reception is on the left and the bell-desk and luggage storage is on the right. Comfy seating and newspapers are laid out in a sitting area ahead and to the right. The lobby also has a Chanel store – the first and only one in the whole of India at that time.

~The Walk Through~
After check in we were 'walked' to our room by a lady from reception. As we went she explained all the places we passed on the way - the name of each restaurant or bar, what sort of food they served and so on. Most of the restaurants and bars lie off the same corridor so it's really easy to find your way around. She also pointed out how to get to the garden and the swimming pool. We went up one floor, along some nicely decorated and carpeted corridors until we came to our room on the end of the corridor - Room 141. At this point I took a deep breath and held it whilst she opened the door

~The Room~
We had booked the lowest grade of room so I was really pleased by how lovely it was. The door opened onto a room with a high ceiling. The floor was cool marble and all the furnishings were in matching red-brown wood.

The room had all the facilities you'd expect such as a minibar, a tea and coffee tray, a desk with telephone and lamp, a TV in a cabinet, a suitcase stand, a tall wardrobe and a six foot wide bed with pale peach and white quilted cover.

Our windows looked out over the gardens and because we were in the last room on the corridor our bathroom also had natural light.

The bathroom had separate bath and shower, a toilet, a nice vanity unit and some lovely Fragonard toiletries. My only warning would be to watch out for the marble floors with are lethally slippery when wet. Bathrobes and slippers were supplied.

~So you are there, what next?~
We'd flown in overnight so we were tired. My husband went straight to sleep, the bear got control of the TV controller, the newspaper and the pillow and I went for a shower followed by a nap. I roused the snoring beast (husband, not bear) and reminded him we were paying too much to spend all day sleeping and we set off to explore before dinner. We strolled around the corridors checking out the prints and paintings, peeked into the grand ballroom and admired the frescos and headed out into the garden. As Brits it's important that we check that the lawns had been correctly mowed to Wimbledon standards and to sit on a bench to watch the flowers grow. We had a peek at the beautiful swimming pool, checked out the king palms and generally just mooched about. Despite being in the heart of Delhi, it was a calm and pleasant place to just stroll around.

~Eating and Drinking~
Due to the constraints of word count, eating at the Imperial will be a separate review but all I'll say for now is that there's plenty of choice – from the exquisite Spice Route with its hand painted murals, through the French influenced 1911 Brasserie, the Italian San Gimignano, the Daniell's tavern which serves Indian thalis and the atrium where you can get snacks and afternoon tea. There's even a small bakery shop but it was closed when we were there and of course you can get room service but it would be a shame not to try out the restaurants.

~So,would I recommend it?~
Do you need to ask? Really?
I would absolutely recommend it - if you can't afford to stay, go for dinner. If you can't afford dinner, just go and have a coffee in the Atrium and soak up the atmosphere. Don't forget to use the loos - they are gorgeous. So long as you aren't too scruffy, smelly and unkempt, it's very unlikely that any tourist would be turned away. Just stroll on in and have a good look.

In November 2005 I had a really tough business trip to India to launch a range of new products in Mumbai and Delhi. We worked like demons and if you believe in karma, then staying 4 nights at the Oberoi New Delhi must have been payback for every good and worthy thing I've done in my life. It's a dream of a hotel and one that really lingers in my mind long after my visit.

THE HOTEL

The Oberoi New Delhi has nearly 280 rooms and suites. When I visited they were charging top-whack of about £180-220 per night - partly because they were full due to a summit between the President of India and the President of Indonesia - well, if it's good enough for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, it's good enough for me. The hotel is one of the ‘Leading Hotels of the World’ group and more than lives up to that claim.

Watch out for the local exorbitant hotel taxes – these are based on the ‘rack rate’ rather than the rate you actually pay and can add significantly (i.e. 20-30%) to your room costs. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the taxes on this occasion (as I wasn’t paying) but would caution anyone booking to ask how much the tax will be up-front. There’s nothing worse than spoiling a good stay with an argument about the bill.

WHERE IS IT?

The Oberoi is located on Dr Zakir Hussein Marg in Delhi. It is in a relatively quiet part of the city (this is Delhi - it's all relative) and is set in large grounds over-looking the golf course and near to the Lotus Temple (watch your wallet and possessions if you go to look at the temple).

As a tourist, it wouldn’t be the best place from which to explore the city as there's nothing much to walk to round there and you'll need to take taxis to get anywhere interesting. For a similar price if you want something more central, I'd recommend the Imperial just off Connaught Circus, opposite the Cottage Industries Shop (please take a look at my review of that hotel for more info).

However, if what you want is a good business hotel and you don’t have time for sightseeing or shopping, then this is an excellent choice and a great place to hide out and relax after some hard work. Bearing in mind that many business travellers hate India (sad but true and absolutely not applicable to me) this is the kind of hotel where you can be insulated from the harsher realities of life outside. If I felt that way I wouldn't keep going back every year but I know it is a concern to many first time visitors.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

You approach the hotel up a tree shaded driveway and pull up in front of the doors where one of the tall handsome turbaned doormen – apparently they are mostly ex-presidential guards - will open your door. Entering the lobby, the check in is on the left hand side and there are lots of carved wooden chairs and plush sofas to the right. Round to the left there are some fancy designer shops and a little deli (A Delhi Deli perhaps ;-)). To the right there's a book shop.

The overwhelming sensation was the beautiful smell of citronella and lemons - they burn oils and use lemon scented polish and it smells divine.

Past the check-in desk there are large picture windows looking out over the pool and if you carry on past the lifts, there are a couple of restaurants, a ballroom and other meeting rooms. We were there in the height of wedding season so there were lots of people getting married and some stunning outfits on display.

Check-in was straightforward - calm and professional and they dealt with my request for an extra night although the price was even higher for that day.

THE ROOMS

I stayed in a fairly standard grade room but it was still beautiful. There was a big desk with state of the art computer connectivity. The bed was big and high off the ground. It was furnished with a bedspread and cushions in beautiful fabrics and there were local carvings and paintings around the room. The wardrobe was large and there were plenty of drawers and the wardrobe had a safe deposit box and a basket to put your shoes in when ever you want to get them polished. There's plenty of free bottled water and the minibar is not too outrageous if you are stick to soft drinks and avoid the imported spirits.

The TV had a good range of international channels. The bathroom was a vision in marble and wood with lovely smellies and a shower so powerful it could flail the skin off your body. There was a soft long bathrobe. I could happily sell my house and all my possessions and go and live in that room (but not for very long - probably).

The corridors had deep carpets, beautiful paintings and pretty vases and carvings.

RESTAURANTS

Business hotels in India need to offer a lot of restaurant choice - this is because half the people who stay there are too chicken to go out and experiment in the local restaurants. Or if I want to be a little more charitable, sometimes they are too tired to go exploring. The breakfasts are served on the ground floor restaurant at the far end of the building. The coffee is outstanding and there's an enormous range of food to choose from.

I also ate with colleagues in the Chinese Restaurant on the top floor- called Taipan - which was hushed and discrete with fabulous food. At the table next to us was a politician - my colleague said he was a controversial education minister that he was quite in awe of. I also ate alone on my last night in the Three Sixty restaurant - they gave me a nice quiet table in a section with two other ladies. I think this was done to make me feel more comfortable and I appreciated their thoughtfulness. The food again was excellent and the service was discrete but efficient. In each case the cost of the food was high by local standards but no more than you'd pay in the UK for something quite ordinary.

SPA & FITNESS

As mentioned there's a good sized outdoor pool - I must have been going native by that stage because I was horrified to see a European lady in a string bikini - had she NO shame?! There's also a well equipped gym and spa treatments are available.

EXTRAS

There are some nice little touches - the free shoe shine, the water, and free hotel transfers to and from the airport.

RECOMMENDATION

If you can afford to stay here - please adopt me and leave me some money in your will. Better still if you don't have your own wealth persuade your employers to let you stay there at their expense and have a ball. It's exquisite.

If I was spending my own money and had to choose between the Oberoi and the Imperial, I have to admit that much as I love the Oberoi, I'd be off the Imperial for the sheer Art Deco grandeur and historic significance. But the Oberoi is an excellent second choice.

It's not the real India - absolutely not - but sometimes, we all appreciate a little luxury. Go on - as they say in the L'oreal adverts - You're worth it!

Why the Madonna?

The price was good - $83 per night including taxes (always make sure the taxes are included in Delhi as they can add a LOT to your bill) was not so low as to make us worry about the quality but not too high to blow the budget. By booking direct with the hotel we were able to get a price that slightly beat all the on-line booking agencies AND got a free airport pick up thrown in as well and we didn't have to pay in advance.

The location was excellent - just a 5 minute walk to the Metro Station and close to (but not IN) the Karol Bagh area. The website made the place look clean and tidy and it was clear that the hotel had been refurbished fairly recently. Hubby said the photos of the lobby made it look like a used car show-room and he was right. It looked just like that.

Arriving

Our flight landed in the wee small hours of the night - about 2.30 a.m. once we'd cleared immigration and got our bags. The driver was waiting for us with a car that was ridiculously small due in part to just being small and to having a CNG (compressed natural gas) tank taking up most of the storage space. Somehow we got everything in but nobody was breathing for most of the journey.. Arriving at the hotel just after 3 am we found several staff still hanging around the lobby to welcome us and help us to our room.

The Room

OK, it's not the Ritz - but we hadn't paid for the Ritz. The room was really very OK and better than a lot I've stayed in more recently in Europe. Most importantly it was spotlessly clean. It was large, had a king sized bed that was lovely and firm with a padded head-board and granite-topped side tables built in. There was plenty of wardrobe space and a glass-topped coffee table with an armchair and two tub-chairs. There was a TV with more channels than you could ever need and beneath was a fridge. To the other side was a small dressing table and chair with a large mirror above.

The décor was in good condition although the paintwork had an oddly dated 'ragging' effect and the strange Egyptian style picture over the bed didn't hang straight on either visit. The ceiling had the smoothest plaster I have ever seen - but perhaps I notice that because our house doesn't. The bedding was a bit iffy - on our first visit the sheet wasn't long enough for the bed and whilst I believe the bedding was clean, it was quite old and a bit marked. The room had noisy air-conditioning which we didn't use, preferring instead to go with the ceiling fan.

The bathroom had more hot water than any other we used throughout the holiday. Whatever the time of day we had no problem to get a hot shower. There was a large sink with a pink granite surround and the walls were tiled floor to ceiling. The toilet was placed to one side and the shower head was beside it - but not so close as to spray the loo and toilet roll as can often happen when the shower isn't in a separate cubicle. My one complaint about the room would be the meanness with towels. Or should I say 'towel' as we had only one fairly small towel between the two of us. Luckily we always travel with our own travel towels.

What else does the hotel have?

There's a restaurant in the cellar - we had breakfast there one day which was so slow and so unmemorable that we didn't bother again. Our friends got their order slightly more quickly than we did but when it turned up, it wasn't what they'd ordered at all. The hotel offers room service but I suspect it was brought in from a neighbouring restaurant as any hotel that can't get a cheese sandwich right is unlikely to be able to do multi-country cuisine on its own.

There is a small room with a computer that offers free internet access. I believe there's also free wi-fi in the lobby as one slightly stroppy American lady was having a go at the receptionist about it not working. The computer was in need of a good clean-out and I couldn't get it to work. Not to worry, the manager invited us to go to his other hotel just a few yards down the road, where he let me use his office computer to print our boarding passes.

The hotel can organise tours for you - everything from hiring a driver and car to go sight-seeing in Delhi through to extended tours to Agra, Rajastan and other places. We were quoted a price of 700 rupees (about £8.50 at that time) for a driver and air conditioned car for the day. At first this seemed a bit expensive but we soon discovered that rickshaw and taxi drivers had really whacked up their prices since our visit the year before and so we booked a car for the day on both of our visits. For 700 Rp, you get a driver and car for 8 hours and up to 80 km.

Other nice things about the hotel

All of the staff were really nice although the restaurant guys were a bit dozy. The reception area was - despite the used car show room décor - quite a nice place to sit with lots of sofas and newspapers to read. When we left after the first stay we had a late night train. The hotel happily looked after our luggage and when we returned didn't seem to mind how long we hung around, bringing us complimentary drinks whilst we waited for a taxi to arrive.

The reception has a floor of green serpentinite and white marble, something you'd probably only see in a more up-market hotel in Europe. The walls of the reception have bizarre but fun tiling in the style of Gaudi. Someone really had some fun doing the tiling I'm sure.

The Area and Finding the Hotel.
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The hotel is in an area called Rajendra Nagar in the northwest of the city. It's a 3-stop ride (about 10 minutes) on the metro from the centre of New Delhi. The journey will cost you 8 or 9 rupees or about 10 pence. It's near enough and convenient enough that we popped in and out of town several times per day. The nearest metro station is called Karol Bagh.

To get to the hotel, leave the KB metro station on the side of the road where the train coming out of town arrives. Go down to the street and turn left for 50 m or so then take the first left - this is the street where the hotel is. Say hello to the security guards who sit beside the road and calm the traffic then walk just a few blocks through an area of small shops but not the kind where anyone will try to drag you in and sell you something. The road is easily wide enough to walk in and we found that a bit more convenient than the irregular pavements. When you pass the Hotel Megha Sheraton on the right hand side (another hotel owned by the same guy as the Madonna) you are nearly there. The Madonna is on the corner on the right hand side.

How much did we like it?

It was exactly what we needed and so we went back 2 weeks later and again a year later. The hotel for our return to Delhi was the only booking that we hadn't made in advance as we'd decided to 'wait and see' what the Madonna was like. Finding it to be so convenient for the metro, liking the staff and not wanting to waste our Delhi time looking for somewhere else for our return, we decided to book again. The receptionist told me that he had a room for us but the rate would be increasing by another $20 per night because it was a busy time. This led to some jovial negotiation - me saying 'pah, it's too expensive. I'm not paying that', and then pointing out that we were now 'loyal returning customers' and should get a discount. A compromise was struck. He'd let us have the $83 rate but we'd have to pay one night in advance. I negotiated the inclusion of the airport drop off and the deal was done.

Recommended?

For a mid-range hotel that's clean and well-located this gets a thumbs up from me. But make sure you get your pick-up or drop-off included and check the rate includes taxes. Oh, and say 'hi' from us to the manager – he's a true gentleman and one of a kind.

I love Delhi and nothing gives me more pleasure than to stay a few days in this fabulous city where I never seem to run out of things to do. The only problem is that finding affordable hotels can be a complete nightmare. A few years ago I discovered the secret to getting a bargain on a good hotel in Delhi. It's very simple; you have to go at the peak of the summer when nobody else wants to be there. Suddenly when the temperature shoots up and the monsoon is about to arrive and nobody with half a brain would choose to be in Delhi, THEN you really can get a bargain.

On this particular trip we'd started out by spoiling ourselves with a night at the Imperial, a truly beautiful and very memorable hotel but an indulgence we couldn't afford to repeat at the end of the visit. For our final night I scouted around the hotel booking sites and hit upon the Nikko Metropolitan. Knowing that it's a Japanese hotel chain I could be sure that – despite the rather reasonable price of around £65 for the night – it would be of a good standard. Japanese tourists don't DO 'slumming it'. I believe it's now no longer part of the Nikko group but I can't entirely confirm that.

The night before we'd been with our tour group at the horrible Jaypee Siddarth in the north west of the city. We booked a taxi to take us to the Nikko which took about 15 to 20 minutes. I wasn't expecting anything too marvellous but when we arrived we were quite impressed. To put it into context it's nowhere close to the sublime gorgeousness of the Imperial but it beat the pants off the Siddarth. The blast of air conditioned air as we entered the lobby was more than welcome. The check in was friendly and polite and we were given chairs to sit in whilst two members of staff took our details, checked our passports etc. We were asked when our flights would be and they offered to book a car to the airport for us, told us about the various restaurants in the hotel and then issued us with our room keys.

The lobby is a large open space with light marble flooring, lots of pink armchairs and coffee table and a few rather nice large bronzes. The floor is scattered with attractive patterned rugs and there are floor to ceiling windows looking out at the back onto the swimming pool. To one side of the lobby is a restaurant and the other is a rather fun bar with an African safari theme. We headed out to look at the pool – a rather stunning and good-sized pool with sun beds and umbrellas but in the heat of the day the only ones taking a dip were the pigeons. I don't know about other women but for me the idea of taking my clothes off to swim in such a conservative country just doesn't seem right and when combined with a fear or all manner of weird lurgies that could be in the water, I'm not likely to take a dip. Across from the pool and down some steps we found a very nice gift shop that offered a very wide range of products at high but not ridiculous prices. I can imagine that the Japanese habit of gifting makes it very important to have a hotel shop with lots of options.

Our room was small but pretty in light colours with a large bed and an armchair with an ottoman. There was a small desk/dressing table and all the necessary storage furniture. I didn't take detailed notes at the time but got a sense of a 'nice' but not extraordinary room. We had a window that overlooked a small local shanty town and strange as it might sound, it was fascinating to sit and watch the inhabitants wandering back and forth about their daily business. The bathroom was small but well equipped.

As we settled down to find our guidebook and plan our final assault on the city, I came across our flight confirmation and I experienced the sense of my blood turning to ice. I'd got all the dates wrong and we were supposed to be on the lunchtime Virgin flight back to the UK that day and not the day after. Suddenly I could understand why I'd not been able to check in on line when we'd gone to the business centre earlier. I'd already missed the deadline. To say that I panicked would be an understatement. I'm generally a very unflappable person but the realisation of what I'd done stopped me in my tracks. We were on flights booked with airmiles and surely that would make us the lowest of the low when it came to changing our tickets. I'd just been made redundant and could see my miniscule redundancy money evaporating before my eyes.

When I'd started to breathe properly again we headed downstairs to the hotel's travel desk where two very calm and smartly dressed assistants called Virgin, explained the problem and put me through to their office. We were told there was no problem, it would cost £25 each to change the flights and we could pick up the confirmation at the airport. No worries! Of course I did worry and insisted that we'd go to the Virgin office and get the new tickets straight away.

Returning to the hotel in the evening we ate in the ground floor restaurant called 'Patio' which serves a wide range of international cuisine. The prices were predictably a lot higher than elsewhere in the city but that was to be expected and still a lot cheaper than a 4 star hotel restaurant in Europe. We were just looking for a quiet stress-free dinner and not after a gourmet delight. Outside at the pool families of Indian guests were splashing around, scaring off the pigeons and having a great time. We popped to the bar for a beer and headed off for an early night.

In addition to Patio they have a Japanese restaurant that has won awards for its food as well as an Indian restaurant.

The next morning we did get a bit of a shock at just how much tax the hotel had managed to add on to the bill due to the bizarre Delhi law that basis luxury tax not on how much you paid for the room but on what the Rack-rate was. As we'd booked through Expedia whose confirmation unhelpfully said 'Rate may or may not include taxes' we were rather more annoyed with them than with the hotel – the taxes amounted to about 25% extra on the bill.

The hotel had arranged an air conditioned car to take us to the airport at a reasonable price of around £15. I certainly recommend to anyone who has an option to avoid the early morning or late night flights out of Delhi and go for the much more civilised lunch time departures

The Metropolitan has a lot going for it – it's exceptionally quiet in a city where peace is definitely at a premium. The bar and restaurants are not outrageously expensive, the pool is attractive and the shop would be handy for anyone passing through who doesn't have time to get out and hit the city for a bit of retail therapy. I wouldn't pay full price and would really only go for the hotel if I could get it at a bargain, but we did enjoy our stay, found the place very comfortable and the staff extremely calm and courteous.

In June 2006, my husband and I went to India to go trekking in Ladakh. Our trip included three nights in Delhi at a hotel called the Jaypee Siddharth - one night at the beginning and two at the end. I did a lot of hunting around for Delhi hotels because we needed extra nights before and after the tour. What most people probably would have done would be to get the tour company to just book extra nights at the Siddharth but the location - on paper at least - was so absurdly inconvenient and the price offered was so high that we went elsewhere. I'm very glad we did.

Don't get me wrong, the Siddharth isn't a BAD hotel - but it is a hotel with serious problems. Some of these have a finite life-span - i.e. the renovations that ruined our stay are probably now completed - but others are terminal. No amount of tarting up the lobby will change the hotel's location on the wrong side of town, with no attractions near-by and a location right next to a permanently busy and noisy roundabout. And it looks like their sense of self-awareness needs some serious adjustment too.

~Getting to the Siddharth~

We stayed our first night in Delhi at the sublime Imperial hotel and took a hotel car from their to the Siddharth.. We noticed that the concierge raised his eyebrows when we asked for a car to transfer us to the Siddharth. 'Poor folks', he probably thought, 'off to slum it'. We got into the car and headed off, leaving behind the colonial beauty of the Imperial and heading for no-man's land. We drove, and drove and then drove a bit more - for about 25 minutes in total. Eventually after crossing the sort of roundabout that would bring you out in a cold sweat, we saw the Siddharth - an ugly red monster rising up behind a busy fly-over.

Funny that the pictures on the website didn't show the fly-over. Funny that the paperwork the tour company sent said that the pool wasn't going to be available due to 'renovation work' (actually the pool has disappeared UNDER the fly-over). And even funnier that the lobby which looked so nice on the web had shrunk to about a quarter of its original size. Regarding the pool, it's still shown on the hotel website 3 years later.

~First Impressions~
It took me some time to realise that most of the lobby had disappeared behind a temporary wall and ceiling. The restricted size meant that guests arriving tripped over the luggage of other guests which had been piled up near the entrance. The lobby and it was more like a corridor than a reception area.

~The Rooms~

To be fair, the rooms were very nice and I was probably judging them harshly after being at the Imperial. Certainly when we returned for our second stay after five nights in tents and another five in cute little flea-pit hotels, the Siddharth rooms were looking pretty spiffy.

We had a twin-bedded room with pretty silk bedspreads and hand-embroidered cushions - all rather nice. We had a comfy armchair with a big footstool, a desk, a coffee table, a TV cabinet with a modern TV offering 84 channels, a minibar, a suitcase stand, a valet stand, and a small wardrobe with extra pillows. There was no safe in the room although apparently you could get free safe-deposit facilities at the front desk. The best thing about the room - quite unusually for India - was the nice deep carpet. I would imagine that the rooms had been refurbished within the last year as everything was in very good condition.

The room could be cooled by air-con or a ceiling fan - a nice touch as sometimes you want a bit of a breeze but don't want to sleep in a fridge. The bathroom was rather ordinary - sink, toilet, bath with shower over. Not dirty and nothing wrong with it - just nothing exceptional.

~Services~
Somewhat bizarrely they offer the services of an astrologer - I've survived without in all the hotels I've visited up to now and I did wonder if I've been missing out. There's also a baby sitting service and there should be a barber/salon but we saw no evidence of it - ditto on the health club. The pool as I already mentioned has disappeared although there are plans for a new one.

There's a business centre where you can get internet access for 150 rp (just under £2) per hour. However, don't expect too much - it's just the hotel's computer in the business centre and if they are using it or another guest got there first you'll be disappointed. And whilst you are tapping away there'll probably be an Indian businessman or three shouting into their mobile phones in front of you - just in case you hadn't realised how important they are. 'It would be much better if you'd brought your laptop' said the man on reception. 'Yes', I thought, 'How stupid of me not to lug it round the Himalayas for a fortnight just so I could benefit from your in-room Wi-Fi'.

~Bars and Restaurants~
I suspect that there may be restaurants that aren't currently available due to the renovation work. We were able to find only the bar and the main restaurant.

Breakfast is served in the main restaurant and is very good. Lots of choice, not the greatest quality but plenty of different dishes both European and Indian. I did freak when another guest used her hands to rip up a flat bread on the breakfast hot buffet and to pick up some hash browns - but then I'm paranoid about food hygiene. Breakfast runs until 10.30 am.

Dinner in the restaurant is another matter - poor choice, high prices and very average quality. The atmosphere is sterile. We moved tables after a couple with two small children made no attempt to stop one screaming and the other whimpering. When we saw the band limbering up to play we ate up quickly and headed back to the bar.


~The Noise~
If hell exists it's almost certainly under constant renovation. When we arrived the first evening we noticed there was quite a lot of banging and tapping. As we headed out to dinner we noticed a large party arriving for an engagement celebration so we were expecting to get a lot of noise when we returned. The party was actually very quiet and so we put up with the little bit of tapping - turned up the TV and ignored it. We had to leave at 4 am the next morning so we just stuck our heads under the pillows and slept. When we came back 10 days later things were utterly out of control.

Each morning the building work kicked off at 7 am. Each night it was still going strong when we went to sleep - we clocked the work still going on at half past midnight on our final night. The work had also progressed from irritating tapping to full on stone cutting - like a dentists drill but a thousand times louder. I think I can predict that the lobby - once it's done - is going to have lots and lots of lovely marble. I know because it was all piled up and getting cut outside our window. If I had been paying my own money directly to the hotel (rather than as part of a package) I would have been down talking to the manager about refunds within hours of arriving. I've done it before in other noisy hotels and generally they will give in and rebate some of your money.

~The Future?~
So, once the renovation is over, is it going to be OK? Nope - the roundabout will still be right outside the hotel and when the building work stops, the traffic is going to drive you potty. And no doubt sooner or later the work will start on replacing the pool and that's not going to be a quiet job. There is a little niggle at the back of my head that says 'is it fair to damn a hotel because of temporary building work?' And you know what? - I think it is. These guys were still keeping the hotel open, fleecing tourists and businessmen for more than £90 a night when the decent thing to do would have been to shut the hotel down. Any hotel chain that thinks it's acceptable to treat customers like this during renovations is unlikely to treat them with the respect required once the work is completed.

To call this hotel a five start is just a joke!