Four Points by Sheraton, Jaipur

So we started our vacation by taking a stop over at Jaipur. We decided to break our journey to Udaipur because we were taking this second road trip with our one and half year old daughter. Normally we always have our daughter's grandparents with us and we were skeptical whether she would enjoy our company on such a long drive or not!

So on the decided day, we started late in afternoon. As I had some office work to wrap up and we did not want to rush. After all it is supposed to be a "vacation" :-)

On our way we stopped at Hotel Ramada, Neemrana for a fantastic fresh juice, pasta and burger!

Upon reaching Jaipur we took the bypass road and missed the exit which would have taken us directly to the hotel. So we had to take a detour which delayed us by half an hour.

The hotel is in middle of a busy locality. We were prepared for this, since we read a lot of reviews on the internet about the hotel being at the back of big bazaar. We were not so surprised.

Hotel has a separate entry and it is a part of a bigger commercial complex. Parking and check in was very smooth. The staff was very courteous and we were in our rooms in a jiffy. Our little one enjoyed the beds, the rooms were large enough and well maintained. We were too tired to go to the restaurant and planned to leave early for Udaipur next morning. Therefore, it was a quick dinner in the room - followed by a walk to swimming pool and recreation area. I would like to highlight that there is a special kids menu and is very handy to have.

Next, morning we had buffet breakfast. The spread was pretty standard and tasty - no complaints.

The big advantage of having big bazaar next door was that I was able to stock up on mineral water, formula milk for my daughter, few snacks and cold drinks. I somehow do not trust the roadside vendors on the highway and usually stock up these items. For me this was an amazing convenience to have and I was very happy that I was able to top up. This turned out to be even greater because the highway from Jaipur to Udaipur is pretty much deserted except for the toll plazas and the towns /  villages that come on the way.

There is absolutely no highway eateries which are decent enough. Especially, if you are spoilt with the food and choices you get on Delhi -> Chandigarh -> Shimla route.

That's it! It was a short stay at Four Points Sheraton, Jaipur. I would recommend this hotel if you are a business traveler,  frequent traveler to Jaipur or if you need a short one or two day stopover for your trip.

The staff is amazing, food is good, hotel is well maintained, the rooms are clean and super quite. There is absolutely no issues because of the main road.

Hometel, Chandigarh (India)

Hometel Chandigarh is a wonderful relief from privately owned single hotels that dote the city. It is a typical budget hotel with all the necessary amenities and hygiene maintained.

Land use is optimum and car parking is available on the site unlike most of the Sarovar properties.

The rooms are decently sized and functional (IKEA types). We mainly used the hotel as a stopover while travelling to Shimla or Dharamshala and at times while visiting Chandigarh for attending a marriage.

Downsides of the hotel are:

1. The food is terrible and one of the worst breakfast spreads that I have seen. However, room service is OK.

2. The hotel is built on one of the industrial plots. Hence, it is surrounded by lot of factories and at the back side there is place where lot of horses are kept for load carrying. The stench is unbearable.

Whispering Pines, Mashobra (Club Mahindra)

Shimla is one of the favorite haunts for the people living in the plains of Haryana and Punjab and be it winter or summers people find a reason to visit Shimla..

The biggest draw for me is the fine 8 lane highway up to Chandigarh and then the stretch from Chandigarh to Kalka which was a pain, is now 4 Lanes / 6 Lanes toll highway and cuts down the travel time drastically.

Yes, and how can I forget all those eating joints on the way.

Shimla is now very commercialized and to enjoy nature one needs to go farther from Shimla.
Being, a Club Mahindra member we chose the property. Like, any other Club Mahindra property the staff and the food is great.

It is at an ideal location and from the rooms you can see most pristine views of the mighty Himalayas.
The property also boasts of a great SPA at nominal costs.

However, from a great experience on my first visit. Things have gone downhill for the property.

1. The linen quality is really bad. They are old and torn and you have to ask for replacement every time.

2. Heating at the property is turned off at 6 AM (In winters - Dec/Jan/etc.) and then the vents in the room start throwing air at outside temperature and the room is super chilled by 6:15 AM. The only way to avoid it is to get up at 5:59 AM and switch off the central heating FAN. Especially, with young children this can be fatal if they get sick and whole trip might be ruined.

If they can come up with such a stupid thing, I did not even bother discussing it with the property manager or Club Mahindra. Because, if you talk to stupid only nonsense will come back to you.

3. Last time I visited I do not know why the Main Gate was blocked by a water tanker (Shouldn't they be using the service gate at the back). Well, the made gesture to bring the vehicle in but the space was too small and I had to back the vehicle. This was in the middle of the night with heavy snow. There was nobody to guide me and as expected I hit a huge stone with the back bumper of my vehicle.

The reception staff was unapologetic that the main gate was blocked and very completely immune to that fact there was no guard at the gate to guide customer vehicles.

4. There is no stand by bartender. So, when the bartender goes for dinner one needs to wait for good 45 mins.

Well having discussed above four points I have decided never to visit the property again, even though we had really great time there in the past.

Visit at your own risk.

Club Mahindra, Nawalgarh

Club Mahindra’s property at a non-descript place like Nawalgarh attracted our attention as it was totally unheard of. Upon checking with Club Mahindra we came to know that the property is still under development and may or may not look like as per the pictures.

We took the risk and planned our one week trip to Nawalgarh.

There were two ways to do reach our destination and they were:

1. Go to Jaipur to Sikar to Nawalgarh

2. Or try something new and turn towards kothputali and take the lesser travelled road.

We took option 2 and got to see great views. However, the only drawbacks were:

1. There were no good places to eat on the way and hence we survived on chips and coke that we     

        carried with us.

2. It took us longer than usual and the staff at the property was worried and kept calling us again and 

        again to make sure that we reach before dark.

3. Due to potholed road I had to frequently press the brakes. This heated up the discs and we had to stop        for a while so that they can cool down.

Upon reaching we were mesmerized by the remoteness and shocked by the first room given to us. The room was right in front of the pool. Ideal location, some would say. However, the pool was being built and there was cement, bricks, etc. everywhere.

We asked for another room and were given a room on the ground floor of the haveli. We asked for a change as it was right next to the hotel lawns and was too noisy. Upon our request they agreed to give us another room on the top floor the next day.

To our surprise we were given the room post dinner.

What we loved at the property:

1. NO TV. Yes there are no TVs at the property and the manager of the resort came and explained to us 

        the reason personally. We were skeptical at first and it was eerily quiet on first night. But this was the             best part of the stay.

2. Organic food. The vegetables are grown right at the back of the property without fertilizers and 

        pesticides.

3. Being woken up by the peacocks. Yes every morning you see so many peacocks and one is woken’ 

        up by their noise. Excellent way to be woken up.

Activities that can be done

1. Pottery class

2. Horse riding

3. Play badminton / cricket in the evening

4. Visit the haveli towns nearby

5. Visit Kathu Shyam and Balaji

Overall a nice property to stay. This is not your regular hotel but worth the experience.

Club Mahindra, Nawalgarh

One of the Haveli's

Le Meridien, Jaipur

After staying at Trident Jaipur I was tempted to stay at "Le Meridian", Jaipur. Finally they were offering a good deal when we were planning our annual trip to Rajasthan.

It was then that I decided to stay at the property for a night, as a stopover between our destination and Delhi. The deal was 9K INR (Room, Breakfast and one SPA session for a couple).

What I remember from the trip is:

1. Sitting by the pool procrastinating and sipping fresh lime juice.
2. Relaxing in the SPA
3. Feeling small in huge rooms with high ceiling
4. Wine on the first floor of the restaurant

The property is grand and rooms are of good size with good sized bathrooms. Had a great stay at the hotel and enjoyed it. The restaurant serves awesome food. Chef and waiting staff is well versed with what’s on offer and what's liked by the people.

Few little problems that we faced were:

1. The staff expects tips at every step you take.
2. English is terrible even with the reception staff
3. The cue by the billiards/pool table was broken and even after repeated complaints it was not fixed. (Again a staff issue)
4. They need to do something with pigeons sitting out in the balconies. Basically one cannot open the balconies because of the mess created by pigeons.
 

Taj Hotels may soon ink deal to manage Claridges Surajkund, Faridabad (Haryana, India)

Claridges Suraj Kund soon to be acquired by Taj Group

See the link for more details.

Trident Jaipur

Trident, Jaipur is an excellent property right opposite JalMahal in Jaipur. The location is ideal as you cross Amer and Amer fort on the way. The same road leads you to the pink city and the major shopping destinations in Jaipur. Basically, it is neither outside the city nor inside the city.

The property is maintained very well and staff is very courteous. Sometime, that makes you a little uncomfortable. But, it is not hard getting used to all the pampering and attention received.

The food is excellent; however the ‘only’ restaurant serving food can get very busy at times.

The rooms are impeccably clean with all the necessities required. Keep in mind the 3rd floor rooms being rented as Lake View rooms do not offer the view of the lake as promised. The view is blocked due to the vegetation.

Well the only drawbacks are:
1. The property is very compact. The rooms are comfortable and nicely decorated but they are quite small.
2. Lack of facilities like SPA.

Le Meridien is a stone’s throw away and seems to be a better option. As it is a bigger property within similar price bracket. However it lacks the view and the location which Trident offers.

La Plantation, Mauritius

I travelled to Mauritius in December, 2007 and chose to stay at La Plantation (4 Star).

The hotel is located away from city and has its own Private beach with loads of fun activities. If you are a regular visitor and don't fancy to move around much; except for relaxing. There is loads you can do at the hotel itself. There is a Spa, Sports such as volleyball, swimming pool, scuba diving, para sailing etc.

Food is mouth watering especially the breakfast. Pure vegetarian Indian food is also served.
The most amazing was the beach side restaurent and bar.

Staff speaks English, Hindi and French and the service is excellent.