Imperial Rant

I was reminded last night of our recent experience at one of India's, arguably South Asia's. finest hotels, The Imperial in Delhi. Since moving to India, we have stayed there a handful of times but our last stay virtually mirrored our first stay nearly two years ago..... We arrived for a three night period and were met at the airport by driver AND greeter who escorted us to the hotel, where greeter swiftly disappeared after a few quick words with the front desk ... As we tried to check in, we were asked to take a seat in the lobby for a few minutes, after which time, a member of staff asked us to join him in a very quiet area of the restaurant. What had we done? Were our visa's not right? Had the corporate rate increased? None of the above. We were advised that a 'government delegation' had overstayed its welcome and would we mind being 'shifted' to the Shangri La (not shabby) two minutes down the road, just for one night. We negotiated a room upgrade and a complementary dinner, plus we were staying another two nights so all was not lost. Fast forward to July 4th this year.... we arrived at the hotel at 9pm with a booking at 9.30pm in their fabulously lauded and expensive Spice Route restaurant. As the receptionist pulled up our booking (which was made on the hotel's website a few months prior) the words BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE flashed across her screen. When I asked what it meant, she quickly closed the screen and called the duty manager, who arrived with the familiar request to 'take a seat in the lobby...' This time we were ready! No, was our answer, let's sort it here... then came the old 'government delegation' chestnut. We refused to budge. It was the July 4th holiday and we were eating in a half hour. No way! Well, they asked, could we check out at 7am? No way! We were leaving on an international flight at 1pm. At which time, the duty manager 'scuttled away' (there is no finer way of putting this) without a word of an apology, leaving the receptionist to hand us our keys and show us to our room. Not a pleasant start to our short stay and one which, I have to say, has left me thinking of moving hotels next time we are in Delhi. We did file a complaint with the hotel and posed questions on their criteria for 'bouncing' guests to which we received a very hasty letter of apology in the mail - but no comped night or dinner!!!

Storm in a Bathtub

I love to stay in hotels. One of the best things when checking into a fabulous hotel is running a hot bubbly bath for myself. I have a bathtub phobia. It's weird, don't know why, or where it came from, but there are some bathtubs I can get in, and some I can barely look at. Our bathtub in Manhattan, for example, was a no-no: no matter how many times Tom scrubbed it, I barely took three baths in the three years we lived there. I did shower in it though, you'll be relieved to know. There is no tub in our apartment in Bangalore BUT it did take me a few days to get used to my own bathroom and its little quirks. So, when I go to a hotel, I look forward to a pristine white bathtub that I can while away a good half hour in. Some of the best bathtubs I have wallowed in were the marble tubs at The Imperial in Delhi or, very different, The Tabacon Spa in Arenal, Costa Rica, whose bathroom windows fully opened onto the jungle exposing the whole room so you felt like you were bathing outdoors. Both hotels cost under $200 per night at the time of travelling and are billed as luxury. Which leads me to the last 'luxury' hotel I stayed in, the 5-star Ashok in Delhi at $220 per night. The bathroom was so bad, that I was tempted to not even stand in the shower, let alone sit in the tub. The plastic bathtub was stained yellow, the plug was rusted, and the plastic curtain had seen better days. The rest of the bathroom lived up to the tub - the mirrors were tarnished, the toilet seat - which was 'sealed for hygiene' - was once white, I believe, although muddied by years of fingerprints, and even the light switches had been flicked by grubby fingers too many times. Click here for my full account of The Ashok. According to the Ashok website, "they don't build hotels of such grandeur any more". Thank goodness!