Editor Pick
Never Again! Only Suitable for the Deaf
- June 19, 2009
- Rated 1 of 5 by
koshkha from Northampton, United Kingdom
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!
From journal From the Sublime to the Ridiculous - Delhi Hotels