India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (36 page)

India’s other famous hotel chain is the
Taj
(
www.tajhotels.com
),
with an enormous inventory of properties, particularly in South India, where Oberoi is largely absent. Quality varies somewhat (and service does not match that of the Oberoi group), but comfort is generally guaranteed, particularly in big cities and resort destinations—the best properties are the
Taj Mahal Palace
in Mumbai (less so the adjoining Tower wing),
Rambagh Palace
in Jaipur,
Lake Palace Hotel
in Udaipur, and
Umaid Bhawan Palace
in Jodhpur. They also offer comparatively excellent service and facilities at their hotels in smaller cities such as Aurangabad and Chandigarh. At press time, the Taj group is rolling out an extensive rebranding campaign, and has introduced several new identities (often used for existing properties); these include
The Gateway
(usually middling, unexceptional hotels) and
Vivanta by Taj
(very exclusive business hotels). Taj also operates a budget chain,
Ginger
(see City Hotels below for more on this).

Safari experiences have changed dramatically since the Taj group launched
Taj Safaris,
teaming up with acclaimed South African conservation group
&Beyond
(formerly CC Africa). Their first luxury safari lodge,
Mahua Kothi,
at the Bandavgarh tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, is a sublime, sexy property with some of the country’s best guides. They already have three more lodges in Madhya Pradesh—at Kanha, Panna and Pench—and are planning more in the next few years. Meanwhile, Amanresorts’ tented lodge at Ranthambhore,
Aman-i-Khás,
remains superlative.

Don’t think that India’s high-end hotel sector is anywhere near saturated. The
Four Seasons
opened its first hotel in Mumbai in 2008, and it is among our favorite city hotels in the country (with an interesting location, brilliant concierge desk, and good community development programs). And two fairly low-key local chains have emerged:
Ista Hotels
(now in Amritsar, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad) and
O Hotels
(currently in Pune and Goa) both offer pretty good homegrown luxury, and are likely to expand their portfolios in the next few years. One Indian chain that is aiming to compete with Oberoi and Taj is
The Leela,
which has teamed up with Kempinski and, having sorted out its service standards, is scheduled to open many large, luxurious, environmentally conscious hotels in the next few years.

HOMESTAYS
All over Kerala (and a few other places), people are converting rooms of their homes into guest rooms for tourists to rent, at incredibly reasonable prices. Guests share the public spaces with the family, which lives in the home, and often dine with them. Many of these homestays are gorgeous heritage homes and their owners extremely hospitable. It’s a good way to interact with an Indian family and get a taste of local culture and cuisine (
www.homestaykerala.com
, for instance, has an extensive list of such properties). But don’t expect room service and the kinds of amenities you get at a full-service hotel. If you are looking for a dash of luxury with your homestay experience, look into the tours through Ladakh offered by Shakti (see above).

HERITAGE HOTELS
Staying in a medieval palace or fort is a unique and wonderful option among India’s accommodations (particularly in Rajasthan), especially when your host is the aristocrat whose forebears built the palace or fort in which you’re overnighting; the best are discussed in detail in relevant sections throughout this guide. Many were built centuries ago, so it’s not surprising that heritage hotels are seldom the most luxurious option, with the possibilities of many stairs, dodgy plumbing, low ceilings, strange room layouts, and other eccentricities. Acting principally as marketing agencies for privately owned palaces, forts, and
havelis
(Indian mansions), as well as a number of small resorts around the country (primarily North India), it’s worth checking out
www.heritagehotels.com
as well as the portfolio of properties that are bookable through
WelcomHeritage
(
www.welcomheritagehotels.com
).

Most heritage properties are individually owned, but a group that enjoys an excellent reputation for selecting and renovating these is
Neemrana;
check out
www.neemranahotels.com
to view their select collection of really lovely boutique heritage hotels, often located in off-the-beaten-track destinations; rates generally represent excellent value for these atmospheric gems, and some of their most recent renovations (such as the awesome Le Colonial in Fort Kochi) are absolute masterpieces. As mentioned earlier, CGH are similarly investing in heritage properties, such as the gorgeous Maison Perumal in Pondicherry and Visalam in Tamil Nadu’s Chettiar district.

Tip:
Be aware that any hovel will attach “palace” to its name in the hopes of attracting more customers. This is often amusing if you’re walking past, but can be disastrous if you’re checking in.

CITY HOTELS
The biggest problem in big cities and popular tourist areas is that the good hotels are often priced way out of reach, while moderate options are thin on the ground.
Midrange hotels
are substandard by Western standards, though considerably cheaper. Wherever possible, we’ve provided budget options that are scrupulously clean and moderately comfortable. A chain of budget hotels we recommend is
Ginger
(
800/22-0022
or 022/66014-634;
www.gingerhotels.com
).
Launched by Indian Hotels (owners of the Taj group) and catering specially to the middling business market, these 101-room “Smart Basics” hotels offer accommodations priced at under Rs 1,500 for a double. They won’t have any of the opulence of the Taj hotels; in fact, rooms are small and rather plain in design, albeit comfortable and with all the amenities, including an ATM in the hotel. At press time, Ginger had just opened its 20th hotel, with several more imminent openings planned. Another budget chain worth looking into is
Lemon Tree.
This relative newcomer offers comfortable hotel accommodations and facilities at a price that its competitors are finding impossible to beat. It’s by no means luxurious, with that slightly stark pared-down atmosphere typical of any budget hotel, but everything is gleaming new and service is pretty slick.

Most of the top-of-the-range city hotels are operated by major international chains specifically those discussed earlier in this section.

THE RATING SYSTEM
India’s hotel rating system refers to size and facilities on offer, not the potential quality of your stay. Often the best hotels have no rating because they are heritage properties and—despite their overwhelming loveliness—don’t conform to the norms laid down by India’s tourism department.

Warning:
As a general rule of thumb, government-run properties are best avoided throughout the country.

BARGAINING
In India, even hotel rates are up for a bit of hard-core bargaining. If you’re thin-skinned, bargain online (many hotels offer Internet-only discounts); alternatively, show up and stay tough—when you hear the rate quoted, brazenly pretend to walk out; there’s no shame in India in turning back and accepting the rate. You’ll also be surprised to find that luxury hotels in cities can often be had at midrange prices, simply because room occupancy is low. Always ask about daily specials, and call and check prices: In this book we generally provide the published (official) “rack” rate for accommodations, but most business and large luxury hotels have now gone over to the “rate of the day” or “best available rate” system which means that you should always investigate actual prices of places that have taken your fancy—even if they appear beyond your reach, the actual rate may be substantially lower.

In remote areas, small towns, and villages, and many places in Goa and the Himalayan foothills, you can find good (basic but clean) budget accommodations at unbelievable prices. The same cannot generally be said of the major cities, where a cheap, dingy hotel may expose you to bedbugs and despair; stick to the budget recommendations in this book.

Note:
Prices in a number of the hotel listings throughout the book are stated in U.S. dollars or, increasingly, in euros—this is, in fact, the way hotels targeting foreign markets quote their rates.

Tip:
All over India, floors are marked and understood differently from many in the U.S. First floor is the floor above the ground level, second floor is the floor above that, and so on. The ground floor or lobby level is just that.

Of Hotels & Taxes

Almost every hotel in India will quote a rate to which an additional luxury tax is added; this varies from state to state. This tax applies to all luxury hotels, or the moment the room price goes above a certain level (which depends on the state, and sometimes the city). Restaurant and hotel bills get a different tax, and alcohol and other luxuries get a different set of taxes all together. Some states such as Tamil Nadu add an astronomical 73.5% tax to imported liquor; as a rule, locally produced alcohol is taxed less than foreign imports. Always check whether the tax has been included in the rate you’ve been quoted and, if it hasn’t, exactly how much it is.

SURFING FOR HOTELS

In addition to the online travel booking sites
Travelocity,
Expedia,
Orbitz, Priceline,
and
Hotwire,
you can book hotels through
Hotels.com
; Quikbook (
www.quikbook.com
); and
Travelaxe
(
www.travelaxe.com
).

Many budget and moderate hotel websites (where indeed they do have them) are poorly maintained, which means you may come across tariffs and information dating as far back as the previous decade. Smaller hotels change e-mail service providers almost as often as they change sheets. For basic information on about 3,000 listed hotels in India, the website for the
Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India
(
www.fhrai.com
) can be a useful if undiscriminating resource.

You’ll also come up against a plethora of accommodations booking services that presume to be direct representatives of the hotel you’re searching for, but that actually hike up the lowest available tariff considerably, which may leave you feeling ripped off before you even bed down. Always compare the website rate with the cheapest rate offered directly by the hotel before making a reservation. On the upside, several hotel networks offer unbelievable Internet discounts that simply can’t be ignored.

For access to some truly wonderful “Hip Hideaways and Boutique Hotels,” check out the offerings at
i-escape.com
, which gives detailed reviews (and booking facilities) for many of India’s most stylish hotels, retreats, and villas.