I’ve had a pretty long association with the Hyatt Group, and I am largely fond of their hotels. Enough to have tried most of them in India and a lot of them abroad. Here are some (Park Hyatt Goa, Hyatt Regency Kolkata, Park Hyatt Hyderabad, Hyatt Pune, Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad). My first experience with the Andaz brand was in West Hollywood not very long ago. That set the standard for me for the Andaz brand.
Turned out the Andaz Delhi opened after much dragging of feet towards the end of December. Since I was already away on vacation, I did not get an opportunity to be around for the inaugural night of the Andaz brand in India. A few days back, I realized my folks were not in town while me and Shipra were going to be on a quick trip to Delhi, so I was left with an opportunity to try out a hotel stay in Delhi, something I don’t do often.
I booked up the Andaz in Delhi, and since Shipra had a couple of Diamond Suite Upgrades almost poised to expire, we applied one of those to be put on our reservation. We were instantly confirmed into an Andaz Suite King.
On arrival this morning, we had this quirky Ambassador waiting for us at the airport. Since the hotel is located within the Delhi Aerocity, I presume they do this for a lot of guests if not all.
On arrival at the hotel, a host asked us for our papers and credit card, and checked us in. No mention of the package we were on, the inclusions, the room type allotted or such mundane matters of the lobby. On arrival, I realised we were in a regular room, and not any kind of a suite.
I immediately called the reception, and they said they had no information about a suite for us. It was not like I asked for this upgrade this morning before I caught my flight to Delhi, but was done well in time yesterday. After that, we waited and waited and waited. It was not before 1.5 hours later that there was a suite opened up for us. In the meanwhile, we had one of the hotel management knocking on the door, asking me why I was expecting a suite, thinking I was asking to be upgraded on a space available basis. It took a lot of time getting across to him the concept of a Diamond Suite Upgrade which was already confirmed. His counter was I was already upgraded to a View room. Eventually he relented, telling me the rest of my stay would be enjoyable. Yeah, right.
The hygiene standards of these hotel also look suspect so far. While waiting for the room to open up, twiddling our thumbs and postponing my meetings on SMS with someone, I cracked open a bottle of water and poured some in a glass, only to realize something floating in those glasses which should have not been there perhaps?
The Andaz pricing is rich. I’m paying about 120$+ taxes for a one night stay, so it works up to 160$ easily. I don’t see why they should deliver to the Andaz standard and have mostly ignorant and casual staff amongst them.
Anybody stayed here already and agree or disagree with my first observations with this hotel?
Hi, I just had a stay in Andaz Delhi and it was fantastic . My experience says that they are very good in customer service . Their night menu is dreadful but the chef did go out of the way to provide us food not in the menu . I stayed in their largest suite which was fantastic in 250 dollars per night . They will be coming with apartments also like grand Hyatt in Mumbai . The staff is very honest as this I can say because I left my phone in my car on the seat next to driver and after 15 min when I realised and got my car back my phone was lying their only . The property is new and a good one and we need to give them some time so that they can tick their all boxes .
i’ve had a few problems with DSUs and india hyatts — grand hyatt goa was a nightmare of phone calls and emails; finally it was all set with three months to go — two regular rooms with DSUs — but within a week we had to cancel; three months later my credit card showed a $2,000+ charge for two suites. same thing with hyatt chandigarh — booked two rooms, one with a DSU, and sure enough they charged for one suite and one room. your post is timely because we were debating between marriott and andaz for a trip in march. i guess we’ll stick with marriott.
I’m not one to escalate complaints to global management often, but given that this property is new and your experience is wholly at odds with what one ought to expect from the Andaz brand, I’d suggest doing just that.
Better for brand standards adherence team to nip this bad behavior in the bud.
Wow. Will stay away. Though it still doesn’t compare to the time I found a dead roach in my room on check in at the Leela Goa, and found one in the replacement room as well.
Jeez.. of all the cool things on the outside. It tempted me for a weekend getaway too..
Thanks man, that’s one less kharcha..
Well you saved me the trouble. I was planning to stay there this weekend. A reason to skip I guess