My trip was going to be just an overnight one, because I had other commitments back in Mumbai on Sunday. Hotels in Jaipur, even the chain ones, are pretty cheap I’d say, and at the time of making this reservation, Four Points was working out to a very cheap deal of about INR 3000 inclusive of breakfast. While it is not all the way in the centre of the city, one could easily get conveyance from here to the old Jaipur areas.
We arrived into Jaipur pretty early, and had requested early check-in ahead of arrival. The hotel was not very full, so I did get a confirmation that early check-in would be honoured. However, my flight landed earlier than anticipated, there was no traffic that morning, and hence I ended up reaching the hotel at 0800 hours itself.
The hotel is situated on top of a mall, so, the entrance and the driveway are behind the mall. We should have been welcomed with a welcome drink, but somehow it skipped the mind of the people at the lobby it seems, so they did not offer us one. At check-in, I was not informed about the SPG benefits such as the choice between points or free internet, and neither was an upgraded room offered. One of the hotel’s front desk staff on email clarified to me later that due to the early check-in the hotel did not offer me an upgrade. But as per my version, they had a lot of empty rooms the night before as well in higher categories. While after an all-nighter, I did not care for an upgrade, it did show the failure in implementing SPG brand standards across in a uniform manner.
I was assigned a room on the 6th floor, which is the second floor from the top. The lobby overlooked the city, and since it is not a high-rise town, Jaipur, you do get a feeling you’re top of it all.
The room assigned to us overlooked the pool, which was on the second floor. It was a standard room, called a comfort room in their parlance. Pretty spacious room with a working air-conditioner which keeps the cooling, all that was required maybe to plonk me off into sleep.
The view from the room, was the pool and the road ahead.
The Minibar was small and stocked with the basics. Complimentary water bottles were provided over the days in the room itself, and one could ask for more to be sent over a period of time.
The bathroom was pretty much the standard, and like is the latest fad, extended into the room a bit. The bathroom amenities were not the high street labels you usually find in the higher end SPG properties, but worked just fine. The unusual thing about this hotel was, the shower did not give out very hot water, even when you need it.
Room service that afternoon was efficient but not very organised. The guy who brought along a pot of tea to our room, managed to spill a bit of it before he could serve us the rest.
That evening, we decided to go out to the Fairmont, Jaipur for dinner. Just because we could. So, while were going to be gone for a few hours, I requested the front office to take care of turn down service and clean up the room. However, when we got back late night, the room was still in the condition it was the time we left.
Breakfast next morning was served in the all-day dining restaurant called The Eatery.
The breakfast service was a mix of continental breakfast, cereals, bakery items, Indian breakfast and live stations which could cook you up eggs or make you a dosa (Indian pancakes). Pretty much the standard fare, but pretty good quality.
Internet at this hotel was not free, and I think that is so 1995 when you really used a dial-up modem to access the Internet. No one gave us an elite code to use, so when we needed to log in, we called the front desk, and they told us they had automatically selected the 250 StarPoints as our amenity and that I’d have to help myself to paid internet. After a little push and shove, they retreated and asked us to use the Internet as a paid customer, and they’d waive it off at check-out. Of course, as I later saw, it turned out to be my amenity. No bonus Starpoints credited to my account.
But what the hotel did not extend in terms of benefits, they made up by the early check-in they offered and the late check-out on the other end. We did get check-out till 4 PM which is a standard benefit for SPG Golds, on availability again. However, we checked out at about 2 PM, and stored our bags with them while we went back to the city to get lunch at one of the legendary city restaurants.
In all, I found this to be a hotel with some rough edges but perfect value for the price we paid. I sure do hope to come back here sometime.
Join over 3600 people who check-in daily to find out about the best in travel.
Free emails (once-a-day) | RSS Feeds | Facebook Updates | Twitter | Instagram
Hi AJ, you could have done Hilton, Jaipur for 5,000 HiltonH points or points+cash ;)I am planning to visit in Oct.