• Introduction: An English Summer
• Selecting between the British & Irish Visa
• Review: JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar
• Review: AI 131 Mumbai to London Heathrow, Business Class, Boeing 787-8
• Review: Plaza Premium Lounge, Arrivals Area, London Heathrow Terminal 2
• Review: London Marriott Park Lane, Deluxe Room
• Review: Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, View Room
• Restaurant Review: Dishoom London
• Review: InterContinental Dublin, Junior Suite
• Review: Airbnb in Dublin
• Review: Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport
• 10 experiences to put on your list when visiting Dublin
• Restaurant Review: The Pig’s Ear, Dublin
• Review: DAA Executive Lounge, Dublin Airport Terminal 1
• British Airways Buy on Board Meals
• Review: Holiday Inn London Heathrow T5
• Review: British Airways First Wing
• Review: British Airways Terminal 5 Elemis Spa
• Review: British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow

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At the start of our trip, we checked into the JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar Hotel, which is the newest luxury hotel that opened up next to the Terminal 2, Mumbai in 2015. We’ve wanted to stay there for a long while, but being from Mumbai, we never go around checking into hotels in Mumbai very often. However, Ajay had a Marriott Rewards category 1-5 redemption night from one of his previous MegaBonus promotions, and he never got around to using it elsewhere so we figured why not start the trip closer to the airport.

If you just have carry-on bags you can actually walk down to the hotel in 5-7 minutes from international arrivals.

The Lobby

As we entered, the first thing that caught my attention was the chandelier in the lobby. It doubled up as an artefact in the hotel as well.

The large chandelier in the centre and the lighting in the lobby gave it a real luxurious feel. There were a number of hotel staff standing to greet guests. We headed straight to the Marriott Rewards member check-in desk.

As soon as we arrived at the desk, we were brought a welcome drink along with freshening napkins. After completing check-in formalities were advised that we had been upgraded to an Executive Suite, which I’d attribute to Ajay’s Marriott Gold status. We were escorted to the Executive Suite on the 9th floor of the hotel. For whatever reason, the hotel has their 9th floor = 18th floor in their terminology by skipping a lot of numbers in between. The hotel has a total of 10 floors.

The Suite

The Suite’s interiors were modern and furnished in a minimalist fashion. The living room was long, vertical and had a comfortable couch. On the wall opposite the living room seating was a big flat screen television.

There was a platter of fresh fruits placed on the centre-table.

I was happy to spot a Nespresso machine in the room though disappointed to see only 2 Nespresso capsules with no choice of flavours.

The design of the work-desk was unique here. Behind the living room was an oblique separation where there was a long marble work desk. The beauty of the design was that one could watch the TV fitted in the living room from their work desk.

There was a small walk-in closet area designed behind the living room and study.

The bedroom was spacious and beautiful. The interiors were done in a contemporary fashion, mixed with traditional Indian elements like motifs on the headboard. The bedroom had a television of its own. There was an easy chair by the side of the room next to the window.

The view from the room looked out into the city and largely gave us a glimpse of the slums surrounding the Mumbai airport area.

The room had an adjoining open bathroom. The bathroom was fairly large with a shower cubicle and modern bathtub.

The amenities were Aromatherapy and there was common basin in the centre. Never been a fan of Aromatherapy much.

For a newly-designed, modern hotel, I would have expected a separate his and her basin.

We noticed a lot of scratches at many places in the suite. For a hotel that is just 2 years old, I’d imagined that the furnishing and the maintenance would be of a higher standard.

Overall the Executive suite was beautifully designed and had ample of natural lighting. Another thing I was initially worried about was the noise at night due to close proximity from the airport.

However, Ajay and I both slept really well and were not woken up even once by aircraft engine noise. My assumption is that the rooms had double glazed noise-proof windows which is great.

The Lobby Lounge

In the evening we visited the Executive Lounge which is located on the 17th floor and we had access to the lounge from the 18th floor as well. The flight of steps leading down from the 18th floor opened into a rather large seating area with the bar on the wall.

There was a work desk and a meeting room in a corner of the lounge with Apple Macs at your disposal.

The lounge has a variety of seating options right from couches in front of the television to comfortable sofas to dining tables.

We visited the lounge multiple times during the stay. Through the day, the lounge serves hot and cold beverages and there was a limited assortment of cookies and some lovely chocolates to choose from.

The Lounge had cocktail hours in the evening from 6 through 9 pm, and canapes were served from 6:30 through 8:30 pm. During the canape hours, the food and the beverage spread in the lounge were quite substantial. The variety of cold canapes included a salad bar to cold cut meats and cheese board with crackers.

There were also hot items like kebabs and chicken in mushroom sauce available. Apart from this, there was also a live counter where the chef was flipping out fresh Uttapams.

They also had the Laksa soup which is a spicy coconut milk based curry soup that comes with rice noodles. Ajay tried the Uttapams and I had the soup.

For me, the highlight of the evening spread was the desserts. They were some fabulous Indian and western desserts up on display.

I tried the chocolate cake, crumble and some Indian sweets and they were all delicious.

At the bar there was an assortment of alcoholic drinks. We asked the bartender to whip us a cocktail of his choice; he made us a nice espresso martini which was very nice.

Next morning we quickly popped into the lounge for a cup of tea. The breakfast spread at the lounge was reasonable with options such as idli and eggs-to-order in the selection. There were the usual continental options as well: fruits, petite bakery spread and a choice of cereals.

The lounge was also serving egg curry for breakfast which was meant to be savoured with dosa. Having never tried egg curry + dosa combination before I decide to dig in and learnt that egg curry tastes really good with fresh dosas.

Breakfast at the JW Cafe

After sipping on a hot cup of tea and digging into egg curry, we headed to the 24-hour coffee shop JW Cafe, for breakfast. After all, it was the weekend and we had all the time to indulge ourselves in a lazy long breakfast. The hotel, at check-in, had already informed us that we had the option of having breakfast in the lounge or at the restaurant, and we chose to eat at the restaurant.

The JW Cafe is located on the ground floor of the hotel. The restaurant was busy and after being seated I walked over to a pretty masala chai cart in one corner where they were brewing fresh masala tea.

The breakfast buffet included a hot breakfast station with a variety of Asian, Indian and Western options to choose from.

There were paranthas which I could pair with 9 different kinds of pickles. There were regional specialities like pav bhaji and misal pav which are typical Mumbai breakfast dishes.

For the health conscious folks, there was a health cart with a variety of healthy options to choose from.

Besides this there was cereal; a variety of bread freshly baked, cakes, muffins and pastries; fresh fruit juices, smoothies and yoghurt to choose from.

It was a never-ending party, and the breakfast was so good that we ended up spending over an hour in the restaurant.

Another good thing about the JW Cafe is that that they have created a children’s play area inside the restaurant that allowed parents to enjoy their breakfast as well.

Hotel Exteriors

After our leisurely breakfast, we walked around the premises to explore the hotel. The hotel has a beautiful outdoor pool with poolside cabanas.

There is even a small private garden with sofas. I imagine it would be nice to sit in the garden in the evening after a dip in the pool.

We walked into the fitness centre, although no time to use. It was a very well equipped gym. Apart from running the treadmill with a view of the pool, one could use the were steppers and a variety of cardio and weights machines.

On our way out we noticed a spa as well which looked quite inviting.

The Wallet Effect

The JW Marriott Sahar, Mumbai is a category 4 hotel where a reward night costs 20,000 Marriott Rewards points. The average price for a room night is about INR 9,000/ USD 140 and with the new 28%  GST applicable the minimum you can expect to pay for a night here INR 11,500/ USD 180 for a standard room night.

For us, the cost of this stay was zero as we used our Marriott Rewards stay certificate. With Ajay’s Marriott Gold status, it helped us get access to the lounge and complimentary breakfast.

Bottomline:

Overall we had a pleasant one night stay at the JW Marriott Sahar in Mumbai. For an airport hotel, the hotel is designed lavishly and true to the JW Marriott brand has a luxurious feel about the property. This is a good choice to consider if you want to stay close to the airport. Also, the Mumbai airport is located within the city so a good choice for those who are looking at staying close to the airport and have easy access to Mumbai city.

The hotel tends to become busy pretty quick given it also attracts a lot of events crowd as well. But they have a great Italian restaurant as well in Romano, a restaurant we’ve visited in the past and dined at.

While the hard product and the decor are all largely top notch, the hotel does need to work on its service standards. I noticed multiple hotel staff in the lobby and in the restaurant area however many a times I noticed guests seeking assistance and no-one coming forward.  Even though the staff is prompt and professional there was a clear lack of warmth in the service standard.

Have you stayed at the JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar? What has been your experience with the hotel?

 

The Pros

+ Great Elite Recognition
+ New Hotel Smell
+ Spacious lounge with a great spread
+ Kids friendly
+ Location

The Cons

- Service lacks warmth
- Better Maintenance

Rating