New Delhi - Taj Mahal Hotel
Spring 2008
Frank's view 
'all that is bad about complacent, big city, 'business' hotels
The Taj Group has some good hotels around India, the best being the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, but the Taj Mahal Delhi is not one of them.
Our suite was grubby. The worn out carpet was probably from an old dog bed and the control unit for the Air Conditioning was untouchably filthy.
The bathroom was tiny, made to look larger by mirrors, but the usable floor space was barely 4ft x 5 ft, and less when the door was opened. The plastic urine sample pot by the bath was presumably for hair rinsing, in the absence of a hand spray.
Just in case you think I am unduly whinging, this crown palace of a suite cost 56,000 rupees a night; that’s £700 0r US$1500. They did leave a complementary bottle of wine in the room. Whilst browsing the hotel wine list I noticed that this generous gesture, at 1375 rupees, was one of the cheapest wines on offer. You really had to pay 3000 rupees + for anything half decent.
On the subject of wine, there were some extraordinary anomalies in the champagne section, with Bollinger, a relative bargain at 4,500 rupees compared to Mumm Cordon Rouge at 5,000 rupees and Pol Roger, 5500 rupees. The real deal seemed to be Laurent Perrier at a mere 3100 rupees. Now that would have been appreciated as a pre dinner aperitif in our suite.
We dined in the hotel’s ‘House of Ming’. The better restaurants in Delhi all seem to be in the larger hotels. Modestly described as ‘the premiere Chinese restaurant in the city’, it was good and packed with locals.
Breakfast, however, was disappointing, with the quality of juices and food generally not of the same standard as other Taj hotels.
The swimming pool was large and well run, with endless complementary bottled water.
The Taj Mahal Delhi is a typical big city business hotel charging over inflated prices. I suspect the bills are normally paid by companies so the guests aren’t too discerning. The hotel clearly enjoys high occupancy and, as a result, has become sloppy. It just doesn’t have to try too hard to get the business and it shows.
Subsequently, I’ve been informed that The Imperial is a much better hotel. I didn’t visit it, let alone stay there, but from the web site, it seems worth a look.
As for the Taj Mahal – AVOID!
Taj Mahal Hotel
1 Mansingh Road
New Delhi
+91 11 23026
http://tajhotels.com/
"The air-conditioning unit was untouchably filthy..."
Our suite was grubby. The worn out carpet was probably from an old dog bed and the control unit for the Air Conditioning was untouchably filthy.
The bathroom was tiny, made to look larger by mirrors, but the usable floor space was barely 4ft x 5 ft, and less when the door was opened. The plastic urine sample pot by the bath was presumably for hair rinsing, in the absence of a hand spray.
Just in case you think I am unduly whinging, this crown palace of a suite cost 56,000 rupees a night; that’s £700 0r US$1500. They did leave a complementary bottle of wine in the room. Whilst browsing the hotel wine list I noticed that this generous gesture, at 1375 rupees, was one of the cheapest wines on offer. You really had to pay 3000 rupees + for anything half decent.
On the subject of wine, there were some extraordinary anomalies in the champagne section, with Bollinger, a relative bargain at 4,500 rupees compared to Mumm Cordon Rouge at 5,000 rupees and Pol Roger, 5500 rupees. The real deal seemed to be Laurent Perrier at a mere 3100 rupees. Now that would have been appreciated as a pre dinner aperitif in our suite.
We dined in the hotel’s ‘House of Ming’. The better restaurants in Delhi all seem to be in the larger hotels. Modestly described as ‘the premiere Chinese restaurant in the city’, it was good and packed with locals.
Breakfast, however, was disappointing, with the quality of juices and food generally not of the same standard as other Taj hotels.
The swimming pool was large and well run, with endless complementary bottled water.
The Taj Mahal Delhi is a typical big city business hotel charging over inflated prices. I suspect the bills are normally paid by companies so the guests aren’t too discerning. The hotel clearly enjoys high occupancy and, as a result, has become sloppy. It just doesn’t have to try too hard to get the business and it shows.
Subsequently, I’ve been informed that The Imperial is a much better hotel. I didn’t visit it, let alone stay there, but from the web site, it seems worth a look.
As for the Taj Mahal – AVOID!
Taj Mahal Hotel
1 Mansingh Road
New Delhi
+91 11 23026
http://tajhotels.com/
"The air-conditioning unit was untouchably filthy..."
Be Frank: agree or disagree? What do you think?
