Sunday 17 April 2016
Agra
I am arrived in Agra and having another buffet lunch at another fine hotel. Although I hardly want another big meal at this point, they discourage you from ordering from the menu by frowning when you ask to see it and making the choice of the buffet much less expensive. I am at the ITC Mughal Hotel and have been upgraded to a magnificent suite. I don't know if this is because of my unhappiness at the hotel in Delhi, but whatever the reason, I accept with pleasure,
Friday 15 April 2016
Delhi
To end the mystery, my room at The Claridges in Dehli seems perfectly fine when I am taken there. Everything I would need seems to be available. It is late in the afternoon and the drapes, which stretch across an entire wall, are fully closed (I assume to keep out the heat). However, when I return from dinner I note that the only available electric outlet has a room deodorizer plugged in and the mattress is rather thin, and barely adequate. But it is late, I am tired, I go to sleep.
Saturday 16 April 2016
Delhi
In the morning I pull open the drapes to get some natural light from the windows and, lo, there are no windows. Instead, there are
sheets of heavily frosted material. They cannot be opened, cannot be seen through, and worst, allow no natural light into the room. I am sure it would not be legal to rent such a room in the US. I feel as if I am in an inside cabin on the lowest deck of an old cruise ship.
But I am here for only one more night, have a very busy day planned and have already unpacked everything to reorganize my suitcase at this halfway point. I don't want to waste time moving to another room. But I do want management to know that I am unhappy, having been given the worst positioned room in the entire hotel (which could easily be seen on the room chart attached to the door). I speak with a uniformed person in the lobby who immediately offers me another room, but I am adamant that I do not wish to waste my time re-packing and moving. But I think it is important to let them know they should not treat single travelers so cavalierly.
I am especially disturbed by the closed drapes which were clearly a ploy to prevent me from knowing that there was no natural light in the room. Management insists and insists that I move—so it is easier just to give in, throw everything in my suitcase in no order and move. The new room is much better, not only with available outlets, but with adapters plugged in them, and a small balcony overlooking the pool.
Thus the story has a happy ending, with one caveat: I ask why I was not given this room when I checked in (it is now 7:30am; no one had used the room overnight); I get no answer.
Well, I have gone on longer than I planned, but I am waiting for my afternoon/evening tour of Agra to begin and I don't want to nap. I also want to make clear that neither Audley nor its local agents were responsible and that the hotel did respond to my issue. But if my travel agent in Boston is keeping up with the blog, someone from Audley should contact The Claridges while the issue is still fresh. I am sure Audley brings much business to the hotel; they should make the ITC Mughal people understand how to treat single tourists and how not to deceive the visitor with closed drapes.
So it's time to tour and continue all the good things I have been experiencing. This problem, which I know is rather minor, has been the only one so far since I arrived in India a week ago—other than not having nearly enough time, especially in Delhi.
More later.
Agra
I am arrived in Agra and having another buffet lunch at another fine hotel. Although I hardly want another big meal at this point, they discourage you from ordering from the menu by frowning when you ask to see it and making the choice of the buffet much less expensive. I am at the ITC Mughal Hotel and have been upgraded to a magnificent suite. I don't know if this is because of my unhappiness at the hotel in Delhi, but whatever the reason, I accept with pleasure,
Friday 15 April 2016
Delhi
To end the mystery, my room at The Claridges in Dehli seems perfectly fine when I am taken there. Everything I would need seems to be available. It is late in the afternoon and the drapes, which stretch across an entire wall, are fully closed (I assume to keep out the heat). However, when I return from dinner I note that the only available electric outlet has a room deodorizer plugged in and the mattress is rather thin, and barely adequate. But it is late, I am tired, I go to sleep.
Saturday 16 April 2016
Delhi
In the morning I pull open the drapes to get some natural light from the windows and, lo, there are no windows. Instead, there are
sheets of heavily frosted material. They cannot be opened, cannot be seen through, and worst, allow no natural light into the room. I am sure it would not be legal to rent such a room in the US. I feel as if I am in an inside cabin on the lowest deck of an old cruise ship.
But I am here for only one more night, have a very busy day planned and have already unpacked everything to reorganize my suitcase at this halfway point. I don't want to waste time moving to another room. But I do want management to know that I am unhappy, having been given the worst positioned room in the entire hotel (which could easily be seen on the room chart attached to the door). I speak with a uniformed person in the lobby who immediately offers me another room, but I am adamant that I do not wish to waste my time re-packing and moving. But I think it is important to let them know they should not treat single travelers so cavalierly.
I am especially disturbed by the closed drapes which were clearly a ploy to prevent me from knowing that there was no natural light in the room. Management insists and insists that I move—so it is easier just to give in, throw everything in my suitcase in no order and move. The new room is much better, not only with available outlets, but with adapters plugged in them, and a small balcony overlooking the pool.
Thus the story has a happy ending, with one caveat: I ask why I was not given this room when I checked in (it is now 7:30am; no one had used the room overnight); I get no answer.
Well, I have gone on longer than I planned, but I am waiting for my afternoon/evening tour of Agra to begin and I don't want to nap. I also want to make clear that neither Audley nor its local agents were responsible and that the hotel did respond to my issue. But if my travel agent in Boston is keeping up with the blog, someone from Audley should contact The Claridges while the issue is still fresh. I am sure Audley brings much business to the hotel; they should make the ITC Mughal people understand how to treat single tourists and how not to deceive the visitor with closed drapes.
So it's time to tour and continue all the good things I have been experiencing. This problem, which I know is rather minor, has been the only one so far since I arrived in India a week ago—other than not having nearly enough time, especially in Delhi.
More later.
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