Everything was perfect; except the dinner buffet. We will come to that later. I quote four memorable experiences.
1. The reception staff was well-trained and professional and any problems such as a billing confusion was resolved effortlessly, and more, the manager suggested me to relax in my room while they sort out the issue; no need to stand at the reception. What a nice gesture!
2. There was some drainage issue in one of the rooms (I had booked several rooms). A call to zero resolved the issue within 10 minutes. The service was ultra-fast for a hotel of this size.
3. They have shown a bold move by placing specially challenged (speech and hearing) individuals at public facing roles such as the butler, the restaurant waiter, etc. They are all well-trained and were able to communicate with my parents, my kid, and us effortlessly. Of course, none of us are trained in sign-language but somehow they managed it extremely well; hence this was a unique and amazing experience.
4. While we were checking in, there was some confusion with some of our guests who hadn't arrived yet. So, we decided to drop the bags and come back later for checkin. When the manager noticed that my elderly parents were in the car outside, they sent a couple of bottles of water to the car. Costs nothing but left a lasting impression! The dinner buffet was fine in general but the management could work on the menu and taste better, given the spotless nature of all of their other amenities and services. The breakfast buffet, however, had amazing taste. Moreover, in any other city, I would not have this complain but in Kolkata, the locals are typically foodies and the cheapest to the most expensive places in the city cannot compromise on taste. I would like to give the hotel a benefit of the doubt- I stayed during a (better: the) major North Indian festival. That might explain the main cooks on leave and backup options turned on, who tried their best but did not quite get it right.
