First of all since we were 11 people travelling, these guys had initially promised us 6 rooms each with 2 people and then changed it to 3 rooms with 4 people in each at the same rate which perplexed us from the start. When we finally reached there they showed us one room with 11 cots-to say I was enraged would be euphemistic. Then finally they settled on 3 rooms but refused to alter the rates.
If there is one thing I really really hate about business establishements, it is apathy towards customer experience. When I told them that we are from 4 different software companies and we could give them good publicity among friends if they treated us well, the reply I got was this-"This hotel is there for the last 52 years Sir, we dont need any publicity". I didn't need much time to find out that they have been in existence for 52 years, for pretty much nothing seemed to have been altered in their rooms in those fifty-odd years.
The sole sources of light for the room were two weak bulbs, which looked like relics from stone age.
And the biggest shock was the state of the toilets, I dont want to go into the details here, for the sake of decency, but I would leave it with the observation that I have seen public latrines which are maintained better.
The chairs looked like they had been used as Pan spitting booths at one time and the the wood on the cot was peeling away.
They advertise about presence of "Indoor and Outdoor games"-I am not sure about the outdoor stuff, but the "indoor games" were a TT table and a pool table-one photo would describe their disgusting state more than I can in words.
I was seriously surprised and almost laughed out when the manager casually asked us on being informed of our decision to leave a day early-"Why sir, is anything wrong?"!!!
And for all this BS, we had to shell out Rs 660 per head per day (came to 7260 for 3 rooms one night stay). Luckily on taking a stroll around the city we landed in MTDC hotel, which was amazing. I had never expected such commitment and customer service at a government establishement. The very next day we shifted to this hotel and the cost for the next night stay was 2678 (243 per head) without food ofcourse, but the difference between the two was a whopping 357 per day and any one of us can vouch for the fact that the food at Bharat hotel was not worth more than 150 per day.
Well, from the face value of the amount i.e Rs.660/- per head per night did not strike us much. But when you translate that to a per room basis - it comes to Rs.2640/- per room per nite - which is almost (or more??) the cost of a double room at Khatriya (3 star) per night.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I saw the MTDC rooms, I was wondering if this is April!
That hotel SUCKED.
ReplyDeleteU were lucky, u had 2 bulbs i nur room. Mine had only one 40 watts bulb and Mukunthan's room had a single 0 watts bulb.
There were NO GEYSERS in the room. He had some central geyser and timings. Bloody bugger, how can he do this in a place where the temperatures hover around 5 degrees.
And don't forget his awful food. I had a SERIOUS bout of food poisoning.
Good to see that Sharma is proving to be a responsible consumer by exercising his power of publicity.
ReplyDeleteCool post Sharma! U pretty much said it all. I remember Parthi saying there were indeed some customers (family) who were satisfied with their stay there. I wonder if they took us (bachelors) for granted!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I cant forget how those fellows managed smiles, very much to my irritation, when we said just before leaving the hotel(?) that we would be giving them online publicity!
I've the bill with me. Lemme see if there is any email id contact there. If present, I would very gladly point them to this post :)
Bharat hotel is one of the best hotel in mahabaleshwar, it seems these guys [all posted their views in a span of 4-5 days] have choen this platform to gain publicity and defame Hotel Bharat - which is very poor use of technology.
ReplyDeleteno picture shows their presence and no picture proves that this is bharat hotel, for all tourist we suggest to see this link http://www.hotelsimahabalehswar.com/bharathotel
regards
Bharat hotel is one of the best hotel in mahabaleshwar, it seems these guys [all posted their views in a span of 4-5 days] have choen this platform to gain publicity and defame Hotel Bharat - which is very poor use of technology.
ReplyDeleteno picture shows their presence and no picture proves that this is bharat hotel, for all tourist we suggest to see this link http://www.hotelsinmahabalehswar.com/bharathotel
regards
Bharat hotel is one of the best hotel in mahabaleshwar, it seems these guys [all posted their views in a span of 4-5 days] have choen this platform to gain publicity and defame Hotel Bharat - which is very poor use of technology.
ReplyDeleteno picture shows their presence and no picture proves that this is bharat hotel, for all tourist we suggest to see this link http://www.hotelsinmahabaleshwar.com/bharathotel
regards
Ah, finally-after two years-someone from the hotel responds (albeit repeating himself in poor English three times:))-I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThese experiences (or rather, these nightmares) were for real and the photos are from the hotel. Mr Manager, just imagine how much more mature it would have been to admit guilt and say we messed up once, but we have improved a lot-instead of trying to make us look like villains:).
Anyways, I will leave it to my readers to decide whether they want to trust us and stay away from trouble on what should be a beautiful vacation or whether they want to believe our manager and give it a shot. Either way, I would love to hear your experience.
Again, as Anbu pointed out, this was a onetime experience for us 11 people and things might be different for others or (more optimistically) they might have made significant improvements. I would definitely appreciate comments of any positive experiences from customers.
Bharat Hotel is one of the finest hotels I have visited with my family. It is a truly meant for families who intend to have a good time. Some of the groups come to mahableshwar and just want to get drunk. Once drunk things get out of control as well as out of their mind. The hotel has been in existence because of their great food, good rooms and a never ending hospitable service.
ReplyDeleteI trust them and I would continue visiting them.
ha ha ha! Now the previous comment looks to be a bogus post in response to Sharma's comment "I would definitely appreciate comments of any positive experiences from customers." - considering its quickness & anonymity.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Dear Mr. ganesh_manager,
instead of attempting to cover up truth, your time may be better spent at minding your business of improving your customers' satisfaction. Your hotel ll get its deserved credit naturally.
-Anbu-
PS:
1. Also Mr. intelligent ganesh_manager, your logic sucks! If, according to you, we have made up the pictures in the post, I wonder, if you can't do the same to the pictures in the link pointed by you.
2. I'm also wondering what publicity we have gained from the post!
LOL:), to whoever wrote that "customer experience"-dude you seriously need some more creativity. You seem to have copy pasted most of it from our genious ganesh_manager:).
ReplyDeleteOne more thing..none of my friends or I drink or smoke and I am kinda proud of that...if you utter things like that again, I am going to come to Mahabaleshwar and kick your crooked lazy ass!
I visited the hotel on the 31st 2007 with my friends and our families. BOY! what a place. The place rocked. Fantastic DJ, great veg. food , excellent rooms, a truly moneys worth experience.
ReplyDeleteI do not know why the small kid is cribbing.
My brother in law visited this hotel twice and he seems happy.I am planning to go to Mahabaleshwar this winter.This hotel doesn't seem to have own website so I was looking for previews.I hope the situation has changed since 2006.Has anyone visited recently to this hotel?
ReplyDeleteCheers
Amit
its true we also had a same ordeal .the pictures are of hotel only how can the denied it was horrible exp
ReplyDeletehey arvind,
ReplyDeleteguess what I landed up on your blog a day before i was leaving for mahabaleshwar, I had already booked the rooms at Hotel Bharat from pune, the hotel was referred to me by my friend, after seeing the images i thought i was gonna repent my decision. I was horrified at the images on your blog and sent the link to my friend. He said that they were nothing like that.
Still i was not sure till i reached mahabaleshwar (11 Jun 2009 to 14 jun 2009 my trip date) you won't believe i was so relieved when i entered the room as your images were haunting me till then.
thankfully the rooms were quite alright, they are not what you experienced. Maybe in these 3 years they changed. The link which the ganesh manager person has posted is exactly how it looks now.
The whole experience was pretty ok, I had taken the Rs 2000 per day package which includes food it was a non ac room. The food was good and the room which we stayed was pretty clean, the floors had those spartek tiles and thankfully they had a comode toilet and not the indian one, my knees would have hurt if it were the latter.
also our interaction was more with the food servers and the person who cleaned our room, and we were pretty happy with them. atleast these people served us well, i dunno about the rest of them.
forgot to tell one more thing, anyone visiting mahabaleshwar should book a non ac room in any hotel you stay, you really dont need a ac in mahabaleshwar. This will save you a lot of money.
ReplyDelete