I shall start from arrival at the hotel. We were a family of four who had booked two rooms at the property. We arrived around 14:30 Hrs (at least 30 mins after the designated check-in time). First of all, although the check-in desk at the hotel is quite huge, there were only 3 staff members ***ning the desk, all of them occupied. We had to wait for around 15 mins, looking here and there like *****s with our bags on before someone greeted us. And I do not mind waiting for check-in; what I do mind is that despite multiple staff members seeing us wait, not one of them acknowledge our presence and asked us to take a seat and wait. They would all look at us and carry on. Forget a warm smile, forget a namaste, we were made to feel like fools just standing there without anyone attending to us. When we finally did get a chance to check in, we were given two adjacent rooms. The key to one room was handed over to us, and we were told that the second room is not ready yet and that as soon as it is ready the key would be sent to us in our room. We said okay and moved towards our room. Once in our room, all four of us sat waiting in one room for around 45 mins for the key to the second room. We were not able to unpack because we wanted to unpack in our respective rooms. Tired and hungry, we left the hotel to get ourselves some lunch and some sightseeing, hoping that by the time we return our second room would be ready. When we returned and asked for the key to the second room from the reception desk, we were told that the room that was allocated to us had been now given to someone else -- and we were given some other room that was ”close” to the first room. I understand that asking for adjacent rooms is a mere request and not a right. But had we been given a ”close” room earlier, we could have gotten the keys earlier at the time of check-in! We waited for a room for so long, only for it to be given to someone else.
Fast forward to the next morning's breakfast. The spread was quite good and quite diverse in variety. However, again the entire staff at the breakfast looked tense for some reason. And they kept messing up with live counter orders. No one had a smile on, no one welcomed you with warmth, and no one made you feel as if you were staying in a 5-star hotel (which The Lalit considers itself to be).
Our entire experience with The Lalit was below par at the very least. It was not the kind of experience you would expect from a branded property that so conveniently calls itself a luxury 5-star property. I honestly feel for the money that I paid, I could and should have gotten a different property and that would have been definitely better. For the foreseeable future, and till things change, I do not see myself staying at any Lalit property.
