Holi
by Sharrie
We arrived the week India was having Holi.
Holi is the festival of colors.
In essence, it means one have fun with friends & loved ones & their way of doing it is to smear colors on everyone they come in contact with. This event is celebrated almost everywhere in India & is considered one of the major festivals of the year.
I found a great website which details all about Holi. For anyone interested in finding out more, please proceed to ColorsOfIndia.com.
We were supposed to leave on that saturday morning for Jaipur. Our VT friends Radz & Husain advised us against doing so for fear the crowd might get too rowdy & it wouldn't be a smooth ride. So, in essence, we missed out the fun. Instead we entertained ourselves at Grand New Delhi (formerly Grand Hyatt) with a heavenly pedicure & a lousy haircut!
Relaxation at the Grand New Delhi
by SharrieShaw
"Grand New Delhi"
Formerly a Grand Hyatt property. So, it looks grand. Same color theme & decor.
The room looks great. Beds are one of the most comfortable around in the world. We (Audrey & I) both love the mattresses & pillows. Room with safe (which is an essential in India)!
Reason why I chose this over others is essentially it's one of the very few hotels in New Delhi to have 2 twin beds. I checked with some properties like Sheraton, Taj Mahal, etc... & most of them has only king bed rooms! Something to take note of the 5* hotels in New Delhi.
Hotel is a bit inconveniently located but with transportation cost so low in India, that's not a big problem. Airport transfers from/to the airport is also free of charge. A great advantage especially since we arrived late at night & did not get a car until the next day.
Service is not that great but we found that out all over India anyhow. But one incident left a very bad taste. We were on the way to airport on our last day stay & were left with no small change. Hence, no tip for the doorman. Well, he refused to close the hotel airport transfer car door at first & held it for a long time. After when we explained we didn't have small change (can't possibly tip $10 for just closing a door, can we?) he simply slammed the door on me! The worst I've ever had from a 5* hotel!
Unique Qualities: Generally, hotel has good staff, slow but polite. Definitely not a Grand Hyatt standard anymore but passable.
Buffet breakfast is included & is wonderful. Lots of choices of food. Food here is safe.
The hotel has some of the best Black Forest cakes I've ever tried. Yummy!
I had dinner with Husain at the Italian restaurant. It's quite good food but after the dinner I had stomach upset! A pretty bad one as well.
Japanese Restaurant is great. No problem with food here as well.
There is a spa in hotel & Audrey said it's quite good.
Manicure & esp. Pedicure are some of the best we have had.
Hair cut (only a trim essentially) is one of the lousiest (but at less than US$10 what can you expect!).
Generally, for about 1/2 the price of a room in Sheraton, I think it's good value despite some minor inconveniences.
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