Best Hospitality is in India!
I went on a roadtrip across Scotland with my sisters that concluded last month.
We stayed in a mix of hotels and Air BnB’s (more of the former, because it was hard to find Air BnB’s that could accommodate the 7 of us) across Scotland and Oxford and I will share a few reasons why I have come to conclude that the Hospitality Industry in India is the BEST!
Room Sizes
What is it with tiny rooms and this country?! I understand that its to do with the cost of real estate, but the average hotel room in Mumbai, that is amongst the top 10 most expensive real estate in the world, has much bigger bathrooms and bedrooms.
Every hotel we stayed at, had a bed smaller than a Queen size for double occupancy.
We spent an average of 100–120 pounds per room, per night, and the rooms were like mouse traps.
The Inn we stayed at had better rooms and hospitality than the hotels!
Breakfast Spreads
After 11 days, we all got sick of baked beans and sausages, packaged juices and yoghurts, and eggs.
At one hotel, where we stayed for 3 nights, all we were served were fried eggs — they refused to entertain our request for scrambled eggs and omelettes!
It is surprising how little these hotels know about world cuisine!
Even the most average breakfast buffet in a hotel in India will have not just Indian (from the North, South and West, in particular), but South Asian and Continental cuisine, an array of fresh produce (juices, vegetables, salads, fruits), and counters for piping hot food.
Even though we were the largest group in all the hotels we stayed at, (some of them having just 20–22 rooms), none of them made any effort to cater to our dietary requirements such as vegetarianism, despite our requests.
They just declined citing “hotel policy”.
Thankfully, we all eat eggs, else we’d have gone hungry on those mornings when we had no alternates.
Guest Relations
We had hired a self-drive Mercedes Vito (8 seater) and one evening, on our way back from the Fairy Pools in the Isle of Skye, we had a tyre burst.
While we tried to get in touch with the rental company (they claimed to have 24/7 support, but we didn’t get through at all), our first instinct was to call our hotel, located in a small fishing village, called Morar.
To our shock, the Manager was anything but helpful. He was not bothered that 7 women were stranded on a highway, 14 miles short of his hotel, with a burst tyre, at 8:45 PM! (Thankfully, it was summer time and there was daylight till midnight).
Eventually, he shared the number of a taxi guy who came and picked us up and dropped us off at the hotel.
The car was towed and the tyre replaced by the only garage in the village after one of my sisters stopped a massive truck on the highway!!!!
In conclusion all I can say is that we’re spoiled rotten in India, by the hospitality we’re offered, and it takes a massive mind shift to adjust to the lean staffed, unaccommodating and zero value for money hotels in the UK!
