Just checked into the Taj Land's End in Mumbai, and once again, I am knocked over by the blast of mildew that I get walking into the room. I'm at a conference, so I didn't have an opportunity to stay at a newer hotel (the FS is my go-to these days); though I normally book the Club floors at Taj properties, it wasn't an option for the conference rate. This room smells so disgusting that I actually tried to move into a Club room anyway just now, rate be damned, but I was told that the hotel is sold out for my entire four-night stay. I am looking around for a clothespin to put on my nose, seriously. It is unbearable.

WHY WHY WHY do Indian hotel operators not realize that if they cannot keep a carpet mildew-free because of the high humidity, it is possible to design hotel rooms that don't have carpets? Or if they must have carpets, can they not replace them when they get this disgusting? The one in this room not only smells but has stains on it and is visibly faded. I would bet a lot of money that it has never been replaced since the hotel was built.

Rant over. (Well, the out-loud one, anyway.) Argh.