Unlike some other hotels, requesting a regular taxi was immediately arranged by the Taj Falaknuma and took us to a very modern, clean, and well organized airport in Hyderabad. But one of the endearing qualities of India, is that it still maintains some quirkiness, as seen in the unique poster we saw, which was obviously made as part of the effort to modernize and clean up India, which is well underway.
We flew economy class on Jet to Delhi. We were very worried about taking economy, even for the short flight, but as it turned out, it was immensely civilized, with a competent crew, friendly fellow passengers, and ample room, food, and drink of satisfactory quality. In fact, it was a much more pleasurable experience than flying domestic in the US or Canada in several ways. At DEL, again we found an immaculate, modern airport.
We were met by the chauffer which we had arranged from the Leela Palace Delhi in a nice BMW 7 series. As part of booking an executive suite, airport transfers were included. That combined with the club lounge made it good value. We were concerned that we might not be able to easily navigate getting a taxi and getting to the hotel on our own (we pictured hordes of people in an archaic airport and being inundated with touts), but as we found out later, it would have been very easy and very inexpensive to arrange our own taxi from the airport. At the Leela we booked a room for each of us, as the prices were reasonable at that time of year and came with various benefits, including Virtuoso benefits. Again, thanks to DavidO for arranging this for us, and for Ms. Middlehurst for putting us in touch with management who helped us make pre-arrival arrangements such as a tour, transportation, a guide, etc.
The Leela Palace was a gorgeous hotel. No expense was spared in the finishes. It made Western hotels look cheap by comparison. No surface was covered in tile when it could be clad in marble. No wallpaper was used when it could be beautiful polished wood of the highest quality. No handle was complete without a brass cap.
The club lounge was a very impressive looking place. It seemed to be able to cater to far more people and to have far more going on there than what it did. That being said, the food presentations were decidedly lacklustre with little if anything to choose from. So we would have a drink there and then leave, without spending much time there.
Breakfast was included in our Virtuoso rate and was very good. Not over the top excellent, but very good service and a good enough selection. I actually had dosa masala’s for breakfast along with some buffet items! The restaurant itself was a beautiful glass enclosed place.
But the standout feature of this hotel, is undoubtedly the pool. It was spectacular!
The hotel arranged a reasonably priced car for a 4 hour tour of Delhi along with guide. We were taken in a BMW 7 series around the city to see some of the main sites, the highlights of which were the Sikh temple and kitchens, the Presidential palace, the Ghandi park, and the old city.
We were struck out how lush the greenery was, how well kept the public places were, and how we were not bothered by anyone in the slightest. The only annoying thing we experienced was our hotel’s fault. The Leela had arranged a guide and the guide was very good. However, after 3 hours of our tour with one hour remaining, the guide took us without our permission to a “place to see how rugs are made”. We were pulled into a store where we were given tea, and then I started to get the picture. They had a whole routine talking about the rugs and then started pulling them out one by one. I quickly got up and said I had had enough and insisted upon leaving immediately. We felt pressured and taken advantage of, particularly since we were paying for this tour by the hour and had only a very limited time to see Delhi before going to Agra. I was thoroughly pissed off and let the guide know, who had of course, nothing to say in reply. It was a very awkward ride back to the hotel. At the hotel I let the concierge have a piece of my mind. This was not the kind of thing that one would expect from a fine hotel. They must take responsibility for their tour guide and not treat their guests like idiots. The management listened attentively and credited me for the last hour of the tour. But the damage had been done. We lost a precious hour of our time in Delhi and were taken advantage of, not by a tout on the street, but by a guide arranged for by a five star hotel. It has left a bad taste in my mouth to this day, although it was the only time during our trip that we had the slightest problem. Despite that, the Leela was an excellent hotel, and we even stayed their for one more night on the way back to Toronto.