How is the Park Plaza?

I guess I must have been lucky then! I thought there was more of the highway open but as I stay in Gurgaon when I'm there I've managed to avoid the daily commute.

It's OK. Not worth the almost USD300 they're charging for it next week but that's the way things go in Gurgaon... It's fairly convenient for my office, has a Kebab Factory on-site if I'm hungry and can't be bothered going out for dinner and there are some restaurants in the surrounding malls; I've had good food at the Kebab King (I think is the name) which is about 15-20min walk away.

The area round there is still being developed (like the rest of Gurgaon) so it may get better in the future.

Unfortunately hotel development has not kept pace with demand in the area. Some people that own apartments around there could make some money renting out furnished apartments with dedicated staff.

Amazing how it (DLF, the enginge behind Gurgaon) all started with an ex-military guy in Delhi launching Delhi Land (or was it meant to be Lease ) and Financing. May its founder -- who enjoyed the best pool (barely used by his son-in-law) in Lutyen's Delhi -- rest in peace.

GUWonder, you got it right. We're in the Hyatt by default. Everything else on the Corporate list was booked. The Radisson was about $400 a night (but what a gorgeous pool on their Web sit picture!). The Trident Hilton had rooms available for $720 a night but they were some sort of executive rooms that included butler service. If my boss and I were the same sex, it would be a kick to share a 2-bedroom suite there, but we're not and we're both happily married- so the Hyatt it is.

We're going to be working out of the DLF buildings- quite a complex.

With some of the hotel rates, I wonder if it's getting close to making sense for even more people to fly in and out every day -- and staying at a hotel in another city.

Someone really could make some income renting out full-service furnished apartments, for short-term rentals, around Gurgaon.

It is a 2-bedroom suite? Since it is 2-bedrooms, what does it matter what sex you and the boss are? You aren't sharing rooms, only the common living room.

And this being India we are talking about, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a lock on near each and every door.

Just call the hotel to make sure the bedrooms have their own locks on the door. I wonder how the bill would be handled and submitted for reimbursement, presuming that's applicable to someone heading to Gurgaon for work.

But I think the Hyatt is probably still cheaper and with the Faster Free Nights promotion, there's enticement.

Actually, I don't even know if it's a 2-bedroom suite. I've met my boss only once in person (he's based in London, I'm in Kansas) and I really like him, but my gut tells me it would be weird. I've worked with plenty of male co-workers with whom I really enjoyed traveling (strictly G-rated) but sharing a suite with any of them would have been a little too familiar.

And, GUWonder, I think it would look VERY funny to the people who approved the expense accounts!

ROTFLOL That really would get the rumor mill swinging. Better to enjoy the Hyat FFN program promotions than to make work life uncomfortable.

Having never met the person, or only once, I can fully understand. Perhaps if you'd been traveling together for work for a few years already it would be different. I travel quite often with the same colleague of the fairer sex. We were already in a situation where we might not have any room to sleep in at all so we suggested they find us a 2 room suite. Heck, didn't even need to be two bedrooms as I'd happily have slept on the sofa in the living room by that point. Luckily they sort of found us two rooms at another hotel.

After three trips to India lately, I find the Claridges Hotel to be just fine and dandy. I like the location next to the Lodi Gardens, not too far from Cannaought and reasonably quiet (well at least for Delhi). Food options are plentiful and the hotel's bar is fairly chic. Service has always been first rate. Afternoon tea on the grounds is very civilized. Overall, a nice place to say at somewhat lower rates than say the Oberoi or Imperial.

As someone familiar with the morning walk circuit in Lodi Gardens, I must say that Claridges is rather pleasant, including with rates that are decent enough still.

The only word of caution I have about Claridges is that a CBI raid (i.e., a raid by the Indian government equivalent of the FBI) of the place may be a little disturbing, sooner or later.

You can't just let that go without giving the juicy details or why this is expected!

Certain interesting business and financial relationships involving the principal owner of the hotel and some other parties -- particularly including foreign arms suppliers and domestic agents for foreign arms manufacturers/distributors -- come into play. The principal owner, S.N., financed the acquisition of a controlling stake in Claridges through just such a deal.

Some kept the CBI away before, and some are trying to keep the CBI at bay now -- even while some are trying to encourage the opposite.

I don't think it will mess up things too much for most guests even on the day of a raid but there's a growing amount of bad blood about this and there's the new Defence Minister who could rock the boat one way or another, including for the principal hotel owner and associates. But sooner or later, some score-settling will come into play, including by way of the CBI at least putting on a show.

[RANT]
After staying at the Park Plaza for a couple of nights this week, I wanted to add to my earlier review by advising not to stay there if there is any risk you'll have to modify your reservation

I had booked it for 4 nights and got a rate of USD299. I then managed to arrange some customer meetings in other parts of India so I wanted to cancel the last 2 nights of the stay. I tried doing this in the week before leaving for India but my travel agent here in Bangkok told me that they couldn't cut short the reservation through their system; when they tried to change it, the rate went up (to as much as USD600 per night).

When I checked in late on Monday evening, I told them that I'd be checking out after 2 nights, not 4 and they informed me about their Early Departure Penalty - if you want to amend the reservation and don't inform them more than 48 hrs before the reservation starts, they charge a 1 night penalty. They claim this was in their standard booking information but it definitely wasn't in the info that I got from my travel agent. I took it to the Duty Manager who took it to the General Manager who refused to back down. The end result was that I paid 3 nights for staying 2 nights and I won't be using Park Plaza again.

I have only had to change hotel reservations in India a few times but I've never seen this type of Early Departure Penalty. Is it common or is it just because the supply of hotels in Gurgaon is so limited?

I'll also be taking this up with my travel agent to see why they didn't warn me about this earlier.
[/RANT]