flagler1

I will be traveling to New Delhi in late May for a wedding (our first visit to India). We'll have 3 adults and two children (a 2 year old and a 6 month old). The wedding venue is in Gurgaon (near the Le Meridien).

I have a Marriott 7 night stay certificate that I'd like to use, either at the JW Marriott or Courtyard (plus I'll be booking another room -- I'm a marriott gold). Anyone have any advice on either of these?

The JW looks quite nice, and close to the airport for our late night arrival and departure. And I guess the airport express is convenient connection to central delhi for sightseeing if we decide to do that (though not sure how much we'll do considering the heat). but otherwise not as convenient...

The courtyard is closer to the wedding venue, and I guess has more in the immediate area? But wasn't sure if would be as comfortable? Ideally looking to make sure the family can be well taken care of (so my wife doesn't worry too much)

Besides Gurgaon, I think we need to travel to Haus Khaz village one day for another event?

Any advice is appreciated.

CO-PLAT

I can't answer these questions, but arrive at the JW in about 10 hours if anyone has property-specific questions.

Brucemcdou

Hi Flagler - I cannot speak to the Courtyard, but stayed at the JW a year ago on a short weekend mileage run. I can attest that the JW is spacious and luxurious, and has extensive amenities that may keep your wife and children happy. Rooms are large and comfortable, and service is attentive (see my review up thread). I used the gym/fitness center several times and also got a massage in the spa. Did not use the outdoor pool but saw a number of folks out there.

Lounge is nice with extensive offerings including some made-to-order items at breakfast and in the evening. Did not eat in the restaurant or lounge bar but the menu looked extensive in both and the lounge at least looked busy throughout the day and evening.

I used the Airport express several times into downtown and connecting to the metro. I had set up several private walking tours in advance and was happy with the ease of getting around. The hotel staff seemed amused that I insisted on using the train and tried to convince me to use a car and driver, which would probably be easier for you with children.

Lastly, it is conveniently close to the airport for a late night arrival and departure; I just used a taxi from the airport and had the hotel car take me back.

Hope this helps!

flagler1

Thanks for the advice. Definately sounds like the JW is nice, and could work. I guess I'm just curious to see if the Courtyard could also work given its better proximity to the venue...

CO-PLAT

I used the hotel's car service twice this week for late-night/early morning collection from T3. Definitely worth the 1,000+tax. They are allowed to leave their cars parked (attended) right in front of the terminal door while another guy waits for you inside with a JW sign. The hotel had 9 cars there last night. I got an Audi A6 earlier this week and an E class MBZ last night. My driver last night said they offer a free drop to the metro station. I walked it early in the week.

For comparison, I used UBER X from hotel to airport and it was 112.4.

The metro ticket machine will not accept bills larger than 50 if your fare is less than 50. If fare is 50 or greater, it will take a 100 note. I took the airport line to Delhi station (3 stops) with the intent to connect to the yellow line. Forget it! It would have taken me a half hour in the que to buy the 2nd token. You have to exit, buy another token and re-enter the yellow line. There are day passes & stored value cards, but I could not find anywhere to buy one in the Aerocity station.

Liquor ban in place effective today. They were removing all the liquor from the lounge this morning. Apparently in India, liquor includes fermented alcohol also so no beer or wine available either. How are they going to stop people from consuming the acohol in their mini-bars? This ban is for establishments within 500 meters from highways so it includes every hotel in the Aerocity complex. When they cleaned my room, they also cleaned out the minibar of all alcohol.

beachfan

Wow, hadn't heard of the liquor ban. That's gotta hurt.

AAEXP

Wow, I have had the alcohol ban on election days in India before (including the cleaning out of the mini bar), but this ban for hotels located "less than 500 meter from a "highway"" is something new. Wonder how they define "highway"? Can anyone else shed some light on this?

CO-PLAT

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AAEXP

Thanks!

One more thing to have in mind when traveling in India.....

Nottingham Nick

Dated April the first ??????

Nick

SkiAdcock

Not April Fool's joke. Recent ruling by Supreme Court.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/...iEy4jc51L.html

"Watering holes at DLF CyberHub in Gurgaon and hotels at Aerocity in New Delhi will be forced to go dry immediately in view of a Supreme Court decision to uphold a previous order prohibiting the sale of liquor near highways across the country.

The apex court on Friday maintained that its verdict banning the sale of alcoholic beverages at establishments located within 500 metres of state and national highways will extend to hotels, pubs and bars too. Consequently, thousands of bars and pubs across the country – including 34 at DLF CyberHub – are likely to lose their liquor licences."

ccengct

The ban on alcohol at the JW Aerocity was short-lived. I just had a glass of a decent Merlot in the executive lounge. The servers say that within a week, the hotel was able to get out of the ban because the property is actually 700m from the highway, not within 500m.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update

Cheers.

crimsona

Wife is Marriott platinum member. Booked a two night stay here during low season (probably should have researched the temperatures given that it's always 40 Celsius/100 Fahrenheit plus in May). Traveling with an infant, just under two years old

Category 5 hotel as of right now, last minute rate was about 10k rupees, but got a brg approved a while back for around 5k rupees, so paid cash

Wife was concerned about being in India in the first place, so we booked the hotel car transfer (current cost 1k rupee plus fifteen percent taxes). Staff met us at the arrival hall and escorted us to the car. Got driven to the hotel in a black Honda accord (or equivalent), no Mercedes s class for us!

Getting into the hotel the car was subject to a dog sniff, trunk and hood check, and all bags x ray and people scanned with a metal detector. Seems par for the course as we had much the same experience at the courtyard in Agra a few days later.

As we were taking the hotel car, front desk assigned an agent to escort us to the room and complete the check-in process there skipping the lines. We were upgraded to the king suite (one bedroom suite), if we approved the additional taxes due, otherwise we would be assigned the original booked room. The additional co pay was 1.7k rupee per night, as part of the taxes due is based on the rate paid but the other part is a percentage of some rack rate of the room assigned.

We took the upgrade, as we expected to stay in the hotel a bit more due to the heat. Based on pricing, the king suite is the second highest suite, but in the room details, seems like it's the smallest in square footage compared to the luxury and executive suites. Still around 900 square feet though. Room came with a fruit and snack tray and six bottles of water and we don't really drink beer so we opted for the 500 platinum arrival points instead of the f&b amenity

Bed is on the firm side with a mattress topper, which I thought was comfortable as I prefer firm beds

The hotel is pretty new and it shows. Nearly everything was in great condition, but ultimately, this was perhaps not the greatest choice for a family with a 2 year old. Firstly, all the furniture in the room is metal or marble or some sort of stone with square corners, so the chances of a running infant injuring himself was pretty high. Secondly, the executive lounge has a very strict no child under twelve policy, so we could only visit the lounge with one parent standing outside at a time. While the lounge is big (I think it could seat around eighty people for breakfast) and the spread is quite large by North American lounge standards, platinum members have the option to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant K3 instead (and is the only option for platinum members with kids that want to eat together). I would say the restaurant spread at breakfast is triple the size of the lounge, so we ate at the restaurant both days.

Evening hor deurves were served between 6 and 8, which consisted of maybe 4 hot items and a few desserts. Not ideal for a meal but you could make it work.

Buffet in the restaurant at night is about 2.6k rupees, or a la carte menu is about 1.5k rupees per entree. Platinum members also get twenty percent off at the restaurant. As we arrived after 8 pm on the first night, we ended up eating at the restaurant. There must have been a conference as it was absolutely packed, whereas the second night the crowd was significantly smaller

Staff was good, but we are relatively low maintenance travelers so the bar for good is set pretty low as long as the staff was kind, respectful and no service issues came up (or resolved promptly if anything did come up)

When checking out, noticed that they have dedicated terminals for American express, so I would think visa and MasterCard may be handled by a different processor that uses dynamic currency conversion. Wife used US domiciled SPG AmEx so that we wouldn't stress over dcc shenanigans.

​​​​​

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the detailed report. Much appreciated.

Cheers.