After stays at The Lodhi (New Delhi) and the Umaid Bhawan Palace (Jodhpur), we had 4 nights at the Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur. This stay overlapped my actual birthday, as well. 

We really enjoyed our stay, though the check in was a bit frightful due to an error by our travel agent or the hotel (we never did establish who made the mistake). But the hotel really come through in the end, offering us a wonderful suite upgrade and a truly memorable experience. 

Some random photos of the hotel, though it's hard to capture truly capture it.

Main pool with view onto Lake Pichola:

The spa building (next to the main pool):

The famous row of Premier Rooms with Semi-Private Pools (most common view onto this hotel property):

Lakeside Pavilion (where we had our private dining for my birthday on our 4th night):

View onto the Leela Palace Udaipur hotel:

View of the hotel from the lake:

Check In

Check in was a bit disjointed to start, as we arrived and the attendant seemed uncertain--we were left sitting a few minutes in the lobby as she went to check on something. Then she returned and walked us to our room.

Unfortunately, it was the wrong room category: a Premier Room with Pool View. We had booked a Premier Room with Semi Private Pool! (We originally had booked the Pool View but had changed--via travel agent--to the Semi Private Pool a few months before departure.)

After waiting almost 45 minutes in the wrongly assigned Premier Room, and after a few annoyed phone calls both to our travel agency office in Udaipur and Delhi as well as to the Udaivilas front office, a manager came to our Premier Room to apologize for the mistake and offer us an upgrade to the Luxury Suite with Private Pool. Knowing the price differential between the Premier Room with Semi Private Pool and Luxury Suite with Private Pool, I was only too happy to accept. We never did learn whether the mistake was the hotel's or our travel agent's. 

Room

PREMIER ROOM:

Some photos of the Premier Room--which is essentially the same room for all Premier Room categories, regardless of having no view (Premier Room), pool view (Premier Room with Pool view), or a real view onto Lake Pichola with a pool (Premier Room with Semi-Private Pool).

I didn't take a photo, but the Premier Room with Pool View had a view onto a courtyard with a small pool (where children are permitted). That wasn't so nice if you ask me. I would rather have had a regular "garden view" Premier Room and not risk children bothering me during the day!

PREMIER ROOM WITH SEMI PRIVATE POOL.

Later on our visit, we did ask to see the Premier Room with Semi Private Pool that we had originally booked. This is clearly the Premier Room category that we would recommend, since it has an actually impressive view onto Lake Pichola and the City Palace (and Taj Lake Palace).

You just don't want the end unit that is directly adjacent to the main walkway to the pool!  We were shocked the property didn't provide better screening there.

This large pool that is in front of all the Premier Rooms with Semi Private Pool is not heated. But this category, located only in this one location, offers without question the best view and location of any Premier Rooms on the property. This view was also marginally better than the view from our Luxury Suite!

LUXURY SUITE WITH PRIVATE POOL UPGRADE

The Luxury Suite with Private Pool is a much more impressive accommodation, though its view is surprisingly not as impressive as that of the Premier Room with Semi Private Pool.

The living room area:

The dining area:

The powder bath:

The not overly spacious bedroom:

The spacious bath:

The private pool (heated):

The view:

The air conditioning worked extremely well--easily keeping both the living room and bedroom at 17 C as I'd requested. We ended up putting the living room to 20 C to make my husband happy,and put the bedroom to 18 C for my comfort. 

Service

Aside from the check-in flub, service was generally outstanding. We did have another screw-up with our private dining--taking us the wrong way to the Lakeside Pavilion, thereby ruining the special approach that the crew had set up for us. But otherwise, service was fantastic. 

I actually was still not feeling so well from an illness that had started in Jodhpur. So we asked for the doctor--who came within 30 minutes of being settled in our Luxury Suite. He and his assistant were fantastic, and I had my medications within another hour--sent out from the hotel staff. The entire charge was about $16. 

They also outdid themselves in terms of romance for our anniversary (as this trip was to celebrate our 20th anniversary).

And then they outdid themselves again for my birthday. At breakfast:

And after our private dining Lakeside Pavilion birthday dinner:

The hotel stay may have started roughly, but it was tremendous throughout otherwise!

Dining

Dining was a highlight--made all the more obvious by the one terrible dinner we had at Upre by 1559 AD (at the Lake Picchola Hotel). We had room service, breakfasts, and several dinners at the hotel, and all were wonderful. 

We also had a Lakeside Pavilion private dining on our last night, my birthday. This was a spectacular setting:

And a fabulous meal:

Again, we were stuffed by the time dessert was to come...so we asked if they could bring that to the Suite. They did:

Location

The location was wonderful, right on Lake Pichola with views onto the Taj Lake Palace and the famous City Palace. Udaipur was the most scenic of all the cities/towns we stayed in India, without question.

Overall

An amazing stay. Despite the few service flubs at check in and during our private dining, we really enjoyed our 4 nights--and the suite upgrade with heated private pool!

We wouldn't pay for the Luxury Suite, as we feel the the Premier Room with Semi Private Pool had the better view and location on the front row side of the lake...and the difference in price was ridiculous. But the Luxury Suite was very nice and extremely comfortable for us, and I particularly enjoyed the private heated pool!