Hotel Umaid Bhawan
, Jaipur
Reviews - Hotel Umaid Bhawan
- Age Group: 26 - 30
- From: Italy
- Traveller type: Family Traveller
- Age Group: 26 - 30
- From: United Kingdom
- Traveller type: Gay
- Age Group: 26 - 30
- From: United Kingdom
- Traveller type: Business Traveller
- Age Group:
- From: United Kingdom
- Traveller type:
If you want to make a phone call; then you have big problem. They go to bed early as if it is their own house. They do not care. Let's say you come from Europe; and you want to call your family in the evening. They do not mind!you try to explain them that there is time difference; but most of the time you cannot find any one to help you make a phone call. They say they serve 24 hours. But not like that.Most of the time in the night you cannot find anyone. Even all the staff is sleeping. The owner has a great ego.He makes the poor little children, who are his staff , clean his feet. (Class difference in India)!!! The woman who is the owner's mother is the symbol of anger. She speaks like she is shouting at you.you cannot imagine!!!Not one second smiling.She acts as if she is your mother. And all the owners love money a lot. This you will feel in the first second. What's more; you pay a lot of money for such poor qualities. You can stay at a very nice hotel at the same price.
- Age Group: 31 - 40
- From: Austria
- Traveller type: Honeymooners
When we arrived after a long drive on Xmas Eve, we were told to wait for the reservations manager, who very apologized and told us something about a plumbing problem which made several rooms in the "palace" unuseable. He had therefore made arrangements to accomodate us in their "newly renovated castle". When my wife and I went to check it out, it turned out that "newly renovated" was a euphemism for "construction site" - it smelled of fresh paint, people were working with noisy power tools and there was no infrastructure whatsoever (never mind that the rooms were several floors up without an elevator).
Originally we were told that this was supposed to only be for one night, but after more questioning they were not able to make any guarantees that we would get rooms in the main hotel later. Needless to say, we refused to stay in a construction site. In the meantime members of my family had been told stories about people too sick to check out by other members of the hotel staff.
That, together with their inability to promise rooms for the next day, indicated that all their excuses were blatant lies to veil the fact that they had overbooked out of greed. This is especially scandalous, given that I had prepaid(!) the entire bill months in advance and had received an e-mail confirmation. In the end they refunded the money through hotels.com, but instead of celebrating Xmas in peace, we had to go through an Odyssey of finding rooms in other hotels and ended up leaving a day early.
Thanks to the reservation staff of the Umaid Bhawan our stay in Jaipur will be remembered with a rotten aftertaste.
- Age Group: 26 - 30
- From: United States
- Traveller type: Honeymooners
- Age Group: 41 - 50
- From: United Kingdom
- Traveller type: Adventurer
- Age Group: 26 - 30
- From: Spain
- Traveller type: Backpacker
Read 520 additional reviews of Hotel Umaid Bhawan at TripAdvisor.
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Historical Traveller Reviews of Hotel Umaid Bhawan
The delightful Umaid
from A TripAdvisor MemberStayed at sister hotel Umaid Bhawan Palace
from A TripAdvisor MemberNice Enough - Beware the Sketchy Management / Extra Services
from time2travelsfoThey have deals with car rental companies - the "hotel car" and I highly recommend that you never use their service. They consistantly qouted prices almost double what you can get from a tour operator near MI road. I asked to book a car to Ajmer and Pushkar and they wanted 4,000 Rupees for the day and overnight. Outside agencies asked 4 Rupees per KM with a 250 KM per day minimum - so 2,000 Rupees.
When I returned from Pushcar the following day I checked in and was qouted a rate of 1,600 Rupees for a Deluxe Room. Okay, but when showing me a map the owner's son showed me a tariff card which has listed a single, deluxe room for 1,400. No big deal, but I asked to see what the response would be. He then said, that at his hotel a double has nothing to do with how many people are there. Okay, so now I know they will just make stuff up.
When I went to check out nobody could find the owner or the son to let me pay and leave. I was in a rush to get to the airport and had told them the night before I needed to check out - no problem he said. So, I get the bill and on top the taxes he's added a "hotel service charge" which conveniently rounded the bill up to a nice round figure.
The way the management is always out to get you for another 100 rupees and the sketchy behavior tarnishes what is otherwise a nice little hotel. I would stay there, but get it all straight and written down when you check in - if they say, "Don't worry." Then you should probably worry.
why is this number one?
from anitafionaIts definitely not four star?!
The hotel is average.
I stayed in a Royal Suite - it was large, had a TV, old fasioned a/c (not tried), a balcony, a changing area and a shower room. As with so many Heritage hotels it is looking slightly tired.
Towels were hard and grey.
A bulb was not working in the room but the staff did not change it.
However the room was clean and had mozzi netting on the windows.
The hotel has a rooftop retsaurant which looked pleasant, and a pool. We did not use these.
It is in a quiet area and although we thought the central echoey staircase would be noisy everything seemed to go quiet by eleven pm.
Staff were ok but not as polite or as helpful as in some other hotels - we were not shown around when we arrived, nor told anything about the hotel, meals, facilities etc.
Having said this if you are looking for a low cost place to stay its fine. It also has a lift which was a bonus for my elderly mum.
There is a new wing (or maybe its and in depth renovation?) being built which is almost finished. Rooms here should be more modern?
I stayed in the Samode Havelli last time which was very nice.
Backed up toilet = no room!
from MangosteenWe get into his mini van and off we went to the guest house called AVS Home. See for yourself at ---- It was NO Umaid, that’s for sure. The exterior looked promising. Room #1: Phew! This room had a smelly bathroom & mosquitoes! No thanks. Let’s try Room #2: This was not much better except the bathroom was a lot nicer, cleaner and a fewer mosquitoes.
We decided to look at the Heritage Hotel that was under renovations. This place was a construction zone! The front door wide open = no security! There was lots of dust, noise and men working in there. We tried to make a reservation at another hotel, but everything was booked solid. In the end, we decided to stay Room #2 at the guest house. We could hear people arguing until all hours. Thankfully, we had earplugs and a mosquito net. The next morning, we managed to find a room at the Raj Palace. It was a palace indeed! Let me tell you, it was worth every penny of the $250 we spent on that room! Plus the location was better.
Mismanagement + Lies = Disappointment
from ThomasRinaWhen we arrived after a long drive on Xmas Eve, we were told to wait for the reservations manager, who apologized and told us something about a plumbing problem which made several rooms in the "palace" unuseable. He had therefore made arrangements to accomodate us in their "newly renovated castle". When my wife and I went to check it out, it turned out that "newly renovated" was a euphemism for "construction site" - it smelled of fresh paint, people were working with noisy power tools and there was no infrastructure whatsoever (never mind that the rooms were several floors up without an elevator).
Originally we were told that this was supposed to only be for one night, but they were not able to make any guarantees that we would get rooms in the main hotel later. Needless to say, we refused to stay in a construction site. In the meantime members of my family had been told stories about people too sick to check out by other members of the hotel staff. That, together with their inability to promise rooms for the next day, indicated that all their excuses were blatant lies to veil the fact that they had overbooked out of greed.
This is especially scandalous, given that I had prepaid(!) the entire bill months in advance and had received an e-mail confirmation. In the end they refunded the money through Hotels, but instead of celebrating Xmas in peace, we had to go through an Odyssey of finding rooms in other hotels and ended up leaving a day early. Thanks to the reservation staff of the Umaid Bhawan our stay in Jaipur will be remembered with a rotten aftertaste.
Nice hotel, but not very special
from A TripAdvisor MemberNice place with an authetic feel.
from LikeDadgreat alternative
from brsGreat service and homely stay
from A TripAdvisor MemberJust to say "Hi" and thank you for all your help during our stay at the Umaid, The staff were wonderful, especially the boys in the Kitchen (especially the funny tall chap with moustache), Please say Hi to them all. Also please say Hello to the daughter in-law from UP, she was wonderful towards my wheelchair bound daughter. We wish her all the best in her pregnancy.
I have attched some pictures of the the Umaid Tuk-tuk drivers, please let them see these pics and give them our regards. Also pass on our thanks for their wonderful service.
Best reagrds Mr Arvind Mistry and Family (from Milton Keynes in U.K).
PS: A happy New year to you all
Top Local Tips for Jaipur
Visit the bazaars and take a trip to the Tiger Fort at sunset! Jaipur has wonderful monuments like the Amber Fort and the Hawa Mahal, but wandering around the bazaars in the Pink City is quite special. Don't stay on the main roads; explore down the narrow alleys for feasts of colour and smells (perfume and flowers, as well as other things). We felt quite safe and walked around for hours! Another great place is the Tiger Fort, especially late afternoon/sunset. There are great views over Jaipur from here and you can go inside (closes about 6pm I think). Hire an autorickshaw to take you up - good fun!
Visit Take more than only 2 days (as most Tour Operators suggest) to visit this city. It is worth it.
Tips on Attractions in Jaipur Most of the sights and sites recommended in Lonely Planet are reasonably safe bets except that most of the entry fees are out of date and take those recommendations with a grain of salt in terms of how awesome they are. For instance, there is this attraction referred to as a Rajasthani Village (in Jaipur) which is an attraction recommended in Lonely Planet and highly recommended by the driver (from Delhi) we'd engaged for our needs. This place was supposed to depict what a typical traditional Rajasthani Village was supposed to be. It certainly did not live up to all the hype we were given from Lonely Planet and the driver we employed. It was more of a failed attempt to craft a typical Rajasthani Village for the viewing and paying pleasure of easily suckered tourists. In our opinion it was little more than a collection of amusements, hence, closer to being an amusement park than anything else.
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Other names for Hotel Umaid Bhawan
- umaid bhawan palace
- umaid bhawan heritage jaipur
- umaid bhawan heritage hotel
- hotel umaid bhawan
- Address: 8 behari marg via bank road - Jaipur - 302016 - India
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I can only echo all the other reviews on here - this place is great !!