Royal Garden Hotel Reviews

The Diwali weekend was approaching, and we made a last minute plan to have a trip to Daman and were desperately searching in net to book a resort. But all were full but for one, Hotel Royal Garden. I made a phone call to them to enquire about the booking procedure, and the reply was 'Sir, you please send an e-mail, and we will respond to it in no time.' So I sent the mail. But no response even after two days. Again talked on phone, same response, same mail, and again same 'no response'. Finally on friday evening I made the third call, told that we are reaching there tomorrow noon, they told rooms are available. A happy surprise! When enquired whether the resort is near to beach, the person openly admitted 'bahut door hey saab.' Finally reached Daman. No problems in locating the hotel, it was right on the main road side, just within 1 km from the entrance gate to Daman, and almost in the town itself. Sarroundings were depressing, with lot of shops (wine) and petrol pumps. The whole resort is occupying an area of may be 1 acre. A four storeyed building, adjuscent swimming pool, an open lawn for get togethers, and a garden restaurant. Ample parking space, fortunately. Reception staff were cordial, and showed us four vacant rooms to choose one. We opted a deluxe A/C room on second floor, facing the pool, but so close to a nearby galley and shops (however, the best out of the four in this aspect). Fortunately there were no chairs in the balcony (as well as in the room but for a double sized sofa), so no question of relaxing there for the whole neighbors to peep into our privacy! Room was just ok. Bathroom was reasonably clean but for occasional dripping from the roof which we noticed at a later stage. Room had a TV and a number of cupboards. Again, the door latch was not in place, we had to lock it from inside for it to remain shut. Hotel was reasonably neat and clean. The room was offered as a part of a package, including all meals, for Rs. 3990/-. Later on we realised that by accepting the package, we are deprived dining in the open garden restaurant, because buffet meals were served invariably in a room on first floor of the restaurant. Quality of the meals were average, eventhough the menu and quantity were sizeable. After dinner, we thought of having something in room. So called the room service, to check what all items they have. Reply came 'it is all there in the room service menu', but no menu in the room. Hence our first order went for the menu itself. Menu came in five minutes. Rates and menu appeared reasonable. Hence ordered for a beer, an 'egg burgee', and two cassatta ice creams. After ten minutes, a tap on the door. Waiter with a bottle of beer and a glass. He took out an opener, and opened the beer with all his force as if uncorking a champagne bottle. Frothy beer spilled out and flooded the tea poy. He wiped the liquid from the tea poy using his hands, into the tray in which he brought the bottle. Then he went out, brought a piece of cloth and wiped the tea poy with it. By the time, tea poy had consumed half the bottle. When asked to replace the bottle, he pleaded: 'saab, dhoda thoh hee nikal gayaa naa? vaapas leke jaayegaa tho paisa mera jeb se cut jaayegaa, please... (Sir, only a bit is lost, isn't it? if i take it back, the money will be deducted from me)' I said, 'ok bhai, ro mat. when will you bring other items?' He smiled, and vanished. After another fifteen minutes, another tap on the door. This time it was the 'egg burgee', only to see that the beer is already finished. At last he brought ice creams after another fifteen minutes,left them and vanished for good. But no spoons to eat the ice creams! Rang up the room service, but no response this time. By the time ice creams also melted to join the beer on the tea poy. Fantastic and most memorable three course (after) dinner! Next morning we saw that one of the tyres of our car is punctured flat. Asked the reception if they could arrange fixing it, they happily obliged and called a nearby 'tyrewaala', and the tyre was replaced in about fifteen minutes. By the time, our son was enjoying the swimming pool. The pool is medium sized, about 3 feet deep. Water looked clean but smelled heavily of chlorine. The resort, in their website, claims an 'umbrella water fall' in the pool, which turned out to be a concrete umbrella with no 'water fall'. When asked the watchman to put the falls on, reply came : 'gharaab hey saab (it is not functional)'. The famous Devka beach is more than 6 km from the resort. On reaching there we could see that the place was literally flooded with people and cars (it took more than an hour to cross one km stretch of road due to the traffic jam), and all resorts on the beach (there are so many) were swarming with tourists. However, rooms were still available in our resort, perhaps mainly due to its distance from the beach. In short, the hotel is a just average one. Reception staff were well groomed and cordial. But room service was horrible. Food quality is average. Locality of the hotel is depressing for those who look out for a peaceful stay, but may be suitable for corporate meets and the sort of. If complete relaxation and an escape from the hurries of the mad city is what you aspire, then better opt for some other resorts on the beach.

Best Experience: Courtsey of the reception staff.

Worst Experience: The room service!