IORA The Retreat, Kaziranga — Hotel in Assam

A beautiful property located in the midst of Kaziranga . It's one of the expensive resort in Kaziranga apart from the resort "Borgos". We had chosen this over Borgos considering the response from the reception was much faster and polite than Borgos. The price for one room including tax was around 6500 per room. It has 2 in-house restaurants. One is multi cuisines and the other one is for authentic Assamese food . We tried the Assmese food there. Fish thali was 550 per head. Other Assamese items were also priced around 400 to 600 per item. The resort had arranged Jeep safari for us which is around 3500 per Jeep and can accommodate 6 people max. There is a Bar available in the resort . For an estimation , one 60 ml of Blenders Pride is 300 Rs. We tried the multi cuisines restaurants in the night and felt that it is bit pocket friendly in compared to the other one. One can also book elephant safari from the resort. The manager had helped us to get one booked for the next day early morning.

The property is neatly maintained and all the rooms were felt sanitized. Over all a great place to stay. Now, here is the golden question at the end, why did I give 4 star instead of a 5? . Well, in hotel industry it's really tough to meet 100% customer expectations . I personally felt that the price of one night stay could have been bit less considering its a weekday and also the rooms are not completely worth of that amount. I travel many places and stayed in thousands of hotels. So, I have built a bit value proposition idea. A food menu in the room could have added more advantages for the guest instead of calling and asking for the price of the items. Sometime you have to try 2 -3 times to reach out to someone in different departments (from room extensions ).

Overall a good stay and one can certainly enjoy your holiday...

IORA is a beautiful upscale property just off the main road at Kohora zone of Kaziranga National Park. We stayed there for 3 nights in a Superior category room in CP plan. The journey from Guwahati station to IORA took almost 5 hours and we reached here at late afternoon. The check in was fast and we were taken to the room. The room was huge and super clean with a staired bunk bed for additional person. There was a private balcony attached to it. The only negative is that the washroom didn't have an exhaust fan and hence often became bit smelly and slippery. The bed was sufficient for 3 persons and was super comfy. We took dinner at their multi cuisine restaurant which was almost always full. Make sure you order early and give them at least 30 mins time to prepare food. The food taste was good - but pricey. The "Junglee Mutton" was a praiseworthy item. We also tried some of their Continental menu which was good. There is also an Asameese restaurant which we didn't try. Their breakfast start at 7 am and due to Safari, we always took breakfast at 7 AM sharp. Not all items were available then - the full spread setup takes around 7:30 am to complete. They can even arrange some packed breakfast if informed beforehand - but we haven't tried that option. Overall it was a pleasure stay after whole day hectic travel in the forest. Highly recommended if it fits...

LOCATION: Just a kilometer away from Kohora central zone gate and about half a kilometer inside from main road.

PROPERTY: Good and spacious layout. Mainly 3 blocks. One administrative and other 2 for rooms. Need a good improvement in offering facilities to the guests. Simple sport equipment like badminton rackets or kid’s foot ball was not made available. Swimming pool was under Maintenance during our stay. Hygiene needs a good check.

ROOMS: Specious and sufficient with all necessities. A balcony adds to the feature. All clean and maintained. Avoid general comparison with other city good experiences and it will be all fine.

FOOD: Main restaurant served breakfast and other cuisine in the day. Assamese cuisine was served at other restaurant a little far. Breakfast spread was felt quite limited. Cleanliness and Hygiene needs a “serious” check.

STAFF: otherwise courteous and well mannered executives. Yet All our general queries met the pessimistic and dull replies. Our request of arranging vehicle for local sites was out-rightly rejected stating meager reasons. When we showed their own website, the executives at the counter behaved absolutely ignored.

In general, it would be good to go in your package vehicle. Take the local jeep for Kaziranga zones and expect nothing much...