Woodlands Hotel — Hotel in Bengaluru

we stayed in this hotel in the month of April for 3 nights. Convenience was the only reason why we stayed there as this hotel was hosting the state chess championship there. The ease or lack of it in getting to this hotel in the center of the city daily is why we decided to stay there. To book the hotel we called the landline no the previous night and after many tries we finally manged to speak to a lady. She said she will take a booking for us and put us on a never ending hold and never came back. We tried to reach the no several times after that but there wasn't any response from the other end. Then we decided to take our chance and landed in the hotel on 14th April. saw few rooms and settled for one and though the staff only asked for one day advance for 3 nights stay we paid 2 nights and checked in the next day. Breakfast buffet spread was the best as no one knew what they are doing except the chef at the live counter who was making mini dosas tirelessly. Rest all were running helter skelter. the ladle from the sambar bowl fell down which was promptly sent back to the bowl without cleaning. Then on we had our meals in the Ibis hotel nearby, I can write a book on the break fast meal period that i spent there in those three days.

The best of service came in later in the day when we were checking out on Wednesday, Tuesday evening we got a call from the reception asking us to leave by sharp 12 noon as per the policy on Wednesday, when we said we has asked for a late checkout on Wednesday when we were booking the room, the lady on the other side (claiming to be the in-charge of Front Office) said a minute after 12 noon you have to pay the entire days charge, when we requested for a wash and change at least in the evening as the prize distribution would get over only by around 8 pm and my young daughter would need to rest a bit before we travel in the night for the next tournament in chennai. When checked if we could speak to any higher ups in the Hotel, the lady said as of now i am the in charge but tomorrow you can speak to the General Manager Mr. Nair in the morning. As luck would have it the next day when we walked into the reception we see the same lady at the reception counter and asked her if she could allow us to speak to the GM, she refused saying that he is having his breakfast now and will be free in 30 minutes. We called back again after 30 minutes and were told that he is in a meeting. Repeated calls we got the same message that the GM is busy and we cannot meet him. Finally she stopped answering the calls from our room, Thank you so much for being a epitome of hospitality industry itself. It was a great eye opener for us in hindsight that a home-stay would have been a better option.

Promise that me or my friends will never go back into this hotel ever. Thank you for all the agony and hardship with the little kid for the half of the day that we spent there.

Instead of a single star wish we had a negative...

Bengaluru today is a labyrinth of hotels spread across its geography. But once upon a time, Bengaluru was a pensioner’s paradise and not the IT hub it is today and had less number of hotels then. Woodlands is one of the oldest star hotels in Bengaluru located in Central Bengaluru, at Richmond Circle. They have a huge property in terms of area which boasts of ample parking space, a separate restaurant and huge rooms. The size of the room is pretty huge for a twin sharing model. In today’s scenario, 2 rooms could have been easily made into 3 rooms . The rooms in which I stayed did not have an air conditioning unit but it wasn’t required given the pleasant weather and the cool air which was blowing in the evenings. The property is little far away from the main road hence you are away from the hustle bustle of the city. The room is properly maintained but it is the bathroom which is in need of a touch up. The bathroom still belongs to an era gone by when bath-tubs were in vogue and every hotel aspired to provide one to its customers. But in today’s times, it is an impediment to have a bath either under a shower or using other means. The basin & faucets also need to be changed immediately. The water flow is pretty slow & most of the water from the basin flows into the gap and onto the floor, making it a messy affair. They offer a buffet breakfast which is complimentary with your room tariff. The spread of the breakfast is pretty much ok; Idli, Medu Wada, Upma or Khara Bhath [as it is known in Bengaluru], Dosa, Bread Butter. The menu was same on both days of my stay which came as a bit of a dampner. The service is decent though nothing great.

Woodlands is a good place to stay if you don’t mind a medieval hotel with an old styled bathroom and the rates of which are pretty...

I had very fond memories of this place. As children we visited this place for breakfast or for an evening snack. The food used to be delicious. Lots of place to park (free parking!) and walk around. Today, it's a sad , bleak and almost desolate place.

We stopped by Woodlands on a weekday morning hoping to gorge on butter masala dosa and piping hot coffee. We were in for a huge disappointment. Parking is no longer free. 50 rupees an hour. The security staff are sullen and unpleasant. We made our way to the dining area. It was far from inviting. The Pongal was tasteless. The vadas were a little bigger than a fifty paise coin, the sambhar had no zing to it and wait hold your breath there was no potato palya/masala for the dosa. So all hopes of a masala dosa on a cold morning were completely dashed. The waiter told us that it would take 45 minutes to prepare. The cook for reasons best known to him had decided not to make potato palya that day. Imagine masala dosa without the masala. Set dosa was being served with chutney, which btw was the only tasty dish on the menu. But man cannot live on chutney alone can he? The set dosa did not have any kurma either. Btw, the resident hotel guests were being served the same as a complimentary breakfast! The highlight of the complimentary was the water melon juice I guess The coffee was well ...whatever happened to good old South Indian filter coffee?? Did I mention that the dosa was burnt , salty and wafer thin? I guess they used a tablespoon of batter !! Anyway, enough said! As you must have gathered by now we are not going there anytime soon.

I think I'll just live with the fond memories of the Woodlands of...