Oswal Cottage — Hotel in Jammu and Kashmir

After reading some excellent reviews we chose Oswal cottage. We had decided to book it as we never like staying at a market place. But honestly when Google was directing us towards an almost non-existent road, I got anxious. I thought I had taken another wrong decision based on some false reviews. The unkempt front yard doubled my anxiety. When we had offered the ground floor room, I was absolutely devastated - thinking of spending three days there! As my husband expressed our dissatisfaction with that room and demanded an alternative one, Rafi - the caretaker, arranged a suit on the first floor. It was really a nice room. The next day we shifted to the double room next to it when the previous occupants left. If you consider the reasonable tariffs you won't mind the not so well-maintained bathroom. The place is clean. Beds are comfortable. Just a little care about the property will make a lot of difference on the impression of the guests! The caretaker Rafi is really a nice guy. Helpful, courteous and always smiling. Here are some negative points of this property. Double rooms have not enough space for a chair. You have to spend all your time on the bed. And another annoying thing is the total absence of any dining area. The tiny table at the balcony wouldn't be enough if the accommodation is full to its capacity. The owner should look at the matter. Breakfast is included in your tariff. It is mostly bread and omelette. No provision for lunch. Dinner depends on the availability of the cook. The first night of our stay the cook was absent. The second night cook appeared and made chicken curry. Exorbitant price, but tasteless. The remote location of the property makes a trip to nearby decent eating joint difficult. For young couples this place is ideal for its remoteness, but for a family it is a challenge. This is my response to the owner's comment: I'm delighted to see a prompt response from you 😊 I hope you make the same effort to use the feedbacks to improve the services; not just vaguely trying to defend the lack of it. People will get a clear picture that there's no dining area as some other guests had previously arisen the issue. When weather is fine there shouldn't be problem eating in the garden. But there should be an alternative arrangement, isn't it! The journey to the restaurant could make it difficult for the aged or children or simply who are not very interested to walk to and fro for simply getting the food. When an establishment is away from business centre, it should have every arrangement to cater a guest's need. Is there any mention in your website that there's no geyser in any room and the guests only get hot water in the morning when the boiler is heated (just once) and as long that amount of water last. I think these are quite an important points to chose a place. Low tariff is not always the only attractive object...

Visited the place recently with family and our pet. We were limited with our options of pet friendly properties in Pahalgam and chose this basis reviews. We cut short our stay from 3 to 2 nights as the stay was uncomfortable. The location is good. The caretaking staff is good. The lawn area is perfect for your pet to hang around and bonfire if it isn’t raining. However, the rooms are extremely uncomfortable due to lack of proper heating. The electric blankets don’t work. There is only one power point in the rooms which can be used only for charging a phone. The room heaters don’t work as there is power shortage. There was no electric kettle for hot water. The stay in this cottage is extremely uncomfortable due to lack of proper heating facilities , heating blankets, electric kettle and low power availability for any appliances.

Heaters for bathrooms were never requested. Rooms cost was 2500/- per night and not 1700/- The heaters provided by the cottage were not functioning properly so We bought our personal heaters but your cottage did not have the capability to support the load of the portable heater blowers and the blankets together as there is only one socket available in each room. The power kept tripping when both rooms of the suite operated heaters at the same time, leaving one room cold and the electric blanket was available but not heating. There were very limited options on pet friendly properties hence your cottage was a good option, all being said, lack of power availability for basic appliances makes the stay uncomfortable in the cold, it may be okay in peak summers. Basic and working amenities are not restricted only to 5 star hotels, may you understand this to make future customers feel more comfortable at your cottage which truly is located in a beautiful and...

Let's provide an honest review, what I felt/ faced. Ambience is excellent. Only sound of river can be heard. Visuals are splendid. Pine trees and icy mountains will made your day. It's one of the few hotels at Pahalgam where one can enjoy peace/ silence. Road leading to hotel is pathetic Max 3 cars can be parked inside the premise. Owner is residing at Srinagar. Two staffs ( one cook and one caretaker) are there. Attitude of the stationed staffs are bit different from standard case. Wifi speed is good outside. Total 4 rooms are there. 2 on each floor. One is double bed (Rs 2500) and another 4 bedded ( Rs 5000). Do mention your floor preference during booking. Tariff includes breakfast. But per person, only one aloo paratha with curd (no achar), 2-3 pieces of breads are "allotted". It's ridiculous. One has to order for dinner during breakfast. Lunch is not provided even upon request. Room are wooden. So one staying on ground floor will hear sounds of footsteps from 1st floor. Two bed rooms are clumsy. Interiors are old. Some parts are broken. Swal/ kurta sellers will keep on coming as per their rotation during morning and evening and will keep on convincing you to purchase. They have free access to kitchen as well. Hot water is available only in morning. Online payments are warmly accepted. Owner is courteous and helpful. Do carefully lock your door. Autolock is there. Keep keys with you prior. Duplicate keys...