Esparan Heritage — Hotel in Puducherry

Where do I begin? We reached the hotel by 3am. They had assured that we would be able to 'check -in' during early morning.

But when we reached the hotel, the receptionist (a male) told us that 'check in time' is 12 noon & we have to wait! We had to literally plead & pressurise him for an hour to get us in. After a long trip this and us being seni9or citizens this was really in poor taste.

As if he is doing a favour, he gave us a temporary room at about 4.30 (Single) saying that there are no rooms vacant then & it would be available only by 12 noon. We had booked a double room only by the way.

We agreed. But it was too much of an unpleasant happening after paying & booking everything online.

He later he told us that we would have to vacate by 12 or so on 12th March, in spite of the voucher showing the date as 13th March! It was such a horrible experience.

The service secondly, was really a shame. We had to ask for water bottles, soap etc.to be kept in the room.

Thirdly, we were not clearly informed as to where the restaurant is & when we can be there for our breakfast. Every restaurant at least has the courtesy to tell their guests that. That is our experience with other hotels.

Further- the room had heater to boil water for coffee / tea but neither tea bags/coffee/ sugar sachets were kept, again contrary to our experiences in other hotels. Have we to ask & get all these stuff? We are paying for that -you understand! These are small things but it needs to be said.

The locality is also horrible - with dust, waste & crowd! We have been to many restaurants with complimentary breakfast and this here had just two options to choose from. If the plan is to save money from our pockets then I must say this hotel is a fraud organisation. . In the single room which was given to us temporarily, water was not getting drained out from the bathroom.

Please take note of the above mentioned aspects & do the needful.

If you think I am the complaining type you are wrong. There were positives as well. They include – tasty food, restaurant is clean, the room was unique and had an old world charm.

All I have to say is if you are in Pondicherry, please don’t book a hotel in this place....

A memorable and heritage stay in Pondicherry !

I would like to give this property 10 stars. Its a 70 year old property turned into a gorgeous hotel which has a homely feel to it and is located conveniently close to all the sightseeing places. We enjoyed our stay to the fullest at Esparan Heritage. The room is tastefully done which has the old style furniture to give it a heritage look. Even though the property is located on a busy street, the moment you enter inside you get a feeling of calmness. Ambience is great. They have a nice restaurant which serves simple and tasty hot breakfast. We loved the idlis and chutney and sambhar(perfect home style) and dosas made by Mr Shakti. The manager, Mr Anthony is a very kind person. He is very informative and excellent at his service. The staff is good and cordial. They also provide bikes on rent. Also on our way back to Chennai airport, we did a quick day tour to Mahaballipuram the itinerary for it was perfectly designed by Mr Anthony. The car which we hired through him was nice with a good chaffuer. We enjoyed our trip a lot. Thank you Mr Anthony for all your sightseeing recommendations. We will definitely stay at your property ONLY, when we travel to Pondicherry again :) Awesome and comfortable...

DISCLAIMER - This review is not about the hotel or the quality of stay. We did not stay at the property! Thanks to the FabHotels corporate office in Gurgaon calling us 1 DAY PRIOR to our trip and informing us that the FabHotel Esparan Heritage was 'under maintenance' and we could not stay there.

On being asked as to why this was being conveyed at the last minute, I was told - "Sorry, we didn't know about it either. We just came to know." I was then offered a room of the same quality (Deluxe) at another property called the FabExpress Auro which was apparently 900m from the original hotel. The charges would also be the same. While I accepted the change since I had no choice, I went online and read several negative reviews about the new property offered. Also, it did not look like a place we wanted to stay at. Also read one which mentioned that they had pulled the exact same stunt before - changing hotels (Esparan to FabExpress Auro) at the eleventh hour. I then proceeded to cancel my booking (for which I received a full refund) but had to spend more for a last-minute booking at another hotel. :( Overall, a poor first-time experience with the FabHotel chain and will make me think twice about dealing...