Le Royal Park - Puducherry — Hotel in Puducherry

My nephew and I had the misfortune of staying in Room Nos. 407 and 408 on the nights of 17th. and 18th. January 2023.

Only after the check in formalities had been completed, the unsmiling Front Office staff informed us that this was a non smoking property and that there was a INR 3000 fine / penalty which was liable to be imposed if you were to smoke within your room / bathroom. We had booked through AGODA and had specifically requested for a smoking room. When I informed them of this, it was brushed off with, "Agoda can request whatever they want, it is up to us to agree to it."

So we were stuck as the rooms had already been allotted. However, after I implored with them, M/s Isaac and Abraham (Front Office) agreed to open the window of my room and reduced the penalty to INR 1000/- to be paid in cash at checkout. I felt that it was a Win - Win situation.

after entering the room, I tried to draw the heavy drapes apart to allow for better ventilation (with the window open) and the curtains promptly fell off the rails. House keeping arrived after 1 hour to put it back in place.

The room was tacky and the furniture was showing signs of age. The cabinet doors wouldn't shut, and the knobs were loose. The paint was cracking and the polish on the woodwork was fading. The glass counter tops / table tops were greasy and dirty.

When I asked for a hand towel in the bathroom, it was met with a level of surprise. It came after two further phone calls. Hand towels, slippers, bath robes are NOT supplied in the rooms by this '4 Star' hotel!

The lobby and the dining area of the hotel was redolent with a clawing scent of cheap incense and room freshener associated with cheap roadside hotels. My nephew from the USA felt nauseated and couldn't eat breakfast on the 17th or the 18th. In fact he threw up. When I got worried and asked for medical help, the manager supervising the breakfast casually waived me off by saying, "You go and ask at reception."

The horror story was just beginning. I am attaching a few photos of the Mineral Water bottles which were supplied to us in the rooms. You decide if such bottles are genuine or look clandestine. In my experience, I have NEVER come across such dilapidated bottles in a 4 Star property. IMHO, they were discarded, crushed bottles which had been refilled with ordinary tap water to deceive customers and my nephew, with his sanitised American constitution, was about to pay the price.

By the 18th. afternoon, my nephew was down with diarrhea. Luckily he was carrying strong medication and that helped.

That evening around 20:40 Hours, I received a call from one Mr. Jeeva who introduced himself as the Rooms Division Manager. The conversation was as follows:

"I am Mr. Jeeva, the Rooms Division Manager. Are you smoking in your room?"

"Yes I am."

"How dare you? This is a complete non smoking property!"

"Yes I am aware of that. I had discussed it with M/s Isaac and Abraham when I'd checked in and I have agreed to pay the fine / penalty involved."

"I don't care who you are speaking with. You are polluting all the rooms with your smoke and that is intolerable. I am going to increase the fine many times above Rs.3000/-." (My nephew, a non smoker, was in the adjoining room and couldn't smell any smoke.)

"That is not what we had agreed upon Mr. Jeeva, You leave me no option but to vacate the hotel."

"Please do. I find your presence here INTOLERABLE! All the guests are complaining about cigarette smoke smell and that is INTOLERABLE."

Not only was I smoking in front of an open window which faced outside the property, the fan was on and I had plugged the gap between the room door and the corridor (with my dirty laundry) to ensure that no smoke escaped through there. I was dumbfounded at this point and was at my wits end.

He continued, "Let me see how you leave this hotel without paying whatever fine we decide."

"Please come and see me in my room Mr. Jeeva, I'm sure we can sort...

I did not book any room. I wanted to test this restaurant and one of the most unsatisfying experience in terms of food for this high class restaurant. One should admit that the restaurant was quite luxirious. Their price is very high (i knew that when i went there). I expected therefore a good service/food but that's absolutely not the case. I ordered biriyani x3, gobi65 x1, 1 chicken 65 as a side dish(which was not even present on the menu card), 1 parotta and other items and there was a Kinley bottle on every table even before we sat.

For your information, one mutton biriyani costs 450 rupees. After waiting around 15 minutes, they first served the side dishes saying that they were starter but my intention is to eat them as side dish. So they did not listen to what i said when i ordered. Then after 30 minutes came biriyani (i complained at least 2 times that i would like to eat biriyani with the side dishes.) Only two piece of meat (see photos) was inside the biriyani and the first piece is a bone. Maybe i'm wrong, but it clearly seemed for me that the muton was not cooked with the rice as per the biriyani recipees required, instead i think they mixed a masala on the rice and added two piece of meat (one is the photo) that is why, i think, they told me that biriyani required some 20 mins to be prepared. This is unacceptable for a high class restaurant. The only dish which was not on the menu card was ok: chicken 65. To finish, they charged the Kinley water bottle with a second bill. When i entered the restaurant, it was implied for me (i agree i could have asked, but honestly who will ask when we are ready to pay 3000 Rs as a water bottle is 20 Rs ? ) having seen on every table a bottle that the restaurant offered us water. I think the selling method is not in phase with the deontology of doing business. The person who took my order told me that for the chicken 65 a price of 300Rs. But chicken 65 did not appear on the menu card and told me that how can possibly a restaurant put all food on menu card otherwise the menu card would become a dictionnary. I told him how i am supposed to know the price of that item, he told me not to worry and and that was the same price of the chicken. Bizarre way to announce prices of the ffod they sell. So in a nutshell, the biriyani was not tasty. I didn't like the method used to sell food. Finally the service was poor. So lot of basics improvements are required for the restaurant. I would not recommend to anyone unless they...

Detailed Review : worth reading to avoid disappointment during vacation

We(group of 3 families )had been there during Christmas time. Prices for rooms had increased by almost 3 times their original price. Our experience was not that smooth. Breakfast was included and decent but not worth the price we paid there. Detailed Review : worth reading

Location: location is good and well connected to multiple tourist locations. Autos are easily available but charging is very high for even a small distance.

Rooms : Rooms are average with poor service. They increased their tariff by seeing the season but forgot to get their staff ready for the same which was a big disappointment.

Service: Service was a big disappointment. You ask for anything and wait for at least 30 min to 1 hour for the same. For eg : water, towels and other basic needs. We ordered our lunch and confirmed the waiting time. They said 30 min but delivered after 1 hour with multiple follow ups. On top of that the attitude and behaviour of the staff was pathetic. Their serving staff is not trained well to welcome the guests.

Worst Experience scenario: on Christmas eve they had a special lunch buffet which was confirmed by us twice on call for the prices at Rs 399/person but after having they said it's 999/person which was a big disappointment. We asked them to settle at same time but they insisted to do it with assurance at the time of checkout. At the time of checkout their staff ( front desk and the staff takes care of the restaurant )misbehaved with us then we asked to call the senior manager as their manager was not understanding the situation and trying to cover up his rude staff. Finally the senior manager came and we had a concluding discussion and told him about complete scenario and the big disappointment. He apologized on behalf of his staff and asked for final settlement. We agreed to pay 499/ person since this was their mistake only but still accepting his apologies we agreed. This complete discussion made us leave the place really unhappy which forced us to miss one of our next plans as this whole discussion took a lot of our time and energy. Hope this helps...