Hotel Studio Estique — Hotel in Pune

Hotel Studio Estique (Next to Inox Multiplex, Near Council Hall, Bund Garden Road, Pune, Pune, India) where I stayed at on 26 Mar, 2022 was quite disappointing.||||To start with, there are no bellboys – you lug your own luggage up two steep flights of stairs to the reception desk. Check in was seamless, and the floor manager pointed out behind me to 4 tables – “Breakfast is served here…” etc., etc.||It’s a really tight lobby, only slightly larger than my own living room here in Pune.||||I entered my third-floor room, and found that the AC was working well. I opened the curtains and saw a huge pale yellow building stretching end-to-end across my window – I couldn't see anything else.||Now my list of problems: ||The room had no paper napkins. The toilet roll in the loo was only about three feet long.||There was one bottle of drinking water of some unknown brand - 500 ml. There was nothing in the mini-fridge – it wasn’t even switched on. There was no spoon or stirrer in the tray containing two tea bags, two coffee sachets and two sachets of creamer. ||I could tolerate and ignore all these problems. ||But when I lifted the electric kettle to make some coffee, out ran three cockroaches! I cannot attach videos, so I will post screenshots of them.||I went to a nearby shopping mall (Dorabjee’s) and bought paper napkins and drinking water.||The telephone's dial list was was destroyed by some kid's writing numbers all over it! And nowhere could I find a mention of which numbers to dial for Reception, Housekeeping, Room Service, etc. ||I finally discovered the Room Service menu in a draw. The condition of the menu - with food particles, soiled and frayed pages - just about killed my appetite. But it did have the phone numbers hidden in the last few pages.||So I called Reception, and he gave me the Room Service number (rather than connecting the call himself). ||I called that number, and a guy answers, "Hello". ||I reply, “Hello", and he replies, "Hmm?"||So I ask "Room Service?" He says, "haan". How's that for phone etiquette? ||Based on the menu, I asked if they served Chicken Chettinad. “No, not available.” ||So I asked for Kadhai chicken, “Is it boneless?” The guy on the phone responded, “Extra charge for ‘boneless’."||But when he delivered the food (yes, apparently the same guy), he said, “I haven’t charged you for boneless.” I could visualise the little cupped palm behind him, so I tipped him fifty bucks, and he was ecstatic.||But the food... I had told them to make it with some gravy for the rice. They solved that problem by just adding some water and boiling it. I am a decent cook mysef so I know.||||On the brighter side, the onions and lemon slices were cut perfectly. Really.||But they didn't give a serving spoon! I had to use the same fork and spoon for serving and for eating.||||Now the bed. It creaked every time I turned. Parts of it were lumpy. But overall, not bad.||What was bad was that I could hear the toilet flushing loudly on both sides of the room throughout the evening and night. ||Did I mention that the bathroom had only one bath towel (no hand/face towel)? ||And this towel felt as if it were made of coir. Oh yes, they did provide one tiny soap, and two miniature bottles, unlabelled and unbranded – shampoo and bath gel, I suppose...||||Next morning, the breakfast was mashed up upma (an amazing feat, mashing up upma!), medu-vada sambhar (not the usual south-Indian vadas with the hole in the middle; these were more like moong vadas, small, round ones, each about the size of an amla (gooseberry).||And boiled eggs, many of which had cracked, and the insides had puffed up and leaked out of the shell – I thought they looked rather ugly. ||The tea and coffee were readymade, with loads of sugar. ||Does all this sound like I'm ranting rather than writing a review?||Well, I am ranting! Because I have had a bad experience, and I resent it. ||The problems I pointed out are very simple for an hotel to watch out for, and prevent ever from happening. ||I know this for sure, because my sister has been the Head of Housekeeping for very large hotel chains such as the Oberoi Sheraton group, Hilton, Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza etc. for over 25 years.||So when an hotel makes promises on their webpage, I expect them to live up to those promises.||Would I recommend Hotel Studio Estique to my friends, or even stay...

The saying that you get what you pay for has never been truer than in the case of this property. At its low price point and the photos you see online, it seems like a great choice. But what you see is not what you get. Let me first start with the positives... Excellent, central location just 1 minute to the station, and bus stand and about 20 minutes to the airport. Also just 5 minutes from the camp and cantonment area and Koregaon Park. Secondly, spacious rooms, overall appear clean and with all basics. Now the problems. Extremely poor staff and service standards. I called one day prior to checking in to see if we could get a slightly early check-in (11 a.m instead of their stipulated 2 p.m). My request was met with a cold and robotic "early checkin not possible sir". No reason stated, not even a pretense of trying to see if they could make it happen... Just a no. Upon checkin their credit card machine was malfunctioning so there was a long wait. I requested multiple times that my wife could be allowed to go to the room while i wait. But no. Finally after 3 failed attempts over 20 minutes, they let us go to the room and make payment later. During our stay, for simple things like a few bottles of water, we had to call multiple times. There was a tea coffee maker in the room but very scarcely equipped with supplies. When we requested for some more coffee and creamers, they got us one of each. Finally the next day we just drove down to a nearby store and got some coffee, milk powder and water bottles of our own rather than bother with calling the reception and be disappointed every time. When you start staying in the room, you realize that it isn't as clean as it appears at first glance. The bathroom mirror had some kind of powder on it, obviously hadn't been cleaned. The bed sheets were ripped in places. And nightmarishly, the towel had a small blood-like stain on it. The bathroom had a single small bar of soap... Nothing else! Dirty dishes with leftover food would be kept out in the passage for pickup by guests in various rooms and would still be there 24 hours later. All this kind of makes you wonder about what else you don't know about their hygiene standards. I now have my doubts about how often they wash their pillow cases, linen and more, and can only hope my doubts are misplaced. Overall, if even on a budget you expect some bare minimum service standards and hygiene, avoid...

Horrible, dirty, unprofessional, pathetic, unhygenic etc ect

Pros: The room was spacious. Bathroom bigger than most hotels. The on ground room service team were humble and kind. The TV set up box had all channels including all English/hindi/cartoon ones as well. Food was the best. Whoever the chef is, kindly increase their pay to keep them back, as that's the only reason why the hotel is still on.

Cons: Cockroaches (multiple) in the room, broken doors, torn curtains, torn towels, rusted iron box, 100 year old iron table, damaged switches etc etc etc. On the whole, the entire property needs a entire makeover, including the reception manager if they want to sustain. Extremely unprofessional duty manager who did not even say sorry for the cockroaches found in the room. I was lucky enough to capture a pic and a video of them running around. If not, they would have been in denial and blamed me for the same. For all other future guest, just pay another Rs.1000 and go to a Marriot or any other property. This place is a disaster. If you wish to bring cockroaches back to your home and go to the hassle of pest control, hear insults in front your guests/visitors to your room, unpleasant smell, unprofessional words etc etc, then go ahead with this Estique hotel. Also I had booked through MMT. MMt team, kindly remove this from the recommended top property list. Im very disappointed as an MMT black...