Janak Vilas- A Heritage Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Rajasthan

Had stayed in this hotel for 2 nights out of our 4 days stay in Udaipur. Will divide my opinion into PROS and CONS:

PROS: Well behaved staff. The staff especially at Reception greet you with warmth and they know how to treat the guests well !! Proximity to key landmarks like City Palace, museum, ghats, etc. (All are at walkable distance) Rooms- We stayed in Room No. 301 (Suite room). It was very spacious, well designed, gave a heritage feel to it, bathroom with separate shower and jacuzzi. Prompt room service and in-room dining.

CONS: Rooms are definitely overpriced. We paid Rs. 10,400 for 2 nights (breakfast included). From my stay, I can definitely opine that the rooms are definitely overpriced as compared to other hotels in Udaipur. Poor breakfast buffet. The breakfast was not upto the mark. Same menu (almost) repeated everyday. The worst thing I noticed when on asking for drinking water, we saw the waitress slowly sneaking into the kitchen with already used glasses and filling them up with water again without washing them.. That was the most disgusting thing we saw in this hotel.. In COVID times, I can't say how disgusting we felt. Makes me question the quality and hygiene standards in this hotel. Laundry. Same day laundry service not available. They kept switching off the lights in the corridor towards our room.. Don't know why.. Were they trying to save electricity to the extent of inconvenience to the customers or what?? We could hardly see through the corridor and lock our room doors. We did request them to turn them on, but it was switched off again later on.. The jacuzzi was not maintained well.. The switches were not working properly and the handle to turn on the hand shower was broken. Some of the toiletries that they provided seemed to be already used by the older customers and we're not replaced later on. We noticed the shower gel bottle was empty more than half in quantity. Also to mention, the quantity of shower gel and moisturizer was so less.. It could be used only by 1 person 1 time!! We had to ask them again and again for more shower gels.

Overall I can say is that our stay in this hotel was okay but not upto the mark according to the price we paid. It's better to stay in a 5 star category with similar, or may be more price and much better quality and hygiene standards in...

I booked the Hotel through OYO. Stayed there from 27 July -28 July 2018.

Rooms: Rooms as shown on the OYO are never provided to customer booking through OYO. OYO customer are provided smaller rooms.OYO pics shows every room with white sofa. Actual room have only a small chair. There is no space to walk within the room itself. Don't get high by pictures on OYO, you might be surprised when you enter the actual room.

OYO Toiletries Kit - OYO has standard toiletries kit for every room. There was no kit available in the room. In the morning when asked for the kit, they provided residual shampoo and soap from their reception drawers. When asked about the sealed kit, they said its not available.

So-called Breakfast included: They provide only One Parantha for the Breakfast. When asked for another, they said they have plate system and will charge for another parantha. An indian can understand how fulfilling a small and thin single parantha is.

Arrogant Owner: I checked-in at 9 PM on 27 July. They had mentioned check-out time at 11 PM. I got a call at 11:15 that I have to check-out and I asked for another 15 mins to get ready. When I reached at reception, owner asked for 300 extra for late check-out. I asked the reason and was told that I was 30 minutes late for check-out. I accepted and asked for GST bill for extra charges. Now here come the interesting part. They don't provide GST bill for that. They don't want to pay taxes on the charges. When insisted, they don't know how to generate the GST bill! They copy pasted GST number and provided me bill of 360 Rs with GST. Bill was presented to me at 12:15 PM. Now it was my turn to ask for compensation for taking 45 minutes to generate as fake GST bill. They denied to provide any discount. Finally talked to OYO. OYO said that 2 hours are complementary and no charges are levied.

Reason for this arrogant attitude: OYO always send review message even before checkout from the hotel. I reviewd them at around 11 AM. I had given 3 star rating to them mentioning the toiletries, Room and breakfast issues. They are not happy with the critical reviews and asked for late check-out charges. To top it all, I was given 1 star...

After searching extensively for hotels in Udaipur, I chose Janak Villa for my stay, and it turned out to be a great decision. The hotel is quite good, albeit with some pros and cons. It is located approximately 2.5 kilometers away from the railway station.

Pros:

Very close to the City Palace.

Excellent room service.

Breakfast offers a variety of options.

The restaurant has ample seating with a great view, including an Indian-style "baithak" provision if you prefer to sit on the floor rather than on chairs.

Super quick check-in process without pressure to pay the remaining amount.

Lift facility is an added advantage.

Bathrooms were clean and spacious.

Two complimentary mineral water bottles provided per day.

Live karaoke music on weekends.

Rooftop restaurant offers a great view of City Palace.

Jagdish Temple and nearby shopping attractions are within walking distance (approximately 1 km from the hotel, with a slightly steep road).

Cons:

My room (305) did not have any view and had a small window, but sufficient sunlight and fresh air came through.

Lighting was a bit dim with all yellow lights, which might contribute to a feeling of loneliness at times (this is my personal opinion).

Special thanks to Mr. Suresh at the restaurant, who was incredibly polite and seemed to not know the word "no," always smiling and ready to help. Another special thanks to Mr. Kshitij, the front desk manager, who was always ready to resolve any queries.

Note: If you are coming from the railway station, please be aware that OLA/UBER is operational in Udaipur only in name; auto-rickshaws will charge a minimum of ₹100 from the station to the hotel. Be sure to use your bargaining power...