Visakka's The Amethyst Hotel Palani — Hotel in Tamil Nadu

Nice and comfortable room, but, awful hotel staff experience. AVOID UNLESS YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE!!

The checkin process was smooth and the rooms were very nice. We enquired about snacks and were offered lunch at the Jade restaurant. The lunch was super awesome as well.There were new year celebrations the night of the 31st and we were told while checking in about the menu that was available for dinner since I had already paid for breakfast as well as dinner. Visited the temple after a few. Came back to the room and called up the reception to place the order which is when things starting going South. The guy at the reception was very far from acknowledging the fact that the dinner was already paid for. They started with saying we offered you lunch instead. Lunch (Meals) which were valued at 100 Rs. per person was no obvious match for the money I paid for dinner for each adult that was more than 500 Rs.. One person calls the other and the other and the other and so on and somehow no one is able to decide. After 2 hours of arguing, they start saying that if you want to have dinner, then, GO SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE where you get the dinner. And the time was 11 PM. They knew very well that getting dinner outside by ourselves for 9 people that we were across 3 rooms was not practical and used the opportunity to hoard some money. Even after my paying in advance for the dinner, they were more around pushing us in purchasing the new year dinner for an additional 800 Rs. per person if we wanted to have dinner.

After an hour more of argument, they showed us a list of 4 - 5 dinner items to choose from. We obviously had zero interest even to have food offered by them by that time since it was almost 11:45 PM. Unfortunately, I had all family with me with people of ages ranging from 3 years through 87 years; so, we had to take what they offered without much choice. If not, I would surely have not eaten this throw away food they offered.

They were then shameless enough to charge us for lunch as well. Show some shame. There is more to character than just money. Bunch of money launderers. I would avoid this hotel...

Room was extremely above expectations in regards to the design and cleanliness. The rain shower was splendid! However, nothing is perfect. Firstly, the wait to make payment was really long as the machine for card payment was giving issues. Fyi, I’m using an international credit card and because of their faulty machine, we had to make payment via cash(money we brought for our expanses). Mind it, we’re from Singapore and on a road trip travelling from Mumbai to Trichy and then to Palani with a toddler. The guy at desk easily told us to withdraw from an atm and make payment. Secondly, it is quite a trivial matter but i will still like to highlight it as we have not faced this issue EVER in India. We had to purchase mineral water because we only receive one bottle as complimentary THROUGHOUT the stay(thank god we’re only staying for one night). And they provide their own water branded by their company.

Thirdly, this issue is the reason why I’m writing this review. My husband needed his clothes to be ironed so he contact the front desk this morning to check the availability and charges and a lady told him that there will not be any charges incurred(after checking). At out checkout this noon, the man at front desk told us we’ve pending “laundry charges”. This was the same guy who told us easily to withdraw the cash to make payment. When we mentioned that there were no laundry, he mentioned that they were referring to their ironing services. When highlighted that we were informed it was free by a lady, he immediately called the lady to come to clarify with us.

He looked like her mentor and the lady looked rather new. When clarified, she said they did tell her that it was free when she checked before confirming with us. But it seemed like she was helpless now because we’ve been charged and during this time, her “mentor” totally didn’t get involved and moved away to attend to another customer.

There’s a lot of improvement needed to make this hotel...

I stayed at Amethyst Palani after cinforming they accept Bank Transfers. I checked in with high hopes and many were met but the attitude of Mr.Kanan of front desk destroyed everything. Room is big and spacious. Bathrooms are clean. Even though they are really small. The Rain shower is a big plus point.

Now the negatives. They dont have anyone who understands English. They have trainees in FnB service and they dont understand etiquette or cleanliness. They bring food orders to your room and they keep the bill book on the same plate you have to eat in. I cancelled two orders but i was still charged for them. The food was atrocious and i did not eat more then 1 bite and asked to cancel. But when i am checking out they asked me to pay for it. The noodles had so much black pepper i informed them they said they will cancel but they did not. They are so stingy and run by misers that when i ordered Bhajji i got exactly 6 pieces. Then on checkout i informed Mr.Kanan my cab 200 is already paid for but he still tried to charge me. And then he has the Balls to call me Cheap. Best hotel experience ever. I will never refer to anyone else just because Mr.Kanan promised and then overcharged first Rs.121/- and then tried to take 200 rs extra even though i showed him a mail of his front office manager conforming payment. Thank you Mr.Kanan for spoiling a...