InterContinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort by IHG — Hotel in Tiruporur

A hugely disappointing 5 day stay - from the property itself through the lack of service to the unkempt facilities

Everything was incompetent. I understand that the hotel was built primarily as a wedding reception venue. However I was an ordinary customer - not part of a wedding party.

The room accommodation. The hotel has been very poorly constructed and not well maintained - which was particularly evident when it rains rains - which happened daily and heavily. The whole property leaked like a sieve with water cascading down everywhere (there was no gutterings to catch it). Leaving the room entailed walking through a shower of water and many puddles.

Much worse were the water problems in the room itself. Water leaked down from the ceiling inside the entrance to my room. Additionally water flooded in from the (non-draining) balcony into the room. The problems do not seem to be recent - as the room boys changed the 4 bath towels on the floor twice a day. There was no mattress topper - so the bottom sheet was placed directly on the mattress - neither hygienic nor 5 star! The mini bar was empty and when we asked for it to be filled only a few soft drinks and a local chocolate biscuit were added. The welcome fruit bowl was removed, untouched on the second morning.

The Club Lounge/Lack of service The Club lounge is very dark, with totally inadequate lighting. You can barely see around the room -such was the gloom. There was an outside area which was nice but on the second day it was unusable because nobody had thought to bring in the sofa type chair cushions, so they were soaked. This continued for every subsequent day of my stay - even though I had pointed out the problem

The lounge staff disappeared for long periods and when asked why they claimed they 'were collecting glasses' - however there was no sign of them nor did they answer repeated calls for attention for over 10 mins.

Happy-hour food was limited and of poor quality. And 'hot' food mostly tepid.

Afternoon Tea was served 'on request'. So one day at 2.45 we requested it for 3.30 in the Club Lounge. At 3.30 we went to the dark, unlight club lounge with loud feedback buzzing through one loudspeaker. We then went to reception and asked for some service. Long story short ... at 4.30 tea arrived (perfectly nice toasted sandwiches) ... having been requested 1 and 3/4 hours earlier.

It was clear that the junior staff, although willing, were not supervised nore trained. So their efforts were random and disorganised. All in all very unreliable.

Facilities. Tennis court was in total disrepair, a wall having fallen down over it some considerable time ago - and suddenly, at the end of the stay, it was cordoned off

Gym smells of damp and decay and is another place that needs renovation as the walls are blistering with damp. It was rarely manned but has some machines however, it lacked simple things like a foam roller

The Beach area at the sandy beach - there is a beach cafe and some layout chairs. However there is no water/shower/footbath to rinse off the oil stained sand after a beach walk or after using the chairs.

One wet night we had a perfectly pleasant beach cafe dinner - which due to the weather was served under a thatched roof near the open cafe. However there is no path or light to the thatched shelter so you walk in the dark over wet sand - which rather spoils things.

All in all the stay was a dreadful experience and I can not recommend staying ... there even to an enemy!

This hotel is not, in my opinion, like a 5 star InterContinental hotel. It should stick to being a wedding venue only and/or rebranded as 3 star hotel.

Swimming pool Not always manned - one day I had to find a mattress and towels (in a nearby shed) and carry them to the pool chair. There was no working...

My wife and I recently stayed at the Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort and we had a fantastic time. The hotel itself is beautiful with the dark stone, palm trees and abundance of water. The spacious pool area was well kept with comfortable sun beds and plenty of shade and we were served by attentive staff, which allowed us to relax in perfect temperatures. We were staying in one of the suites that had a beautiful view of the gardens and the beach in the distance. The suite was extremely spacious and had everything we needed. The bed was comfortable; there was a lovely balcony; and the shower was excellent. Regarding the food, we really enjoyed the fresh juices and food options available at the Melting Pot for all meals and Tao of Peng offered wonderful dumplings and authentic Asian cuisine for dinner as well. Tao of Peng is only open a few nights a week and did feel quiet and there was a better atmosphere at the other restaurants but the food made up for it. At Kokommo the food was very nice too, although the potions of the bar snacks were absolutely huge!

We took part in a few sunrise yoga sessions with Nisha from the spa team, which were so special. She was a great instructor and it was a lovely way to start our day. The massages in the Amrtam spa were excellent too and great value for money.

The staff were charming throughout our stay. In the concierge team, Ramesh and Suresh were always there to greet us and made organising trips were easy. The breakfast staff were also really friendly and started off our day well. Everyone made us feel very welcome and we would like to say a huge thank you!

Our suggestions would include having menus by the pool so we could order food and drinks to our sun beds. Adding some live music down at the beach restaurant, Kokommo would help to add some atmosphere but the seaside setting is lovely. Better air conditioning in the gym would be helpful as it was very hot. Finally, the club lounge package which was included as part of our suite could also be improved. The Gatsby Lounge was only open from 5-7pm and only served limited food. For the additional money, we would expect this to at least offer some options in the afternoon and could be enhanced by offering coffee and snacks during the day. In most Intercontinentals that we’ve stayed in, you can get breakfast, afternoon tea, canapés and drinks in the Club Lounge so we were expecting something on this level. Very generally, the hotel is beginning to show some signs of age in a few places but it still looks modern, clean and luxurious.

Overall, I would highly recommend this hotel. It’s comfortable, luxurious and is an oasis of calm that provides an excellent place to relax. We hope the hotel continues to develop and grow as we will definitely be looking to come back...

Dear Intercontinental Team,

I am writing to express my disappointment with the service I received during my recent stay at your hotel. Unfortunately, the experience did not meet my expectations, and I feel compelled to bring this to your attention. I checked in on 09th February and checked out on 11th February, and I regret to say that my overall experience was far from satisfactory.

Furthermore, I encountered multiple issues with the staff during my stay. I found them untrained and lacking in a basic understanding of my request. It was evident that their training to attend to their guests was subpar, and they did not seem to be having a basic knowledge in providing the level of service that is expected from a hotel of your caliber. Despite my expectations of a comfortable and enjoyable stay at Intercontinental, I faced a number of issues that left me feeling extremely frustrated and dissatisfied. I encountered several instances of poor service including - Being woken up at 6 AM by a staff member who asks me and my how he can be of service to us and only to realise he was in the wrong place. Needless to say, we had lost our sleep by now.

These experiences made me feel extremely unwelcome and unvalued as a guest especially when I had come there to celebrate my wife's birthday on the 10th of February. More like torturing ourselves through her special day.

I must admit that my stay was far from what I had anticipated, and I feel let down by the experience. I believe that this level of service is not in line with your brand image and reputation, and I hope that you can address these issues. It felt more like a 3 star lodge than the reputation that preceded the place.

Now I find no joy in complaining about my stay or giving such negative feedback, but having enjoyed visiting the property time and again, it is majorly disappointing to receive such an experience and no amount of apologies will surely now give us back the 3 days spent having such an unpleasant stay. Not sure if I'd ever be able to make another reservation ever without slightly being worried.

I would appreciate a response from you on this matter and would welcome the opportunity to discuss it further with you. Thank you for your attention to this...