Palette - The Slate Hotel Nungambakkam — Hotel in Zone 9 Teynampet

Unfortunately it's not possible to give zero stars. We arrived at The Slate Hotel just after 8pm. The room wasn't ready. An indifferent receptionist told us to view the room which two staff were still cleaning. The whole floor was soaking wet with filthy dirty water. The bathroom drain appeared to be blocked because there were several inches of water in the shower. One member of staff looked as if he was trying to force the dirty water down the drain with a dirty mop. The room smelt really bad and so we told the receptionist we wouldn't take the room and left. We did not sign in at all. When our travel agent called the hotel he was told that we had lied about the state of the room. Unfortunately we were unable to find another room and in the end we returned to the hotel at about 11pm. Our reservation could not be found immediately but then it turned out that we had been checked in without our knowledge or sight of our passports. The water had drained away by this time and the floor was dry. Thankfully the bed and sheets were clean. However, we quickly realised there was no wardrobe, or adequate space to unpack anything properly. We knew the room had been mopped, but the floor still looked very dirty because it was bare concrete with streaky marks. The skirting boards were grimy. Everything felt grimy to the touch. Switches and handles were dirty. The whole room felt as if it had not been finished off properly. Electric sockets weren't accessible because the bed was in the way. One socket was hanging out of the wall. Even the teabags were mouldy. The room was in the basement. When we opened the blind the view from the window was of a load of junk and rubbish piled up against dirty glass. We had to ask for toilet paper, there was no soap, only shampoo, and no towels until the following morning, so after a long day travelling we were unable to have a wash before bed or in the morning. After asking repeatedly one towel eventually arrived at about 11.30am the following day so we had to ask again for another one. We didn't see or speak to any other European visitors, but there were numerous Indian visitors making the same complaints as us at reception. One small group came to our room and said it was worse than theirs and they were checking out early because of the bad small and dirty surroundings. Conditions at this hotel were absolutely...

I booked my room at this hotel, only to be shocked by the stark contrast between what was displayed online and the actual condition of the premises. The moldy window shafts, musty rooms and dimly lit corridors were an eyesore that left me wondering if I had made a grave mistake. What's even more egregious is that the hotel failed to provide me with the room I specifically requested, instead taking me to another accommodation that was far from satisfactory. They promised to transfer me to my original room in the morning, but when I saw it for myself, I knew I couldn't stay there for fear of my safety. To add insult to injury, when I returned to the hotel lobby to request a refund, they had the audacity to deny my claim and even demanded more money from me. This is despite the fact that I never touched a room key or dropped off any luggage in the premises - it's as if they were trying to take advantage of an unsuspecting customer. The experience was nothing short of appalling, and I'm still reeling from the shock of being treated so shabbily by this hotel. What is even more distressing is that when I asked them for a refund, they demanded that I contact the booking website instead of taking responsibility themselves. This lack of accountability has made my experience with OYO and this particular hotel all the more terrible. I have been on hold for over a week, spending an excessive amount of time (over 6 hours) speaking to their representatives without receiving any satisfactory response or resolution. Unfortunately, I must conclude that it was not worth recommending this hotel to anyone. In fact, I will be sharing my horrific experience with others and advising them to exercise extreme caution when booking through OYO. The customer service representatives and backend managers have gone back on their word multiple times, despite promising me and sending emails confirming that I would receive my refund. Not a single rupee has been returned to me. I am attaching the relevant responses from the hotel as evidence of their poor customer service and lack of accountability. A special mention to Mr Afaan from the OYO customer care manager who despite hearing my plight was cold and...

If I could give 0 stars, I would!!!

We booked the room for 1st - 4th September 2025. Check in was 12pm. However due to the long travelling and bad traffic, we reached the hotel at 9:00pm. Upon arrival, they made us wait and ran off without an explanation. Then I realised, they did not even know the room was booked and prepped anything. They were running around to check if rooms were available and he came back almost 15 mins later to inform me that only one room was available and that the rooms on the second floor had an electrical issues and rooms were not available. We actually booked two rooms on Agoda. The property manager Jaffar told us to adjust and stay in one room and that their electrician will sort out the issue and rooms would be available tomorrow. He also did not want to issue us a refund for the first day as he said he is giving us a bigger room and that should be okay.

Firstly, he shouldn’t be deciding for us that refund is not possible just because he is giving us a bigger room. I did not come here for us all to be cramped up in one room. We booked two rooms and just because he is giving us a suite, he doesn’t want to give us a refund? Ridiculous.

And when we checked out the room, it was filthy. Extremely filthy. The floors were dusty. Sofa had crumps, tables were dusty. It was atrocious and truly disappointing. I wish I actually took some photos to show you how bad it was.

Customer service from Jaffar was horrible. Rude and unprofessional.

My question is he had the whole day, why did he not inform us via email or agoda app that there was such an issue?

Secondly he should know there are booking and should have made the suite available if he wanted us to ‘adjust for one night’ but rooms were not swept, mopped or cleaned.

Lazy job. Lazy property manager Jaffar. Attitude bad. Unprofessional. Please if you guys are reading this, he needs to buck up and this place should offer better services. Everyone working here looks...