Jaypee Vasant Continental Hotel — Local services in New Delhi

I can't help but wonder about the veracity of some of the glowing reviews here - for example, one 5 star reviewer says he got a wonderful view of the "ocean" from his room. I'm wondering if he's high and mixed up cities. 🤦🏽‍♂️ Anyway, this hotel was one of the most popular hotels in Delhi in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s. I was a student then and would gaze at the place whenever we would go to Priya for a movie, wondering if one day, I'd ever be able to afford such a place. Turns out that i actually can! Though I usually like staying at my State Bhawan or somewhere in Central Delhi/Saket whenever I'm in town, I decided to give Vasant a go for one night before I flew home after a week of work. I booked the base category room through Agoda, which was cheaper than MMT surprisingly. I paid about Rs. 6800 sans breakfast. I reached the hotel early and the kind lady at reception allotted me a room on the 6th floor with a bathroom that had a bathtub. This was clearly one of the older, un-refurbished rooms but it was decent enough for one night - or so i thought. The room itself was large by modern Delhi hotel standards. But then the horror show started. I discovered several strands of long, curly hair on the bed and floor. The bathtub was not to be left out either, coughing up another strand of really long female hair. I complained - they apologised profusely and sent the room cleaner who had actually cleaned the room that morning, to remove said hair. I tipped him though, as I always have a soft spot for poorly paid service staff. Then I tried using the bathroom before a nap and realised that the water pressure in the health faucet was too strong. I turned the knob and voila! The entire tap came out with a really strong jet of water that flooded the entire bathroom and foyer of the room in no time. I somehow managed to plug the hole with one hand and reached for the bathroom phone with the other, telling the reception lady to send a plumber immediately. This took almost 5 minutes, at which point I was beside myself with irritation. I narrated my ordeal to reception and in such cases, one would expect to be upgraded to a much better room to make up for the accidents that kept happening. I've stayed in different hotels in different places and being upgraded was not even a question, or so I thought. The kind lady offered to change my room and when I walked into the new room, I saw that it was smaller than the first. No upgrade at all. 🤣 I remember the Sofitel in Bangkok just a few weeks ago, where there was a very minor issue in my base category room, an issue that paled in comparison to what happened to me here, and the hotel upgraded me to their mini suite with the Bose Sound system with woofer and Nespresso machine. The new room did have more modern amenities particularly in the bathroom, but no bathtub. The smart TV could not be connected to the internet directly either and one had to cast one's phone instead, which meant that I could only watch YouTube as other portals like Netflix etc block the video images from being cast. The bed, however, was, perhaps, THE most comfortable bed I have ever slept in, bar none. The sheets were heavenly to say the least and the toiletries in the bathroom smelled nice. I tried ordering breakfast but the person on the other side of the phone insisted that a consolidated breakfast order was not possible as it was "already too late for breakfast" and I would have to order each item A-La-Carte - costing much much more. This is another issue that other hotels have gladly accommodated me on. Anyways, I'm still giving it 4 stars out of 5, more so for the history I have with this hotel as I mentioned earlier and the aspirations a young student dreamt of many years ago. The location is really decent too, with a market close by and the airport about 15 minutes away. Be warned though, Basant Lok market is not what it used to be back in the day. Most of the shopping has moved to Ambience Mall. It does have some really shady massage parlours though. 1 star less for the hassles...

AJAY KAPUR (UK) All my bookings as below were made online from UK in advance through travel Agency called Adani in January for April 2024, i.e. well in advance before my visit to India. I booked in your Hotel for two nights from 14 to 16 April 2024. Room no. 701. I had especially requested a double bed at the time of booking on 16 Jan. 2024 (3 months in advance) and even called the Hotel but waa offered a room with a single bed on my arrival to the hotel with an excuse of non availability of a room with double bed. Secondly, all night I could hear loud noise of planes landing and taking off, it was not good nights to sleep at all with roaring noises all night, sleepless nights is the right word. Then my next booking again was for 20 April to 21 April (one night) it was Room no. 501 This was the worst experience of my life Firstly to start with there were screeching noises of chairs moving with some partying noises above on 6th floor and then this almighty very very loud banging drums, loud music & dance with DJ shouting & screaming all night until 3am from a disco night club next to my room/ the hotel building in spite of a double glazed window in the room. Flashing lights through the roof and almighty madhouse drums & music roaring until early morning. Impossible to bear leave alone sleeping. So very annoying sleepless night, never experienced before staying in various hotels not just in India but many other countries I travel for business & pleasure for years. I had to get ready around 8 and checked out before 12 to catch my flight back to UK. I did complain to the reception about all this nuisance and was told nothing they can do about this night club being in another building in basant lok shopping centre in spite of complains by other hotel guests at times. I wonder where is law and order in the capital to stop this nuisance. Why is the Hotel not able to take any action to stop & report this nuisance to the Police/ Licencing Authorities and revoke this night club's licence. I am unfortunately booked once again in advance for four night from 30 June to 4 July 2024 in your hotel when I travel to Delhi from UK* I have called the Hotel today to ensure I do not have to go through the same old hell again during my next visit and stay four FOUR NIGHTS this time. If I have a choice I prefer to cancel my booking fearing of the same bad experience again and this time especially for four nights. Reason for booking in this Hotel is due to convenience to commute back and forth from this Hotel. I need an assurance from your end to accommodate me in a better quality quieter deluxe room with a double bed for four nights. I have busy schedule during my stay in your hotel and immediately fly back to UK after I checkout from your hotel on 4 July 2024....

NOISY NOISY NOISY. To be fair, I'll make sure to mention what I did like about this place and why it earned a second star from me. The room is clean and I do feel safe here. Also, the laundry service seems good and priced about standard to hotel laundry services. That's about all I have to say to the positive.

Get ready to hear every sound. The street outside is a constant traffic jam and the drivers down below are constantly - and I mean 100% constantly - honking. The walls, while made of concrete, are somehow paper thin. You will hear almost all noises from your neighbors to either side as well as above.

Half the things in my room were broken. Most of the lights flicker, the A/C is sporadic, my shower drain was so clogged it created a pool up past my ankles just taking a short shower, and the fridge barely gets to a temperature one might possibly describe as 'cool' when compared to room temperature.

I ordered a very basic sandwich from room service and got very sick. I mean I got a club sandwich but had them take everything risky off of it. It was just bread and chicken and a slice of tomato and I was still up all night writhing in pain. The breakfast buffet looks nice-ish, but honestly I never tried it. If they can't manage a simple sandwich without getting me ill, I'm not about to trust a bunch of unknown food sitting out on warmers all morning. Eat at your own risk.

The hotel reception is surly at best. You'd think I had asked them to donate a kidney when I brought my keycard to them after it stopped working. Also, they have FX rates posted on their desk but then told me it was a different rate when I went to exchange. Like most financial interactions around here, even the hotel seems happy to take advantage of foreigners they know have no choice.

You should plan to pay about 50% more than market for any service you book through the hotel.

But ultimately, here's the deal... you're staying here anyway. It's the only decent option for miles and in this traffic, that means an awful, long commute. Despite all the flaws, they're still the best hotel as far as the eye can see and they know it. So why would they bother changing anything? Go ahead and book your stay here because I certainly can't recommend anything else in the area. But just know you're not going to be getting the 5-star experience their website is trying to tout. Plan on a 2-3 star experience which is as good as you can ask for in this...