Delhi: Hotel Suma Palace, Karol Bargh

jarman_ah

Has anyone any experience of the Hotel Suma Palace in Karol Bargh, Delhi?
It doean't come up in "search", and even google has very little mention. Surely SOMEONE on Indiamike must have stayed here!
Thanks,
Alan

wileycyotee

This is their website:

http://business.vsnl.com/sumapalace/

We have received a recommendation from another forum page and are planning to stay there for $17 per night.

jarman_ah

The internet travel agent (Sanjay) who told us about the Suma Palace was so pleasant and attentive that we ended up staying there, at his "special" price of $US15 a night, double. In case anybody's interested, here's our appraisal.

Sanjay was really terrific to us, sent us about a dozen emails answering questions and making suggestions. He works for a travel agent which is affiliated with the Suma Palace and part of the same building. When we told him we were coming by train, he offered to have a taxi waiting at Old Delhi Station for us, for 100 rupees. I was concerned that the train might arrive two hours or more late -- such things, I have heard, are not unknown in India, eh, Steven? -- and that his driver would be waiting around when he could instead be doing something productive; so I amended his offer by saying that we would ring him from the station on arrival and wait for the driver to come to us. Sanjay agreed to this, but sent the driver to meet the train, anyway -- actually, it was very comforting to arrive at Old Delhi Station (only forty-five minutes late) in the dark, make our way up the steps among literally thousands of streaming passengers, and to suddenly see a man on the stairs holding a sign (just like you see at the airports) with our name and "welcome" on it -- a bit bizarre for a train station. But India is like that.

The Suma Palace, at $15 a night, was sold to us as a basic one-star, and that's exactly what it is. It's one of more than a dozen similarly-priced and similarly-named establishments in a rather run-down and uninspiring area. We were very kindly disposed towards it after being greeted at the station, and even more so when we pulled up at the hotel: even though it was long past business closing, Sanjay was waiting there for us, with a hug of greeting like you give to a long-awaited relative. The room he had selected for us was better -- at least at first sight -- than we had a right to expect for the money: air-conditioned, a TV set, and even a refrigerator! Sanjay ordered marsala tea for us, and didn't leave until we were comfortably settled.

The air conditioner sounded like a helicopter in the room, and it was really cold, so we turned it to its ultra-low "whisper-quiet" settting, at which it sounded like an autorickshaw, and was still just as cold. So, eventually, we turned it off. Our first mistake, as it never worked again. The frig, we discovered (after Sanjay had stocked it with two bottles of mineral water, complimentary) wasn't working, either; it never worked. Nor did the hot water: we had a cold shower two mornings, which was no great hardship, but even in India, hot is nicer. The toilet flushed okay, but the seat just sat on the bowl, unattached. The TV set worked fine, but, then, who cares about TV when you've just arrived in India?

None of the negatives were serious enough to warrant any complaints, and we spent two pleasant nights at the Suma Palace. Sanjay returned to farewell us, handling our early (4 a.m.) taxi departure to the airport next morning, and, while thanking us for our kind words on this forum (which had resulted, he was thrilled to tell us, in some extra business for him) treated us to more tea. Delicious tea, by the way.

On departure (the wake-up call was right on time) we went to pay our bill, but the account was at least 200 rupees more than we were expecting, so I examined it (this wasn't the only time in India that an account was "fudged" -- even bus conductors will short-change you -- but in all other cases the discrepancy was only a few rupees). For a start, we had been billed for $17 a night, not the agreed-on $15. Secondly, a 10% tax had been added, which we had been prepared for and were not averse to paying -- but, of course, it had been calculated as a percentage of the higher price. And then, the final irony: the six cups of tea which Sanjay had kindly ordered had been charged to our account (they somehow missed the mineral water)! We had to laugh, but, nonetheless, our good humour didn't extend to actually paying for it! Anyway, we queried the account, showed them the agreed-on email print-out, told them to see Sanjay about the tea when the shop opened, and all was resolved more-or-less happily.... the difference was only about $6 anyway, so it wasn't worth declaring war over. But it does provide an interesting sidelight on the Suma Palace, I think.

Alan

timmy

Tsk, tsk, Alan... you really should have taken heed of my recommendation of the Hotel Baba in Karol Bagh, then.

__________________
Read my India Travel Blog from late 2004, or look at my Photo Gallery from my last two trips.

jarman_ah

Hi, Timmy!

Your recommendation looks interesting, but I don't think I saw it before the event -- not sure about that, as I was looking at a lot of recommendations in a lot of cities. I think the Baba is very near the Suma Palace... I seem to remember seeing a sign when we were out walking and (as usual) hopelessly lost.

However, I don't regret the Suma Palace, not for a moment. The little flaws mentioned above were not intended to discourage anyone from proceeding with a booking there -- I just found them mildly amusing, one of the crazy inconsequential things you still talk about when the major events of the holiday are fast becoming a blurred memory.

InduBala

Dear jarman_ah

nice to meet you. Sumo Palace will cost 12 USD per night.Here are some good hotels and rates you may find it useful.
Hotel Ivory,Cosmo,Astoria all are rating 12 USD per night.



with love
indu