In Pursuit of the Perfect Luxury Hotel

The expectations for the stay were sky high, part of which can be attributed to the heavily photoshopped, panoramic photographs on the website to lure guests. The ITC Grand Bharat lies in the cradle of the Aravallis and is far, far away from the deafening traffic of neighbouring Gurgaon.

The expanse of the property could be felt even before entering the hotel building. Just reaching the reception hall took a few minutes from the main entrance off the highway. We were still reeling from the grandeur of the resort, when the imposing sandstone building housing the reception, restaurants and banquet halls blew us away. It looked nothing short of a palace, making us feel that the worth of the money spent was already being realised.

The check in formalities were completed in the bar, which made the experience slightly different and memorable. The hospitality staff made sure that the themes of the restaurants and bars were shared in great detail with the guests. It can add to the experience for some, but for me personally, it was a bit over the top. The next stop were the suites. The rooms, with their cramped space, were a bit underwhelming. This was probably due to the fact that the washroom occupied as much space as the rest of the room. Lack of thoughtful planning, I must say.

Now we come to the part where you might think I am a nitpicking jerk, or you might admire my impeccable taste. I leave it up to you to judge me. As I lay on the bed, I noticed that a portion of the extended cornice had perforations in it. I later realised that it was a vent to let the air conditioning in. The eccentric placement of the band of holes had made it impossible not to notice, and it marred the otherwise beautifully frescoed ceiling. While the golden murals added regality to the ceiling, the amateurish brushstrokes which had left dark and light patches could be noticed. The washroom served a disappointment when the washbasin stopper did not lift, leaving the basin useless. The next strike was conceded in the tableware department, on two different occasions. The … meant to hold milk for tea or coffee was chipped on the inside. On the lunch table, the cutlery was soiled with water stains and the menus were coming off from their bindings. While at dinner, I also noticed that the sheer curtains were visibly streaked.

Before this rant makes it seem like I only have bad things to say about ITC Grand Bharat, I must congratulate them on the service and staff. It was a pleasure interacting with all the crew members. The best part was the balance struck between allowing personal space and being close enough to anticipate the needs of the guests. I concede that my remonstrations put me in the 99.99th percentile and most people won’t have been bothered in the least by these issues. At the expense of sounding elitist, I will go ahead and call most of the other guests crass. This brings me to my primary reason for carrying a … against ITC Grand Bharat. From what I can gather, one of the reasons for the lapses was the undiscerning guests that the resort plays host to. When nobody notices these little eyesores, you don’t make the effort to walk an extra mile to find them yourself. While it makes sense to part with only as much consumer surplus as necessary to keep attracting more guests, it makes the discerning guests feel a bit cheated.
This experience pushed me to ask an unusual question, one that you stop asking yourself once you cross a certain threshold of affluence – Is what I am paying justified? or Am I being given my money’s worth? This question is even more accentuated in the luxury space, where you might find yourself asking this multiple times. You literally have to shut up this inner voce and ‘force’ yourself to enjoy the moment before it becomes natural to do so.

There is no guidebook to luxury and I guess only experience can teach you what every extra dollar you pay gives you. I have always wanted to understand the psychology of luxury and I believe that an understanding of the history and evolution of luxury can lend some answers. This will always be a quest because like so many other things for me, only once I answer the question I am after, can I truly enjoy the experience in peace.