Our stay in Sawai Madhopur – not what was expected from a 5 star hotel.

On the pictures on booking.com Anugara Treehouse Palace really looks like a luxury hotel and was marked to have five stars but when we arrived the building was indeed grand and palatial but the gatekeeper (and the gate to the street for that matter) looked somewhat tired and worn out.

The reception, which unfortunately did not have air conditioning that could cool our sweaty bodies properly, was really just a huge room with a clerk at a small desk. The ceiling height was probably 10 meters and the dome of the ceiling was adorned with lots of ceiling paintings.

The check-in procedure was exciting but not very smooth as the man behind the desk was not so good at speaking English. After a long time we finally got our room, and we were by then very hungry and a bit tired. We had been told that the restaurant at the hotel would open 13:30 and we were there exactly on the dot. However, the restaurant was completely blackened and we met a waiter who said that sure, we could order, but in that case we had to eat in our room. A bit strange in a five star hotel but we nodded cheerfully to move the process of getting something to eat forward. We got to see the menu which consisted only of a few dishes, which we also thought was a bit strange. We ordered a vegetarian dish with accessories and was told that it would be delivered to our room half an hour later. Luckily for them (and us), the food was really good!

During our stay, we only saw two other guests in the hotel, which was kind of funny because it is a huge hotel and can accommodate several of hundreds of people. We got the opportunity to talk to the other guests, a young German couple, and they told us that they had travelled to Sawai Madhopour to go on a safari and watch tigers but they had found out that the season had not really started yet. On the safari they did not see any tigers, as some parts of the reserves has not opened yet. Now they were staying at this strange hotel to wait out some stomach problems and colds.
The breakfast at the hotel was one of the strangest we’ve experienced in India. In the morning we were allowed to sit in the restaurant but near the window to not sweat to death – the air conditioning was not switched on, we guess it was not well worthwhile for only four guests. A man came up to us and asked what we wanted to eat and we both said coffee, juice and a vegetable omelet. So far so good … We got our coffees and our juices and then our table slowly was filled with different breakfast items. Indian bread, dal, some kind of stew, Idle – spongy white bread and Semolina – white disgusting porridge. No one informed us of what was to come, everything just flew in, one dish after the other. When we had tried all the different dishes we realized that we still had not received our omelettes. We tried to cancel them, but they were already made so we just had to eat them as well.

Our train to Udaipur would not leave until three o’clock in the afternoon so we had to keep our room a few extra hours after normal check out time (no problem I guess when it comes to availability of rooms). As there was a pool at the hotel we decided to try it. It started as we found free towels to pick from the pool side and two lounge chairs with thick cushions. But when we looked closer at the water, we realized that we did not want to swim in it. As the season has not started we guess they do not prioritize the cleaning of the pool. So sad and so bad service!