Looking for budget hotels in India is always so entertaining.
For $6 dollars a night we found a hotel that boasts, “bucket showers (for hot water), a “no Indian policy” and squat toilets”. Really, all strong selling points???
Here’s another line: “each and every single room at our hotel exotic epitomizes luxury and the grandeur of Indian culture juxtaposed with modern amenities” – this is set on a background image of some guy in a tuxedo!
Click their contact page, “error, sorry page cannot be found” – click over to some of the reviews from other travelers – looks like half are left by hotel staff – and then we bounced on over to some other hotel review sites and discovered horror stories from fellow travelers. Eventually we found a picture of the hotel and see the reality. The outside looks like a gravestone – same color and shape, in what is obviously a run down part of town. The facade of tourism as it relates to “cheap India” is always see through smoke and mirrors. The Internet does not allow a hotel to hide for very long!
Continuing research on other hotels, I throw this out there, “But this one is one of the top value’s on TripAdvisor – it’s advertised as “home away from home”. Syy asks “how much” – $12/night/room. We couldn’t stop laughing.
Ultimately, after lots of research we made a fantastic find. We will stay at another hotel that talks about “their great founder” and his “generousity to mankind”, “offering him (the traveler) some of the best facilities he would have ever come across”, a “vibrant staff” as well as their “lip smacking cuisine” in their restaurant.
And we think Bangkok is hot this time of year – but saw Chennai recently topped out at 42C – and has been in the upper 30’s. Whew!
It’s quite hilarious the strong points of the $6/night hotel. A squat toilet doesn’t exactly excite me into staying the night! Living in the United States though a trip to India would cost so much I would only be able to take a bucket shower. India seems like a beautiful place to travel, I wouldn’t want to ruin my trip by staying in a hotel I have to keep my eyes open at night. Thanks for the info though, never would have thought about looking into the perfect hotel that much!