Location
Hotel Shivaay Grand is situated in the historical city of Amritsar in Punjab. It is less than a kilometre from landmarks such as the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh, making it convenient for people visiting the city for tourism purposes. One can either walk to the landmarks or take electric rickshaws right outside the hotel.
Why did I choose this hotel
I had the opportunity to visit Amritsar with family in November and as with any trip everything starts with hotel hunting, more so if you are travelling with family. As I could understand during the process, the hotels in Amritsar are clustered either in the old city or slightly away from it. The old city is very crowded so staying in that part comes with its own set of positives and negatives. Since it was a family trip, I did not want to make too many short trips to reach the city centre and hence decided to stay within.
After countless comparisons on multiple websites/apps, I finally zeroed in on this property which was close enough to the city centre but not too close to be hectic.
Read on to know my experience.
Check-in experience
We reached the hotel just around 2 PM (the official check-in time is noon). We had booked two Deluxe type rooms a week before. As it was a weekend and was crowded, the rooms were not ready (or at least they were in the process of) and we had to wait for about 10-15 minutes. The front desk was very courteous and made us feel comfortable during this waiting period hence no complaints here. Though it would have been nice to head straight into the room after a six-hour train journey. Click here to read the review of the Amritsar Shatabdi Express.
Room Experience
The room had all the basic things that any comparable hotel in this category will have so there are no misses on that front. It was a decent-sized room with neat and clean bedding and a washroom. We did not use the television so cannot comment on it (never believed in watching television while travelling, will always use that time exploring). One thing to note is that there were no windows in both of our rooms so there was this ventilation issue.
One of the rooms had this weird smell upon entering which was promptly addressed by the staff by spraying some freshener, so appreciate that. Another point worth mentioning here is the difference in the quality of rooms. Out of the two rooms, one was spotless whereas the other one had plasters coming out from the walls though it was minor so did not make a big deal out of it. The management should fix these minor niggles to improve the overall experience.
Facilities and Amenities
The list of facilities at the hotel can be found on any hotel booking site so I will not repeat them here, but I will highlight my experience with some of them here.
Parking is listed as one of the facilities at the hotel but I could not find any at the hotel. Upon enquiry, I was told it is slightly ahead of the hotel. Since we did not travel by our vehicle, cannot vouch for it. Remember that the hotel is in a crowded locality where parking could be a challenge.
The hotel consists of four floors and there is a lift within the property. It is a small one but is functional and very helpful.
You can also contact the front desk to arrange for a taxi for local sightseeing. Though we had our arrangements, the rates seemed reasonable and convincing.
Staff and Service
I found the staff at the hotel great. Whether it was the front desk or the housekeeping staff, the service was prompt, and any concerns or issues were immediately addressed.
I had mentioned about the weird smell in the room initially, the housekeeping staff promptly responded and solved that problem. We also had to call them quite a few times and they always had a smile on their faces dealing with them so a big thumbs up.
Dining Options
Amritsar is very well known for its wide variety of cuisines so I am not sure how many would like to dine at the hotel. But if any of you do decide to do that, there is a fully functional restaurant in the hotel itself. We did not go to the restaurant (we were told that the restaurant was occupied due to some party) but rather availed of free room service a few times.
The food was good but I would not say it was incredible or something. If you have the chance of going out to eat then I would surely recommend it but if by any chance it is not possible then you can go for the hotel food. The turnaround time was also reasonably good so no issues with that.
Value for money
Excellent location, great staff and service and decent enough amenities make the hotel a value-for-money proposition. If the management does some basic maintenance in rooms fixing the plastering issue and providing some amount of ventilation, then it would even sweeten the deal.
Recommended from our side.
