Trip report - The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata hotel review

Last week, I had the opportunity to stay at The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata. This is a heritage property, with a history of its own (I’ll probably write about that separately). Now, there's some part of me which really wants to be living in the early 1900s (strange, but true), and so the words "heritage" and "colonial" make me sit up and take notice.

Which was why I had mailed the hotel prior to my arrival and made some specific requests in relation to my stay, as I was keen on taking some photographs.

I landed in CCU just after noon (trip report here) but had to get straight to work. So it was evening by the time I reached the hotel. After the mandatory security check and baggage screening (most hotels in India now do this), this was the sight that my eyes met!

At check-in, I was greeted by the usual staff, along with Aatreyi Dhar, the Assistant Manager – Front Office. I’ve rarely met such an engaging member of the hotel staff! Check-in was as smooth as could be, and while that was happening, she gave me a low-down on the history of the hotel. Because we weren’t finished with her briefing, she walked me to my room on the 2nd floor. Here’s what I encountered when I got out of the elevator, up to my room.

  

 

She continued to explain, that although originally the hotel had over 500 rooms, it now has only a little over 200 operational rooms. The entire frontage of the building that overlooks the Esplanade, has rooms that are boarded up – apparently those are really large rooms with high ceilings, and I have to agree, that it makes no commercial sense to keep those rooms furnished. Later in the evening, I managed to take a picture of these rooms from inside the property, which is below.

She indicated that there was a book published by the Oberoi hotels about this property, and said she would try to locate a copy for me to read during my stay.

My room itself was a neat living space. I haven’t seen such a wide corridor other than possibly at the Marriot London County Hall. Here are the views from the entrance and from inside the room.

View from corridor

View from inside the room

As you enter the room, the wardrobe and coffee maker were to one side, and opposite that, the bathroom, which is actually a bit cramped when you compare it with the rest of the room.

Coffee maker

   

My bags had reached the hotel earlier in the day, as I had gone straight to work from the airport. Nonetheless, the bags were already in the room, along with a welcome letter from the property’s general manager, Mr George Kuruvilla.

Letter from the General Manager

Here are some more general pics of the room. As you can see, they’ve taken the heritage concept to the hilt, and virtually everything in the room is either antique or antique-designed (excepting the bathroom, of course!).

 

 

 

The room overlooked the courtyard (I couldn’t get one overlooking the pool), but it was too dark to see by the time I got to the room, so I freshened up and headed down for drinks and dinner with some colleagues visiting from overseas.

The hotel has two dining options (Baan Thai – the Thai specialty restaurant, and La Terasse – the multi-cuisine all-day dining option), as well as the Chowringhee Bar (which features a pool table). I managed to get some pictures, and we decided we’d head to the Bar for some drinks.

Chowringhee Bar

Bar - view from the doorway. There's a decent pool table too!

Baan Thai - the specialty Thai restaurant

La Terasse

After that, we decided to step out for dinner, so I didn’t sample the hotel’s restaurants that night. But when I got back to my room, I was in for two small but thoughtful surprises. One, the book about the property that Aatreyi had promised, with personal notes from both her as well as Mr Kuruvilla, the property’s general manager. The second was, in my opinion, even more thoughtful – this was a sampling plate of local Bengali desserts! Can’t be sure which of the two I enjoyed more!!!

 

I absentmindedly ate one of the pieces, before realising I had to take this picture!

The next morning, I managed to get some pictures of the views from the balcony of the room. The balcony itself is tiny, but does provide a whiff of fresh air. It was a clear day, and I’m grateful for that because the pictures I took came out well!

 

Then I headed down to breakfast at La Terasse, the coffee shop, which I’ve mentioned above. Breakfast itself was a reasonably large spread, beginning with coffee and an assortment of juices, along with varieties of cereals, a lot of fresh cut fruits, eggs to order, a large spread of Indian and continental dishes, breads and cheeses, fruit compote, and toast. I couldn’t get pictures of each of these, but the photos below will give you a fair idea.

 

 

 

After that, I just HAD to get a picture of the clear day outside, and decided that the poolside would be a good place to do this!

If I had no work, here's where you would've found me! Oh, and those rooms are the ones that are boarded up.

I then had to leave for work, but made mental notes and plans about trying out the other facilities that the property had to offer, including a discount at their spa. Sadly, that was not to be. My work got done by around 6 pm, and plans changed. A dinner was organised hurriedly by my hosts, at Oh! Calcutta, a specialty restaurant that serves local food, followed by 2 hours around town with a friend, doing some night photography. I got back to the room by midnight, quite tired, and had to wake up at 4 am to catch a 6.30 am flight back.

The interesting thing was that at check out, there was a small selection of fruit juice and some muffins and croissants, for early check-outs like me. The hotel is used a lot by airlines for their crew, and so I thought this made sense. I had breakfast on-the-go with a couple of Jet Airways pilots who were also checking out of the hotel at the same time as I was. After that, it was a bit of a rush to the airport. So, disappointment that I couldn’t enjoy the facilities much on this visit.

Nonetheless, this is a property I will want to visit at least once more, if not more. Excellent facilities, and an extremely friendly and hospitable team. And I’d like to specifically thank Mr Kuruvilla for such a splendid property, and also, place particular appreciation to Aatreyi Dhar for her personal attention and assistance with my requests. If you ever get to stay at this property, seek her out for some local info, and so say hi to her from me!

[Update - March 2014]

• What's good: excellent rooms, great service attitude, colonial ambience
• What could be better: the prices!