Guest post: Hotel review - Novotel Juhu Beach, Mumbai
It's been a while since Vinay, who is my miles-and-points co-conspirator of sorts, wrote. The last (and first) time he did, he wrote about his 20+ segment trip over 3 weeks that involved a flat aircraft tire, beers, dolphins, Freddie Mercury and a train ride (a must-read, BTW!).
Having stayed here on multiple occasions, thought it would be apt to write a little review for this hotel. The Novotel Juhu Beach is situated as the name implies in the Juhu region of Mumbai and getting there from the airport is pretty easy. It's never taken me more than half hour at varying times of day and in varying weather and traffic conditions, and so by Mumbai standards, it’s pretty good.
Check-in
The hotel is pretty busy for the most part from what i’ve seen, but check-in was fairly quick. I had a room upgrade voucher and so on my last trip booked a Standard (city view) category room and using the voucher got upgraded to an Ocean view room, but also in the Standard category. So essentially it’s the same category of room (in terms of amenities), just that it offers more of an ocean view.
Room Stuff
From what I’ve understood, in the base category, all the city view rooms are South facing and the Ocean View rooms are all North facing, offering a fair view of the sea. I believe there are corner rooms on every floor that are probably a category higher offering better views of the sea. There is a Premier executive floor that’s on a higher level and the executive lounge is also on this level.
The sea view rooms offer a nice view of the sea, although most of the sea view rooms also come with a partial view of the neighbouring old time hotel Sun’n’ Sand that happens to share a common boundary wall with the Novotel. The rooms are in pretty good shape and come with all the usual amenities associated with a Novotel.
I quite liked the look of the corridors with the room numbers all lit up.
During high tide the sea comes in quite a bit, pretty much eating away all of the already small sand bar that’s there in front of the hotel.
Coffee Shop
The hotel's coffee shop has a good spread on for all 3 meals and is pretty much always buzzing with people during meal times. Never had to wait though for a table, but am guessing a reservation would help for larger groups. They had on the usual full blown multi-cuisine spread, ranging from Indian to Continental and Chinese thrown in for good measure. And of course a large Dessert section. All my meals there have been a rushed affair courtesy pending work and so didn’t get too much time to take pictures of the same.
“Gadda Da Vida Chic – Sea Lounge” ...in simpler words, the hotel Bar..!!!
They have a nice bar that faces the sea and has a fair bit of patronage on most evenings. During the non-monsoon months, the outdoor area is an open air affair and during the monsoon months, they erect a thatched roof over the outdoor area, thereby allowing usage even when it’s raining. By the time i managed to get back to the hotel, freshen up a bit and head down for a drink it was pretty late. There was more than a steady breeze blowing (much to the dismay of the well heeled crowd whose hair do’s were getting all thrown out of shape) and a fair bit of rain as well. I quite enjoyed the ambience there that evening and left after a couple of drinks.
Next day, they were gracious enough to extend my check-out time for a bit. All in all in a good hotel from the Accor group. Am a bit of a sucker for hotels by the sea and so this one adds to my list. There are other hotels by the sea in Mumbai, but obviously swankier and hence in a higher price bracket.
Good stuff: Sea view rooms, Good location. Decent proximity to the airport, good service & good grub
Bad Stuff: Can get a tad bit crowded on Sunday’s.
Vinay is an Accor Le Club aficionado, and was recently in Mumbai and stayed at the Novotel Juhu Beach. At my request, he's kindly agreed to write again, so without further ado, I'll leave you to read his trip report in his own words.
Having stayed here on multiple occasions, thought it would be apt to write a little review for this hotel. The Novotel Juhu Beach is situated as the name implies in the Juhu region of Mumbai and getting there from the airport is pretty easy. It's never taken me more than half hour at varying times of day and in varying weather and traffic conditions, and so by Mumbai standards, it’s pretty good.
Check-in
The hotel is pretty busy for the most part from what i’ve seen, but check-in was fairly quick. I had a room upgrade voucher and so on my last trip booked a Standard (city view) category room and using the voucher got upgraded to an Ocean view room, but also in the Standard category. So essentially it’s the same category of room (in terms of amenities), just that it offers more of an ocean view.
Room Stuff
From what I’ve understood, in the base category, all the city view rooms are South facing and the Ocean View rooms are all North facing, offering a fair view of the sea. I believe there are corner rooms on every floor that are probably a category higher offering better views of the sea. There is a Premier executive floor that’s on a higher level and the executive lounge is also on this level.
The sea view rooms offer a nice view of the sea, although most of the sea view rooms also come with a partial view of the neighbouring old time hotel Sun’n’ Sand that happens to share a common boundary wall with the Novotel. The rooms are in pretty good shape and come with all the usual amenities associated with a Novotel.
I quite liked the look of the corridors with the room numbers all lit up.
My stay was when the monsoons were in full swing and its evident from the pictures. The sea is all gray and choppy and the coconut trees are were getting tossed around a fair bit.
During high tide the sea comes in quite a bit, pretty much eating away all of the already small sand bar that’s there in front of the hotel.
Coffee Shop
The hotel's coffee shop has a good spread on for all 3 meals and is pretty much always buzzing with people during meal times. Never had to wait though for a table, but am guessing a reservation would help for larger groups. They had on the usual full blown multi-cuisine spread, ranging from Indian to Continental and Chinese thrown in for good measure. And of course a large Dessert section. All my meals there have been a rushed affair courtesy pending work and so didn’t get too much time to take pictures of the same.
“Gadda Da Vida Chic – Sea Lounge” ...in simpler words, the hotel Bar..!!!
They have a nice bar that faces the sea and has a fair bit of patronage on most evenings. During the non-monsoon months, the outdoor area is an open air affair and during the monsoon months, they erect a thatched roof over the outdoor area, thereby allowing usage even when it’s raining. By the time i managed to get back to the hotel, freshen up a bit and head down for a drink it was pretty late. There was more than a steady breeze blowing (much to the dismay of the well heeled crowd whose hair do’s were getting all thrown out of shape) and a fair bit of rain as well. I quite enjoyed the ambience there that evening and left after a couple of drinks.
Next day, they were gracious enough to extend my check-out time for a bit. All in all in a good hotel from the Accor group. Am a bit of a sucker for hotels by the sea and so this one adds to my list. There are other hotels by the sea in Mumbai, but obviously swankier and hence in a higher price bracket.
Good stuff: Sea view rooms, Good location. Decent proximity to the airport, good service & good grub
Bad Stuff: Can get a tad bit crowded on Sunday’s.
Comments
Post a Comment