The Red Hotel

The one good thing is that it’s around 500 meters from the main Golden Temple. Otherwise, this was a bad stay, and I won’t return. The first room they gave me was tiny, 8 ft by 9 feet, at a quoted tariff of Rs 1209. They later moved me to a somewhat better but still poor room. The AC didn’t work, there was no bathing faucet, the commode’s washing function didn’t work, and the makeshift wardrobe had no rod. In the tiny bathroom, your legs sit under the washbasin when you use the commode. There was no room service, not even for drinking water, and the tariff seemed quite flexible. The staff had bad manners.

I was charged 800 INR, and this was the worst hotel experience I’ve had. The rooms smelled and had fungal deposits all around. Staff were deplorable: they shouted expletives, and one person was drunk and argumentative. The bathroom was dirty, with hair and a dirty commode. I asked for water and never got it, and despite asking several times, they never changed the bedsheet after the previous guest. They also don’t give you a bill at checkout. I’d have been better off at the OYO I had booked, but a local rickshaw puller talked me into changing, presumably for his commission.

They charge a lot for a place that felt like a hellscape. I barely got an hour of sleep in my one night there because of all the disturbances. The basics were missing or unreliable: power kept going, the bathrooms leaked, door locks were broken, the ACs didn’t work, and water supply was unreliable. Service was lazy and nothing to write home about.

The location was superb, just a two-minute walk from the Golden Temple, with Jaimal singh market and Hall bazar only a few minutes away. I loved the hotel’s ambiance and hospitality. Every staff member was attentive, and the rooms were clean, spacious, and had all the basic amenities for a good stay. There’s an on-site restaurant too, and the food tastes amazing. Thanks, Red hotel, for a lovely stay.