Hotel Almeida

The building itself is quite good, but a hotel needs some human warmth, ethics, and hospitality. In the dining area where breakfast was served, a staff member was misbehaving and throwing attitude. I hate giving negative ratings, especially because of people, and I blame management rather than that employee. Higher management should assess staff properly before hiring. Everyone here needs lessons in hospitality and work ethics. You're visiting a hotel, not a haunted place.

The reception staff were well mannered, and the restaurant staff were generally pleasant, but service elsewhere was poor and coordination was lacking. Room service clears the dishes, then you have to call housekeeping separately to wipe the table. I also found no one to clean my car in the parking lot the next morning. Even offering a tip didn't help, as they said car cleaning wasn't their job and they had no cleaner for cars. The rooms are nicely made, but they're dirty. The food was average, and while paratha was fine, the sambhar and chutney with idly tasted sweet to me for the first time. It's not bad for a couple of days if you'll be out anyway, but they need to improve service if they want better ratings and to justify what they charge.

The pool wasn't clean, and there was pigeon poop in it. My kids got rashes after swimming. The rooms looked luxurious from outside but weren't great inside, with smelly sheets that hadn't been changed before our arrival. We had to ask for fresh ones. Dinner and breakfast buffets were average, as was the food. They didn't include non veg in the buffet, so you had to request it.

We were denied dry towels in the evening, so if you like bathing twice, don't expect a fresh towel here. In the twin occupancy room, everything was supplied in single quantities, including cups and glasses, and they refused to give us extra cups. Checkout was also a bad experience. They made me wait while staff checked the room to make sure I hadn't taken anything. That felt unprofessional and wasted my time. They couldn't find a cheap towel, so I had to go back and wait, even though it was right where it was supposed to be. The staff were incompetent. Very poor service overall. Cheap lodges serve better.