Hotel Valentino Darjeeling

The rooms were only okayish, and the food was alright at other meals. Breakfast, though, was very bad, and the washrooms were dirty and extremely small, hard to manage with toddlers. We were 12 adults and 3 children under four, and the establishment was completely unaccommodating, so I wouldn’t recommend it, especially for a large group. Service was a disaster. Staff were bad and arrogant, as if helping a large family was a huge inconvenience. Meals took an eternity to arrive, which was especially difficult with small children waiting. They didn’t even apologize for these lapses. Between the rude behavior and the lack of cleanliness, the okay food wasn’t enough to save the visit.

We ended up leaving within an hour and moving to another nearby hotel during our recent October booking. The rooms smelled like rotten mushrooms, and the washrooms were smelly too. The manager seemed in denial when we complained and was reluctant to do anything about it. There were five women and two men in our family, and after a tiring nine-hour journey from kalimpong to darjeeling, all we wanted was to use the washroom while the documents were checked. He should have opened a room for that, but instead he misbehaved. We had already paid in advance for three rooms for two days. After seeing the poor room condition and dealing with the manager, we shifted to another nearby hotel rated above four stars.

The blankets smelled unpleasant, the TV didn’t work during our stay, and the food was overpriced for its quality. The man at reception was arrogant and treated customers as if they didn’t matter. Getting to the hotel was also very inconvenient for senior citizens: it sits on a steep slope, almost like a small hill, in a dirty alley. A very disappointing experience, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

The service was good, but food prices felt a little high, something the hotel authority could look into, though it’s definitely their choice. Our four-night stay was good otherwise. The steep road up to the hotel was really difficult for us, so I wouldn’t recommend it for olderly people.