OYO Townhouse 516 Hotel N Suites

The breakfast I ordered was decent, the one bright spot. The room was dusty and the toilet wasn’t clean, and I wouldn’t choose this place again based on my stay. I had a confirmed OYO booking on WhatsApp, but when I arrived late at night after a night flight into Delhi, they refused it, saying there was a dispute over the rates. I paid around 1,200 for the night. They also didn’t provide towels or toiletries despite a couple of follow-ups with the front desk, who said they’d run out of towels.

We stayed one night before our early flight back to London. The room service food was surprisingly good, and the rooms were clean and spacious, much larger than we’d expected from the other reviews. The front desk staff were friendly and very helpful. The restaurant and kitchen staff were a different story. When I ordered drinks, they snickered among themselves, and it felt rude, like they were commenting on the situation.

I’m a young married foreigner, and this felt like a huge cheat. My husband booked through OYO using coupons we’d earned. I wasn’t well, so he extended our stay for an extra day twice. On the third day I had severe morning sickness, and he booked the hotel again before going back to sleep. Only after the normal checkout time did they call to say we couldn’t stay or keep the booking and had to go elsewhere. I dragged myself out of bed and we rushed to pack. Fifteen minutes into packing, they called to demand a 500 rupee late checkout fee. We told them we’d booked for that day and they’d only told us after checkout that we couldn’t stay. Around 20 minutes later, after we’d gathered our things, we went to the desk to pay for the previous morning’s paratha. They asked for 1,000 rupees. The manager wouldn’t let either of us through the door and told his guard to stop us until we paid. He held my luggage and blocked our way even after we argued and showed him that the room was available on OYO. If it wasn’t, OYO would have said “sold out”; if they couldn’t honor the booking, they should have told us before checkout. They said packing and getting ready shouldn’t take 35 minutes. Yet the day before, it took them more than an hour to bring a towel after five reminders. They also wouldn’t bring us non-alcoholic drinks, saying they had nothing besides alcohol and we don’t drink. They didn’t ask guests to be quiet at random hours of the night or morning. It felt like they treated those guests better because they paid full price while we had an OYO discount. They threatened to call the police and said we’d “be behind lockers.” We told them to go ahead so the police could see the rooms were available and that they were lying to get money. We started calling the police too, but within five minutes they suddenly said, “I don’t have a problem, but when you (my husband) rated them from his phone a 1 star so it affects their reputation.” If they treated guests honestly and kept the hotel orderly, they’d get better ratings. They shouldn’t list on OYO, which gives people discounts, then lie to collect more money. Threatening young people with jail and treating foreigners like stupid money holders isn’t the way to succeed or be happy. Squeezing unfair money out of OYO customers won’t help.

Fast wifi and a comfortable bed were good, and they provided tea bags, coffee, milk powder and a water heater. The deluxe rooms are really small, though. Reception staff weren’t helpful, and the care package arrived nearly an hour after we asked for it. Still, it can be a decent budget stay near the airport if you get it for under 1,000 rupees.