Aristocrat Hotel, New Town, Kolkata

The staff were attentive and tried to accommodate what I needed, but that’s what I’d expect from a reasonable 4-star hotel. The hallways and lobbies felt somewhat run down, and there’s only one restaurant, with dishes missing from the menu and few dining choices. Check-in was fairly smooth, but the rooms were under-equipped and poorly maintained, with missing bulbs, no in-room safes, and other amenities absent. I looked at five rooms before choosing one that had what I needed. It’s hard to believe this is rated 4 stars, and I’d struggle to recommend it if things stay as they are.

I came to Kolkata for IAP NATIONAL CONFERENCE PEDICON and had booked through Agoda well before my trip. When I arrived, the staff had no record of my name and said they had missed Agoda’s email. They had no room for me and put me in a room at the side. The staff member showed me to it with a card for the lights, then politely said it wouldn’t open the door. Whenever I went out, I had to go to reception and ask someone to let me back in with a master key. They later gave me an old-fashioned manual key, but it didn’t work either. The person in the next room had the same problem. The room smelled, and the bedside wall was pathetic. There was also a storage room inside my room that management operates, though thankfully nobody came to use it during my stay. When I complained about having no working key, nothing was resolved. The management was erratic and severely poor. Please find somewhere else nearby if you want a comfortable stay. I’ll review the food after I try breakfast.

The staff were polite and willing to help, and the security person at the entrance was prompt. The hotel is well built and offers most amenities, but the rooms need renovation and the dampness needs attention. I stayed three days while in Kolkata for Pedicon. We’d booked a deluxe queen room through MMT well in advance, but staff weren’t aware of it and gave us a suite instead. It was larger, but disappointing: the floor was damp and dusty, as if it hadn’t been cleaned in days, and walking barefoot left our soles black. Breakfast choices were limited and the taste was average. Overall, it was an average stay. Staff need training to manage bookings.

The rooms were dusty and dirty, and damp affected the whole hotel. They had put wallpaper up to hide it, but the smell was still strong. They moved us to a wallpapered room where the damp wasn’t visible, though the smell was very high. The lobby smelled of cigarette smoke, and nothing was done after I complained. The drapes were in bad shape and wouldn’t scroll smoothly. The spring bed was very hard and uncomfortable. They had run out of clean towels and gave us just one. In the bathroom, the liquid soap holder was coming loose. Staff didn’t seem concerned about food or service, and nobody came to clean the room until we asked, then they took a very long time to arrive. Two staff interactions stood out. When I accidentally knocked a water glass onto the table, one immediately said, “thank God Tuta ni,” as if it would have been a disaster if it broke. At lunch, after I ordered fried rice, a staff member asked if I wanted it in buffet packaging and seemed to want to charge 1700+ for one fried rice. Dinner buffet was also 1700+, but included only one veg or nonveg starter, one veg or nonveg main course, steamed rice, dal, and one sweet. I thought it was a joke. A 1700/- buffet at Radisson/Marriott has many more items. The wi-fi disconnected every 10 minutes and eventually stopped working. I complained, but nobody reacted. With so many bigger problems, like damp and broken things, perhaps they didn’t consider wi-fi an issue. It was a very hopeless stay, and I’ve never seen such an overpriced hotel. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. My humble request is that MMT remove this hotel from its list or that they charge no more than 2500/ day.