rohan M.
I had a terrible experience at Soham Service Apartment. I wouldn’t book here again, and I think @OyOrooms should end its association with places like this. I arrived around 5:30 in the morning after taking a bus from Pune to Nashik. The building was shut behind a ground-floor grill, there was no sign light, and people passing by told me they didn’t think the hotel had reopened after Covid. With nearby hotels either full or outside my budget, I called Oyo Rooms customer care. The agent said Soham Apartment was still listed and taking bookings. He tried the reception three times, but nobody answered. Around 6:30, he called the owner’s main number. The owner picked up half asleep and said the number was correct, but he didn’t run an Oyo franchise or any hotel. Even the OYO employee seemed stunned. He offered to find me another nearby OyO and said I could have two hours free to make up for the trouble. I was left out in the cold with an interview coming up in a few hours. About ten minutes later, the OyO agent called back to say someone from the apartment had finally answered and told me to wait at the entrance. Two young men came with a key, took me upstairs to the first floor, and then we waited another ten minutes for someone to wake up and open the door. By then it was around 7. They demanded an extra 500 for early check-in. I explained I would leave before the normal 12 pm check-in time, only needed a few hours to rest and freshen up, and had been told by OyO to discuss waiving the fee. They still wanted the full Oyo booking amount plus 500 for just four hours, so I left without saying anything. I crossed the road to a chai tapriwala. He asked what I was doing there, heard my story, then called the apartment owner and said he had a client. Calls suddenly started coming back, and they offered me a full day for 1000 rs with no extra charge, on the condition that I cancel my online OYO booking. If OyO franchise operators work this way to make more money, the OyO brand will lose customers, and there’s no security for customers. At 7:30, after two hours outside, I finally checked into a room on the third floor. There was a Geyser, but no hot water. There was no drinking water either. They asked me to buy a 5L Bisleri, and after I insisted, one of them brought water in a shabby plastic bottle. The door had a peephole or opening that let people see into the room. I hope OyO Rooms reads this and does something about its association with poorly run, scam-like hotels across India.
