Hotel Poonam Pushkar

I didn’t stay here, but a friend did, so I got to see the rooms, and they’re great. What really won me over was the food. Manish makes an amazing Dhal makhani, and he and his brother are both so sweet and smiley. In my opinion, food around this tourist area hasn’t been the best, so I’m really grateful for that Dhal. Thanks to you guys, and to Steph for introducing me to another great place in Pushkar. I know where to get my favourite makhani now.

I loved the friendly atmosphere and the hospitality, especially Manu bhaiys's welcoming nature. The property is well maintained, with neat, clean rooms and a really nice rooftop restaurant area. The bus stand and ghats are within walking distance.

We booked a room at Poonam online, but when we got there, the staff member wouldn’t let us stay. He actually said he didn’t like our faces, and we suspect it was because of our brown skin. We offered to leave our phones as a deposit and tried to show him we were ordinary travellers. He said he didn’t care if we had to sleep on the street. We’d left our luggage at the bike rental place that day, but it closed, leaving us stuck in Pushkar and causing us to miss our bus. We still had our small bags with essentials, money to pay, and our identity documents. We were refused a room, and it felt like it was only because of racism.

We stayed for a week. The people working there were quite nice and would try to sort out anything we asked about. Some of the food was good, especially the specials they made that weren’t on the menu. Our room was nice, with two big windows, though the bathroom sometimes smelled bad. We managed to deal with that, and they gave us fresh sheets and towels when we asked. It’s a peaceful area, even though we were there during wedding season, when there was music every night until 1 or 2 am. Most of it was far away. The top part of the hotel is really comfortable and makes you want to stay longer.