Hotel Gulab Paradise

We visited today with office colleagues and had a horrible experience at Gulab Paradise. The hotel manager and owner argued with us and threatened to take us to the police station if we didn’t pay the fine. They charged extra for late checkout, but hadn’t told us the checkout time. It felt like customers were being fooled and looted over the late checkout. Staff also didn’t have the courtesy to tell guests when checkout was, something hotels usually notify you about half an hour beforehand. The service was terrible, and there was also what I felt was a scam in the billing. They seem to care only about business, not customer service. I know I was also at fault for not reading the hotel’s terms and conditions. Still, I wouldn’t recommend it to family or friends. Take that fine as a donation to build your empire. Keep growing, and good luck. Thanks for such a horrible experience.

The rooms are spacious, clean and reasonably priced, and the interior and grounds are well lit. Food was good, especially the Maharashtrian dishes, which tasted homemade. They bring fresh vegetables and meat for non-veg and don’t use color or soda in the food. Every room has a Tatasky-enabled TV. Ours had a slight audio issue, but we didn’t bother reporting it since we don’t watch much TV on vacation. A friend had a TV problem and management immediately moved them to a new room. The swimming pool is well maintained, though not very big.

I came back to the open parking after visiting Wet n joy water park and found damage to the left rear of my car. Someone had hit it from behind. The hotel denied anything had happened and said its CCTV showed no such incident, although I later understood they knew about it. I found the other car, an Audi, still there with a broken tail lamp and damage to its rear. I’ll post its picture here. There was also a BMW. A group of 8 to 9 people were drinking hard liquor outside with a very loud sound box. They had apparently hit my car while reversing after drinking. We were there with our two kids, both only one year old, and confronted the person, showing him broken Audi glass near my car. They shouted and used abusive language, and kept telling us to file an FIR at the local police station in Lonavala. They seemed sure the police wouldn’t take our complaint and would harass us because they had contacts and could bribe them. They also talked about being big contractors with film industry and director connections. We were on our own, hadn’t done anything wrong, and had to put up with this. Our vacation plans were ruined. The group comes there often, so this could happen to other guests too. I won’t recommend this hotel, and I’ll make sure my friends and family don’t visit. It’s 6 km outside Lonavala city, so if you do want to stay, choose a hotel in the city. Please stay away if you want to enjoy your vacation. Thanks for reading, and I hope this never happens to anyone else.

The rooms were neat and clean, and the washroom was tidy. Food was average, so I’d stick to vegetarian options. It’s a good stay, though a bit far if you’re arriving at Lonavala Rly Stn.