Golden Tulip Amritsar – A Review By Rajiv Bajaj
We ended up booking the Golden Tulip Amritsar for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the reviews were generally good, and secondly, in the same price-band, the choice was between Golden Tulip and Ramada. Not being very fond of the Ramada brand, I opted for Golden Tulip. Turned out that the choice was good.
My first interaction with the Golden Tulip Amritsar was prior to departure, when I had called to reconfirm the booking and also to inform them that there could be a possibility of my checking in late in the evening, and that the room should not be released. The call was answered by their FOM Ms Neha, who was most polite and helpful. She took down my details and not only confirmed everything over the phone, but also followed it up with a mail shortly thereafter.
When we reached the Golden Tulip Amritsar, we were not very impressed with the facade, which was just about okay, and the hotel did not seem to be too big either. We had some problem getting into the hotel because there was some sewage digging work going on right outside the entrance of the hotel which made access rather difficult. Not really the hotel’s fault. A word about the location, though. When you enter Amritsar by road, you don’t have to go too much into the interior of the city. The hotel is located on the main GT Road, and is in a relatively less crowded part of town, which is a good thing, because some parts of the city are really very noisy and crowded. And yet, it is not too far away from the Golden Temple, which is located some 3.2 KM away and an auto-rickshaw can take you there in about 15 minutes.
Once inside, we got a decent welcome and a non-alcoholic welcome drink. The check-in was efficient, quick and without any hassles. Ms Neha, the FOM whom I had spoken to over the phone earlier was present herself at the reception and was most helpful with our queries about the city and the things to do there. A word about the lobby and reception area – the hotel is not too big, and even the reception and lobby area is not very big. However, what the hotel lacks in terms of size and grandeur, it makes up in terms of comfort and cleanliness.
The rooms that we were allocated were very decent. Big, fairly spacious rooms with pleasant interiors. And above all, they were clean – even the bathroom was spacious and spotless. The towels were clean and the floors and toilet seat were sparkling. The beds were comfortable with clean pillows and sheets. Other room facilities included a flat-screen TV, a mini-bar and a tea-coffee maker.
We had ordered our dinner in the room itself. The food was average, though. This was a bit of a let-down because in a place like Punjab, which is renowned for its food, one would expect better than this. It wasn’t bad – it was just too similar to what one would get in any restaurant in Delhi – just not Punjab Standard. The portions, however, were generous and one portion of the Chicken and one portion of the Dal Makhani was enough for four persons. The room service was also pretty fast and efficient.
The sleep quality was pretty good and the beds were comfortable. The air-conditioning was super efficient and we rested quite well after our long drive from Delhi. Next morning, we went down to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast. The breakfast spread was lavish and there was a lot of variety. The options included Continental, North Indian and South Indian. The food quality, however, was once again average. This is one area where they could do with some improvements. For a hotel that scored high in almost every other aspect, it could probably do a lot better with just a little bit if effort in improving their F&B.
The checkout process was just as painless as the check-in. Service-wise, you just cannot find fault with this hotel. The only dark spot, in an otherwise good stay was the fact that they had moved our car out of the hotel compound and parked it outside the boundary wall, without our being informed about it. Apparently, this was done to make space for parking outside visitors’ vehicles who were there to watch a live show in their restaurant. One would certainly expect in-house guests to get priority when it comes to allocation of parking space, and we did bring this to the notice of the young lady at the reception at the time of check-out.
Overall, my ranking for Golden Tulip Amritsar would be 4 out of 5.
Rajiv Bajaj asserts his right to be identified as the author of this work. Any views or opinions expressed in this review is that of the author. All copyright and pictures are the property of the author.
