Karan Mahal

A very disappointing and disheartening experience. I found them totally lacking in hospitality even though they call this as Home Stay, which according to me means extra personal care. Beginning of this month when we were visiting the property, on arrival in the evening, they invited us to try the walking path on their property going to Dal lake. While returning at the gate we realised that the person accompanying us had left without waiting for us. Some watchman offered to walk back with us because he was going that way anyways and took us through some short cut because probably he himself was in a hurry. This was a total messed up uneven ground on their property, full of broken trees and branches and stones. This surely could not have been meant to be walked on except maybe for locals. We just had no alternative but to follow this ***. Some branch got stuck in my shoe and I tripped. Almost got unconscious with pain. People with me had to literally drag me back to the main building area which was about 1/2 km away. After reaching we had to wait for more than 45 minutes for a taxi to come and take us to a hospital. All they could offer to me was a tablet and an ice pack. There was no driver on the premise to drive their car. I am sure there would be someone from their team who knew how to drive the car parked right there. I remember once when we were visiting another such so called home stay place, for a small emergency the owner of the hotel had driven us himself when the driver was not there, and here this was an emergency of different level. Where is that extra care of a home stay they claimed so proudly that their hotel is called! In there favour I will mention that one person from hotel went with us to the hospital in the taxi. By next available flight we all had to fly back for a multiple fracture emergency surgery required of my left elbow due to this fall. In the early morning while leaving there was no person from the hotel to attend to us inspite of knowing the magnitude of the accident, to see if we were fine. This to my mind is absolutely no hospitality. Pitching your property in brochure as exclusive and exotic does not mean that you have no infrastructure in place to handle emergency for your guests in logistics as well as in mental support. The cherry on the cake is now when I wrote to them telling my story, there is no response. None

This place is absolutely outstanding! the accommodation is beautifully traditional and extremely classy, the views will take your breadth away as it is tucked between two hills overlooking dal lake, but the best part is the hospitality and the love with which they take care of the guests. The food was outstanding too. I highly recommend it to those looking for quality, quiet, n class!

We stayed in the property for three nights and enjoyed every moment of our stay. The exotic dishes in dinner / breakfast changed every day and were awesome. The staff treated you like a special guest and were extremely polite and courteous. The ambiance was beautiful with lawns all around the property. We went for a trail walk through the orchards full of fruit trees like cherry / apples/ peaches/ plums, we were told to pick anything if found ripe to eat. Being a boutique hotel with just seven/ eight rooms were able to interact with the guests during breakfast/ dinner. We were fortunate to meet two couples whom we met after more than thirty years ( see the luck. The manager mr. Aqeel was extremely help full in all respects. A must visit for every one. We were also fortunate to meet the owners.

So I've checked into the property, and my first impression is run down. I'm disappointed since the reviews I've heard of the place were very high. It's more like a BNB and less of a hotel. It looks run down. The grass is overgrown, and the swimming pool is out of paint and empty. The bathroom has mirrors with black marks. The drinking water in the room isn't packaged water but normal bottles. The cupboards have base papers that are dirty. All in all, I would probably say that for the price you pay here, you're better off in any other hotel property in Srinagar. I'm staying in a premium plus rooms which has the worst possible view. It's overlooking some houses. All in all, I wish I had booked some other place. So I think there is a lot of work that will need to go into making this into a place worthy of being called a Palace property