I booked this hotel because one of my friend had thrown New Year party at this hotel and since then I have been to agra and stayed at this hotel thrice. I stayed there for 2 days with one of my colleague. The hotel is a lower mid range hotel but at a very decent location. The staff too isn't bad. The hotel also has a large hall where every now and then parties and meetings do take place. Its also good for bulk bookings in case of marriage or party. Its not a very costly hotel with good service. Taj Mahal as well as other attractions are not that far from this location. I would recommend this hotel to all those people with tight budget or those who are looking for bulk booking, in both the cases this is a very decent hotel.

The Ashish Palace is one of the worst hotels i've ever stayed in. The rooms were dirty and had a strange odour, there were bugs in the bathroom and there seem to be long term guests who think its acceptable to blare their tv's into the wee hours. However for all that is wrong about this place - that staff cannot be faulted. We changed rooms twice in the space of 30mins, requested extra blankets, a radiator and cups of tea at 5am and they willingly obliged every request with speed and a smile. the price seems to be cheap for Agra but its not a city I would want to return to nor a place to stay and relax - get in, see the Taj and get out!

Well it all looked promising at the start, easy phone booking and easy check in. This was a joy as we arrived after a 6 hour road trip from Nanital.

We asked for and were given a largeish family room for 2,500 IRS (this was the price quoted but not the price paid at the end) . Bit higher than we had been paying, but this was fine. Room was ok, bit tired looking but serviceable and the aircon worked (which is just as well considering the 43 degree Celsius days we were there).

Seeing the government seems keen on renaming cities, I think Agra should be renamed Agravation as it is filled with touts, scammers and anyone else that is trying to put it on. This isn't surprising considering the city has one industry, the Taj. Unsurprisingly the staff of the Ashish turned out to be almost as avaricious and blood sucking as the touts outside. One even demanded a tip was so I gave him one, "here's 10 rupees, go and learn some manners." But the most fun was when I was checking out. First there is the government taxes (sorry sir we can't do anything about that" and the usual service fee. I wouldn't mind paying a service fee if I actually got some service for it. But the real fun started when being presented with a bill for 17,000 rupees for a couple of days accommodation, a taxi to Delhi and some room service. One of their many "errors" calculating the bill was by adding a 310 rupee room service bill as 3,100, "oh sorry sir, sorry sir". I think he was most sorry about not getting away with overcharging. So I took control of the calculator and it worked out to be a more reasonable figure (still higher than expected but still better than what they wanted to be paid initially). What I suspect they do is present a very large bill in the hope that travelers in a rush will just pay it.

Anyway the best part of the experience is getting the hell away from the grasping staff and the hole that is Agra(vation).

this place is filthy. The pillows, sheets and towels all have stains on them. The beds have hair on them from prior travellers. I spent the most miserable 2 nights here. Do yourself a favor and stay elsewhere. The inside of the hotel is like a prison - very depressing.