It was 3 day consecutive holiday on the eve of independence day 15th aug 2011, and so at the spur of the moment we decided to go to shimla..I first asked make my trip to check avalaibility of hotels as we were expecting delhites to rush to shimla...she said rooms are avaialble in hotel moon international ..which was not my choice..the price quoted was 3000rs per room and we booked 2 rooms for 2 days..i checked the travel sites to read about the hotel reviews and was clearly disaapointed..they all said bad words about the hotel ! i talked again to make my trip reprsentative who assured me that all is well..
so 13th august early morning 6am we were off the shimla by our modest maruti Zen car from Delhi...the roads till panipat are very good and we were cruising at 90kms/h..our first stop was at panipat ..a road side , good looking but costly hotel...
from panipat to karnal the roads are still being built and is not a good track ...we were getting late ..we reached the outskirts of chandigarh arta around 1 pm and took the second stop at MacDonalds...from chandigarh we got many traffic problems in between and especially near Kalka and a few more towns uphill..as the roads passes through the city areas and creates congestions..
Finally we were in Shinla at 5PM...
Locating hotel Moon international was not problem..as the traffcic police give us clear directions...in nxt 15 mins we were at the gates of the hotel...To reach the hotel one needs to go down the road and car parking is on the slopes...Our booking was confirmed and we had no hassles ...the hotel looked good from outside and has some goos interiors (thanks to Chinese goods) . we our alloted 2 rooms overlooking the valley and on the second floor. the passage to the rooms has mats which were smelling bad due to wet conditions..The room interiors are Ok but poor maintenance of the hotel is taking its tall...bathrooms are good but they hav water problems...u wont get hot water until u are bend upon the get it..same for other things...the package came with breakfast facilities but the breakfast was served at 10 am..while we were waiting from 8am...the reason was that the staff didnt had the money to get grocery from the market and cook ..the kitchen was dirty as i went into it to see the reason for the delay..the receptionist was the best thing to happen for the hotel..a young lady who kept her cool and tried her best to take all the complaints of the guests very politely and instructing the kitchen guys to hurry up...other staff was indifferent but polite..on inquiry i was told that they have not been getting their salaries or in time...
to sum up the hotel is good and if u are on a budget there is good scope for negotiation esp if u r willing for some compromises... the location of the hotel is good and is on one side of the city just adjacent to he secretariat and opposite to the CM house..its also close to the Mall road if u are walking from the other end of the city...Dont go for breakfast and lunch in the hotel else u will be wasting time...I just wanted to talk to the management of the hotel and want to request them to invest some money in the hotel...Its the reputation that counts and if the travellers keep writing bad about the hotel soon they will have to sell it off..to avoid that they need a good manager and management..else the hotel is perfect..as i got a good sleep ...(u dont hav to wake long as the TV set may just not be working)