After two years without travelling due to the pandemic, I and my son decided to go out on a short trip. After much research on COVID protocol and weather conditions, I selected Alsisar Mahal through Luxury Escapes. We got a good deal for 2N/3D stay with daily breakfast, one dinner for two and two glasses of wine or beer. It took us 6.5 hours to reach Alsisar Mahal Palace with GPS guiding us on wrong routes through deserted villages and narrow one way streets. We finally reached the resort totally exhausted.
The checkin was quick so we went to our room and found to our delight they had upgraded us to a suite which was huge, massive and lovely with twin beds, a study place, sitting room, bathroom which was huge. I think about 15 people can stay in this suite.
The place was full of history with beautiful little courtyards, nice swimming pool, a games room filled with trophies and very old items, the bar and cigar room so much like the British used to retire to and a jail underground. I took loads of pictures and was so happy to see the dining area with high ceilings and intricate art and etchings. The reception was also beautiful work of art, so huge with high ceilings and beautiful photos of Maharajas and other prominent people of the 17th century.
As evening arrived, we had the free drinks of wine but it was not nice, so we just dumped it. For our free dinner I ordered Lal Maas, the famous dish of Rajasthan, as my son had not tasted it before but I was sorely disappointed with the dish as it was watery like soup, the mutton was chewy which I showed it to the chef and the chicken tikka was stale and bland.
The next morning we called housekeeping to clean our room while I went for breakfast. My son was busy on his laptop while four very young boys cleaned our room. Breakfast was ok, not that great. I went back to my room to charge my mobile. When I plugged in my phone I suddenly noticed that the cord looked different, so dirty, old and worn out whereas my mobile was two years old Realme with original fast charger and was white in color which I had kept in top shape. I got very disturbed by this and showed my son the cord, he was also surprised, so we called reception immediately and they sent the housekeeping supervisor. I showed him the cord and told him it was not the one I brought from my home so he took it and came back after sometime saying none of the boys had taken it, obviously the boys would not admit they had stolen my fast charger cable.
I was so upset by then and called the Manager, Mr Zahir and explained the whole story to him but to my surprise he did not take it seriously and kept arguing that his boys are not like that. I told him I was not lying for such a small thing, a dirty, old, torn and worn out cord has been replaced which was not mine. He never once apologized in fact he insulted me by offering to clean the cord and give it. Mr Zahir handled this incident very badly and I was very upset with him. From that moment I lost the pleasure of enjoying my trip and went around reading my book and locking my room all the time. I have never faced this kind of incident in my entire travel history. I had to borrow the charger from my son which was not fast charger and I had to keep charging my mobile.
Anyone of you planning to stay at this Mahal please lock your belongings and be present in the room when the young housekeeping boys are cleaning your room.
Then I and my son went wandering around the tiny village and did not find one hotel or restaurant nor any trinkets to purchase except soft drinks and chips. So if you are going to this place, load up with food as the prices are high in their restaurant. That night we had chicken biryani costing 550 for one plate plus taxes which was tasty thank God. Next morning we had our breakfast, again not great, packed our bags and left the place for our trip back to Gurgaon.