I stayed here for about a week with a colleague. We were on an official trip and needed a secure plus good-service place.

Services: I must appreciate the staff for their great service and hospitality. The breakfast had good variety. The breakfast coffee isn’t good but the one you pay for is creamy and frothy. You can either ask for ironing service or can just ask for iron board and do it yourself.

Location: The nearest market is Kohsar which is 10 mins walk away. But the plus point of this location is a very close-by walking track and that it’s very close to all major hotels and business centres. For business stays, it’s perfect.

Ambience: Now coming to negative points: the guesthouse is in serious need of renovation. The sheets were old and paled. The bathroom tiles were fading.

Room view: The second negative point is room view. If you’re someone who care for room views like me, you’d be disappointed.

I was in Islamabad for the weekend and not a lot of hotels had room, so I started looking at guesthouses. Out of all of them, S Chalet Islamabad had great ratings and reviews, so I opted to stay there. When I got my booking confirmation, the terms and conditions strangely said that guests of the opposite sex were not allowed in your room, and unmarried couples could not stay there, even though most of business for small hotels comes from young couples seeking privacy, but I ignored it thinking it’s a guesthouse so maybe they want to try to keep it from being seedy.
Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed when I walked in was a giant sign on the wall saying guests were not allowed in your rooms. Once inside my room, the terms and conditions on the room door said right on top, guests are not allowed in your room, please entertain them in coffeeshop or lobby. This seemed very excessive even for a hotel in Pakistan, but I ignored it since the room was very nice and clean, and I was happy that I hadn’t landed in some shady place.
Later that evening, I was expecting a female friend to come pick me up. Someone knocked on the door and I opened it immediately thinking it must be my friend, but it was some random uncle! I glared at him, and he smiled and walked off. I brushed this off thinking he was stupid and knocking at the wrong door.
The only other guest I encountered at this hotel was a woman with a baby, and that’s it.
Later at night at 11 pm, someone knocked on my door. I ignored it, and they knocked a second time. I asked who it was and they said room service. I said no, because I had not ordered room service and I called reception, furious at this behaviour. The manager kept telling me he was sorry and he understood how I felt, and I told him to stop saying that because he isn’t a woman, he has no idea how I felt. I was scared because nowhere in the world in all my travels has this happened that hotel staff keeps persistently knocking at your door! After I hung up, a minute later again someone knocked and said room service! I screamed saying what do you want go away. And then I picked up my purse and went downstairs to reception, furious at being made to feel like I was a captive inside that room. I asked the manager, where is the man who kept bothering me, I’m outside now, show him I’m here so he sees I’m not scared and hiding from him in my room, he wanted to see me so let me see him now! The manager said maam I’m sorry, it was a mistake. I asked him what kind of a mistake is this?! Someone says I did not order room service at 11pm in the night, a female voice is saying this, and you stand there knocking and knocking away thinking that you can get away with such behaviour?! I told him he was a fraud for pretending to be such a family friendly establishment when your staff is going around harassing women visitors because they’re staying alone and trying to bother them and rape them. I mean what did he want from me, a nice chat? A cup of sugar? Yeah right!
I felt extremely unsafe and traumatised and called a friend in Islamabad, who immediately came and picked me up and let me spend the night. I booked a room in another hotel for the next day. The next morning, my friend went back to S Chalet to get my money refunded, and the managers told her, “Ma’am we’re very sorry, we’re a very safe place, it’s just that a guest made a mistake and thought it was their room.” So apparently it wasn’t even hotel staff but another guest trying to get me to open my door! And the only people who knew a woman was staying there alone were the man who came to my door in that evening and that woman with a baby. So clearly, that man saw I was staying alone when he “accidentally” knocked at my door and was trying to do God knows what to me.
The hotel should provide security to their guests, they’re acting like the gatekeepers of morality with their ridiculous terms and conditions but can’t even keep a guest safe from other guests or service staff, whoever the heck it was at my door. Please do not stay at this place, particularly if you are a solo female traveller!

Hi I believe this is still the best value for money 4 star hotel in Islamabad, in fact the facilities are in par with 5 star hotels.

However I believe over the last 2 years the standard had dropped a notch that’s why it got 4 stars from me.

Main areas of improvement are needed in the towels which have lost colour due to excessive use and this was the same in a number of rooms.

The furniture and fixings need to be changed now as daily use has left scars of ware and tare but nevertheless still 4 star quality.

So new faces in staff but just as polite and helpful as the last bunch 5 out of 5 there.

Highly recommended for islamabad stay.