Pictured here is one of the young men and women wh...

Pictured here is one of the young men and women who staff Oberoi Rajvilas. The people are the heart of this wonderful network of resorts which provide undescribable levels of care and service. They start as valets and busboys, stewards and stewardesses, these graduates of exclusive hotel management schools and work continuously to not just respond to requests, but anticipate needs, and to borrow the term from Marie Kondo, spark joy. For a few days, you will feel like a visiting dignitary, a very comfortable ambassador, a well loved maharaja. Fact is, compared to a week at a Disney Resort in Orlando, you will get so much more out of staying here. The Golden Triangle is a treasury of history and the culture and crafts that distinguished it in the past are still very much alive. I did not feel hermetically sealed in a modern hotel that can feel disorientingly the same whether you rest your head in Toronto, Omaha, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, or Rome in one of the many different Hotel chains.

There are two dining experiences -the international restaurant which offers capably prepped food from around the world and a sampling of local cuisine, and a premier Indian restaurant that has a full selection of dishes usually offered to the most special of visitors. The secret is that you can ask for off menu item fo when you have thoroughly explored the available menu. The rustic and simple millet porridge, a Rajasthani farmer's meal, is an example.

There is a good pool -somewhat short for laps but perfect for kids. There are family activities including block printing of cloth, puppet shows, and kite flying (unfortunately, no wind when we were there). There is a 5 hold pitch and putt golf course, and two hard surface tennis courts, badminton, and croquet.

Faults are minor, and none are deal breakers. They include moats and ponds which need circulation and maybe carbon filtration to avoid stagnation. There are a lot of birds which I did not mind, but if you are easily bothered or conditioned by chirpy ringtones to go on alert, the flocks of parrots that settle for the night and welcome the hour before dawn congregating on the frames of shading canopies around the villas and the peacocks sounding their territories under your window might not be your thing and you should request ear plugs. There is an antique box in each room containing nuts and dried fruit for snacking =caution if you have kids with allergies. If I'm going to be petty, I did have one sandwich which was mostly cold bread (like an airport sandwich), but I didn't want to make our server and kitchen staff sad, and having finished it anyway -the shrimps in the Indian fusion Po' Boy were perfectly crispy and spicy, I would not have been able to eat the apology meals and dishes they would have plied me with. I would repair that sandwich by replacing that dead Kaiser roll with a freshly baked long Naan bread which the kitchen made perfectly every time. I don't believe reviews that are 100 percent positive and despite these minor points, they deserve a solid 5.

The final comment is what is not seen. They know your name and after a while, they know your tastes and preferences. There must be some IT behind it because this knowledge followed us from different Oberoi properties as we toured the Golden Triangle. Or maybe it is just the people focused on taking care of you as an individual. You will be treated well and you will remember it.