We stayed at the hotel Aug 2-8, 2019 and had a won...

We stayed at the hotel Aug 2-8, 2019 and had a wonderful time. Aadhar and Amit ensured that our check-in and check-out process was smooth. Our room was on the 20th floor and the view outside was beautiful (cloudy and rainy sometimes, but nevertheless). The room had all amenities you'd expect and easily accommodated my wife, 10-year old son, and me. The king bed accommodated 2 adults comfortably.

Our package included breakfast buffets at the Hornbys Pavilion. The everyday spread included mouth-watering Continental and Indian delicacies. Two persons I'd like to specifically thank for extraordinary service are Anay and Feroze. Both made sure that we got the foods we missed over the years such as vada pav, missal pav, and puri bhaaji. Anay even knew our palates towards the middle of our stay.

We had dinner one night at Kebabs and Kurries. The experience was just average. The wine selection was okay. My wife and son loved the chicken kebabs. They said it was juicy and had the right amount of spice. Being a vegetarian, I ordered labgeer (patties?) made with beets. I had high hopes, but the dish was a huge letdown. It tasted bland on the outside and was super-dry. I couldn't get myself to have more than a few spoonfuls. To make up, they did bring me a skewer of paneer marinated in some green chutney. That was delicious and so was the dessert sampler.

We also did a Mumbai sight-seeing tour arranged by the hotel. The experience was good, but two things I didn't appreciate: 1) The car they arranged for kept stalling on the way, which concerned us. At one point, the driver even said that he would have to arrange for an alternate vehicle. But luckily, the car didn't break down. 2) At the end of the tour, the driver wanted to charge us more than what was quoted by the hotel as we went over by an hour or so. That led to some discussion, but we ended paying only what was initially quoted as being stuck in Mumbai traffic wasn't in our control.

Few things for the hotel to consider: 1) Change the floor carpets as they look a little old and worn out. 2) Employ a prepaid tipping system or automatically add gratuities to rooms and services. I was left confused many times as to who to tip and how much to tip. For e.g., our bed was made by 1 person, but another brought extra blankets and pillows. I didn't know who to tip and even when I did, I wasn't sure if it'd be split between the two. 3) I understand Indian hospitality, but at times I felt that some hotel staff (especially in restaurants) were right in my face trying to please me. Give guests personal space, freedom, and time to choose what they want. 4) Grant children access to the 'Point of View.' I get that it's a security issue, but if you boast of breathtaking views, I'd also want my son to enjoy it.