尤索路希爾頓套房酒店(Shilton Suites)

I was taking my brother-in-law and little nephew for a boy's night out in Bengaluru. My parents' apartment in Ulsoor is too small to accommodate that many guests, so I was looking for a nice place near their residence for the three of us to stay over that night. I had almost made my mind up and booked a place at the Radison when I rang Shilton and spoke to Salma. She was quite helpful and offered me the Penthouse suite. The idea of a rooftop room with a terrace overlooking the Ulsoor Rd--MG Road intersection appealed to me and I went ahead and booked us in. This place was cheaper than the Radison, and that should have been a warning sign. A few hours before we reached Bengaluru, I rang the reception to confirm our booking -- because the reception hadn't been able to accept my overseas Visa card over the phone, and of course I didn't have any other way to pay. That was when the chap at the reception clarified that they didn't actually have any parking and that we would have to park on the street -- which was also where their boss parked, he explained. We got there, paid for a parking spot and hauled our luggage to the reception. I paid up for the entire stay and we snuggled into the tiny elevator only to find that the elevator stopped at the 3rd floor and that we'd have to go up a flight of stairs to the Penthouse. My penthouse-fuelled joy was still gushing, so we made it up to the room with a smile. That smile was instantly wiped out when the door to the room opened and we were greeted by a dank odour. The place smelled like no one had stayed there for a while. The furnishings were falling apart and some lights worked. The ceiling seemed to be held up by some form of magic, the kitchenette looked like a warning to not heat up any food there, and the bathroom smelled terrible. The bed linen neither looked great nor smelled fresh. Thankfully, the little additional mattress I'd asked for was provided and I hoped to heaven my little nephew wouldn't notice how not-so-fresh it smelled. That night, my brother-in-law opted for the relative freshness of the hard sofa in the sit-out and I resigned myself to a night on a certainly-not-fresh bed. The reception's attitude was less than helpful, and Salma wasn't around either -- when I rang the chap down there and explained that our room appeared to be a dungeon from medieval Europe where a farty dragon had been previously housed, he seemed rather surprised. Finally exasperated, I asked him to just speedily send someone up with air freshener before one of us jumped off the darn roof in disgust. He did exactly that -- there was no apology, there was no effort to come up and see what it was about the room that was bothering us or any other gesture that one would expect in a hotel in the middle of Bengaluru city. I think the Shilton called itself a three star hotel, but I'm not sure any of those stars are real. Anyway, a rather unhelpful chap turned up with a liquid spraying siphon and sprayed some

We stayed in a Deluxe Suite instead of the Luxury Suite which may have better amenities, but I’ve only rated our stay as 3/5 because our room (number 35) was not a suite; it was a bedroom with kitchen cupboards and a kitchen sink; no fridge, microwave or kitchen utensils. The room itself was OK; good sized, clean and well-maintained with a good quality bed and furniture. The ensuite shower room was also fine and whilst the air conditioning was effective, it was very noisy. This particular room also suffered from being next to the noisy lift. Breakfast was freshly cooked with a reasonable choice, though the breakfast room is very small so required tables to be shared at busy times.

Headline: 3.5 out of 5. The flush and the shower work. But the hand soap dispenser doesn’t and the hand spray leaks. The good - It’s can’t get better in terms of the central location - It’s okay as a bread and breakfast. No bells and whistles - The AC works, the bed is comfy. It’s clean - The wifi is the biggest plus and the most imp - I could do all my virtual calls from the room - It's got all the basics - Despite facing a main road, it’s quiet - You can Swiggy food when you like - I was late in ordering dinner one day but they sent me sandwich despite kitchen being closed. That was nice of them The bad - The leaking hand spray is mighty irritating and they have no intention of fixing/maintaining the property - The Netflix remote doesn’t work nor does Tatasky. So good luck finding entertainment choices (They said the technician wasn’t available on the day I checked in. But no one came even after that) - Apparently the tea station isn’t a part of your training. I had to ask them replenish sugar and milk packets. I still had to use my own tea bags towards the end because they stopped putting back what I used. If you are in Bangalore for work and need a central location, this is great. Basic and clean. No point expecting more at this budget.