[vigsom]

Introduction

All of us have had to travel on work in our professional lives. Some of this outstation travel would be brief, while some would extend to six months to a year where folks would have had to camp at client locations for projects. The intent of this thread is to discuss the pros and cons of the various travel, stay and dining options available, and the best blend of 'em all. Stay and dining goes first.

Options for short stays

Am sure many on the forum would have experienced these, but here is a list:

1. Hotels - ranging from INR 3k a night to upwards of INR 10k too
2. Dining - at the hotel or restaurants outside
3. Company Guest Houses - stay and dining at one place

Having experienced a wide array of options, the next few posts will share my experiences on these.

[vigsom]

A: Hotels - Stay and dine at the same hotel

Likes

* Generally well kept, with the right dose of style
* Professionally managed for the most part
* Buffet breakfast, included in the stay package, offers a variety of options to start the day
* Kettle with coffee, tea and creamer available in the room - make your own beverage anytime
* Dinner, although a tad pricey, would again offer a variety of food options to suit one's palette

Dislikes

* Some hotels offer a cold ambience viz. rooms would be freezing cold even with the room aircons off
* A certain etiquette is expected of guests; those not too familiar with table manners might find the place a bit intimidating
* Unless the room is pre-booked and " Bill to Company", paying for the hotel and the dining and getting the expenses reimbursed takes time; also, can lead to questioning by the Finance folks if expenses are steep.

Very healthy set meal option inside a premium hotel (ignore the bread please)

[vigsom]

B: Stay at a hotel but dine outside

Likes

* Same as the likes under category A
* Based on appetite and likes, one can dine at a restaurant outside the hotel, pay and claim

Dislikes

* Many food options
* Etiquette can be given a miss, and one would have the option to dine freely, to one's taste
* Generally lower food bills than at the hotel

Dining at a Khanavali


while Staying at a decent hotel

[vigsom]

C: Company Guest Houses

This is the default option for those having to camp at client sites that have attached Guest Houses

Likes

* Generally old world, for those who like this hospitality
* Caretakers and generally from east/north east and are good cooks too
* Cater to the likes of individual guests; I know caretakers who know the likes of every guest that frequents Guest Houses
* No hassle of paying and claiming - eat, sign and relax!

Dislikes

* Limited food options for breakfast, lunch and dinner; exceptions apply
* Will not suit those expecting the freedom/class like in a hotel
* No kettle with coffee, tea and creamer - one would have to depend on the caretaker to be around for tea/coffee needs
* Nothing available between 10pm and 6:30am (the no-caretaker time); get hungry in the middle of the night and it would be hell

Sample images - company Guest Houses

[vigsom]

My first outstation trip

I've been travelling on work for over 25 years, and have used a wide spectrum of travel and stay options. My first travel was by a MEMU to Navsari since that was the quickest option available, with the ticket priced at a mere INR 08, went to a customer's location where there was a dispute around one of our company's products being dangerous. Issue sorted, the owner of the company hosted me to some outstanding Gujarati cuisine at his residence (with the facilitators in white n white like those featured at rich bungalows in the 70s movies), and had me dropped off at the station in his airconditioned custom built Tempo Traveller then. My target was to catch the Paschim Express (called Deluxe those days), and I was told that I'd need to purchase a ticket to Godhra. Anyways, that done, I got into the General Compartment with great force, and managed to get out in one piece. Total claim was under INR 150 including conveyance to the station and back. I was eligible to travel 2AC but ended up this way since the trip was at short notice.

Subsequent trips for many years

Graduating up the corporate ladder, I much later used to get received by a car at my destination (used to be an Esteem, Accent, Logan, Honda City or an Innova), and transported to one of the company Guest Houses. Guest Houses would have just the basic comforts, but what would take the cake was service by the Guest House staff - very warm and caring folks!

[vigsom]

Experiences at hotels

Early on, a hotel would be booked only when Guest Houses would be full; and they would be nowhere as good as the company Guest Houses; the good thing, however, would be the buffet breakfast.

Later, in some other companies, I was inducted into the pay and claim model, and although there were no limits defined, it was expected that a ceiling of INR 6k a day would be it for the stay part. These limits have been breached at times, but the stay would generally be minus the warmth. Rooms would be eerily silent, and would carry a fragrance that would seem like unnatural. Can't explain this more, but am sure many of you have experienced this. I was never a glutton, so going ahead and dining at the 5 star dining hall and coughing up a fat bill was generally not what I'd like to do.

Blend of hotel stay and outside dining

This model was the best, as it would give me options to explore not-so sophisticated eateries and at the same time, help me have a good night's rest at the hotel. One of my threads on Karnataka features many such adventures.

Typical INR 3k a night hotel room - right blend of comfort and style


And a 6k a night room - good but not neccessarily uber comfortable


Sample mid- budget restaurant

[vigsom]

Travel options

Although I'm eligible to ask for a car to pick me up from the nearest airport, or a road journey of upto six hours if an airport isn't available closeby, I choose a mix of air, rail and road, and it works perfect for me. Reason: I'm kind of obsessed with burning the least fuel while travelling. While going to remote places, I look for the nearest rail head, then examine train options, and use a mix of air and rail to my advantage. Road travel thus gets cut to the bare minimum. I also realised that sometimes a train gets one faster than air to one's destination. Surprised? Here is an example:

Travel from Gadag to Vadodara

Option1 : Travel by air

Overnight stay at Gadag, head to Hubli early in the morning for the 8ish departure to Hyderabad, stay put in Hyderabad Airport for 6 hours, catch the 3:30pm flight to Vadodara, arrive Vadodara 5:30pm

Option2 : Travel by train

Leave Gadag by a 9pm train, which gets to Vadodara at 4:20pm the next day - I've done this twice, rather than sleep in a hotel, wake up at 4:30am, move to an airport, then cool off for 6 hours at another airport, and after all this, reach one's destination an hour and 10 mins later than the train.

[vigsom]

Closing Comments

Different strokes for different folks - but for me I eventually began loving the model of a typical INR 3k-4k/night hotel stay with an option to dine at a restaurant outside. I'd eat just as much as I'd want and be happy. After all, all we need is a comfortable place to stay, and something healthy to eat. Over to you all for your choices!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[SnS_12]

Have been working for 19 years and have been traveling with regards to work for the past 14 years. When it comes to work related travels within India very rarely do I have to stay back in a city and normally its just a day trip. However, over the years of visiting places both for work and pleasure I have realised that the hotels in the range of 5k or below is not what I can live with as the cleanliness and comfort levels never meet your expectations. Also, among all the luxury brands my first preference always is to go for Trident/Oberoi. The food and room experience are always on the expected lines and I haven’t enjoyed better hospitality in India from any other brand apart from these two. The most memorable experience was when I stayed in Udaivilas in Udaipur and this was one property where I never stepped out of the hotel premises for the three nights I was there.

The reality of corporate work life is that every company offers a travel/stay budget and one has no choice but to ultimately adjust to what is available at that price point unless you’re really up the corporate ladder.

[srini1785]

I've traveled to many parts of the country and stayed in all types of hotels (and still do). A few tips from my side.

1. Timings : All hotels charge you from Noon to Noon. Some hotels charge you for early check in and some don't which means you end up paying for those 3-4 extra hours, an entire day's rent. So plan your travel so that you arrive on the evening of the date of check in. I Usually go directly to office or to my customers place from the station itself and arrive only in the evening at the hotel.

2. Location: I totally avoid hotels which are close to bus stand or railway stations since they are not up to standard and are poor on maintenance. Some of them have a dubious reputation of serving up more than just food and bed. Hotels near residential areas are the best choices for me as they offer a typically good experience.

3. Restaurant: I prefer taking breakfast in the hotel itself and usually book rooms which have complimentary breakfast as an option. Lunch and Dinner are strictly outside and tend to be business affairs.

4. Quality of service : Changing towels, linen, restocking toiletries and coffee /tea packets are some examples of services which carry a lot of weightage on my scale. There are hotels which don't bother about it and some do it meticulously. I've built up quite the inventory of all kinds mini soaps, toothbrushes and colgate toothpastes at home. Save some money on monthly groceries budget.

5. Promptness of response : I once complained about a leaking pipe in the bathroom while i went out to work in the morning and by evening the room was flooded. The response at the reception was "We will change your room in an hour sir" the hour came and went and they sent a cleaner boy after a phone threat. There was also another case when i told them about big rats roaming around the window ledge and the response was "Woh kuch nahi karega sir. Aap let Jayeyega" . So i just pulled a rug on my head.

6. Some hotels also have amenities hall attached to them and i generally avoid them. So you come back from a hard days work and they bang your ear out with loud music till late in night. The only advantage being that you can just walk into a feast without anyone noticing.

7. Budget Hotel: After all the travels, i am compelled to conclude that budget hotels are a scam. Take Ginger for instance, they charge you 2800.00 for a single occupancy room (without Breakfast) and there are no shower curtains and water runs cold at 7.00AM in the shower. On their defense, they did have full roll of toilet paper.

Some experiences during travel last a long time like this one instance when i was staying a typical guest house type hotel built on some field in Pitampur (near indore,MP) and late night a band baja started outside. It was quite ok until they started firing guns.

[fhdowntheline]

Based on my long corporate experience, whatever arrangements were made with respect to stay and dining were of a high order, right from the early days and those privileges have only increased based on seniority. So one does get ~ 3 star hotels to begin with and that changes as you get along in the ranks thereafter. And the guest houses are also fairly well equipped. Usually during such trips, the work aspect is quite intense so one barely notices the finer aspects around food which is always good when catered in the office in those elegant dining rooms.. And at this time of my career, it has even lesser significance beyond the necessary comforts.

[gischethans]

I don't get to travel a lot but on my recent trip got a company-booked room with complimentary breakfast at an economy hotel chain. Dinner (buffet) at the in-house restaurant was ~₹600+. Now I don't eat so much to justify the costs. Confirmed that they allowed outside food and ordered food from Zomato during my stay there. So got the best of two worlds!

[Chhanda Das]

Thank you very much for helping me reminisce about some good times of yore. We have stayed overnight in all sorts of places during travels and that includes places like 5 star hotels, railway platforms, inter state bus terminals or ISBTs, etc. However, nothing beats being able to stay in government properties in North-East India when my husband was a government employee, I can say with confidence that when it comes to stays, nothing beats dak bungalows, inspection bungalows and circuit houses in that order. The old-world charm is definitely missing in most of the new-age properties. About the food, I have never seen an accurate recreation of some of the unique meals available here. I am sure that many of us have heard of Dak Bungalow Chicken and may have even consumed a modern-day version of it but how many of us can actually claim to have consumed an authentic Dak Bungalow Chicken preparation prepared by a multi-generational Khansama sitting on the porch of a Dak Bungalow ?

Nowadays, we prefer to travel, stay and dine in our car by way of car camping without needing to take out anything from the car for enjoying all of the facilities during a car camping trip (unlike a hotel, resort, tent, etc) while keeping weight and cost additions to a minimum. In fact, we do not even need to get out of the car for camping in it. This is a critical aspect if we have to move from the parked location fast. This is especially useful when we are on a tight schedule and do not have to go looking for hotels, resorts, etc. Moreover, there is no time wasted in moving the luggage to and from the brick-and-mortar room or tent, checking-in/out, etc and the money saved is the added bonus.

Washroom facilities are availed at nearby toll plazas, food plazas, government offices, banks, religious institutions, etc. I have even asked people for permission to use the washroom facilities in their homes and thankfully, no one has ever refused. We Indians truly believe in "Atithi Devo Bhava" or "Guest is akin to God" and this is irrespective of the people's religion. One may question the hygiene in public washrooms as opposed to private ones in hotels, resorts, etc but just because something looks clean does not mean that it is actually clean. If you have ever checked a hotel/resort room under an ultraviolet blacklight, then you would know that appearances can be very deceiving. Personally, as long as there is enough water accessible in the washroom, we can maintain our hygiene very well with a few basic disinfecting options. As for me, I have been car camping since the 1980s but thankfully, I have never faced hygiene issues due to a washroom simply because of my personal habits with regard to the precautions that I take.

In my personal opinion, nothing beats the freedom provided by a car

[gtonsing]

Having travelled and stayed in a guest house and various hotels in India and abroad, there are some things I can think of.
The one experience I had of a guest house was in Hyderabad and we had to share a room with three people. I didnt like it at all - especially since my two other room mates drank and played cards till early morning - but that could be a one off.
Having travelled to Kerala on work several times, I loved the stay and breakfast options in the Hilton Garden Inn in Trivandrum. The hotel is not large and the staff are great in the many stays I had there. The rooms are good too.
Food is great and breakfast buffet is a good option. What I usually do is for our company, those travelling to Kerala are given cars with drivers. They pick us up at the airport and I usually go straight to Office and only go to the hotel in the evening.
In Kochi, I liked the Grand Hyatt. Same modus operandi as Trivandrum. I remember the food is excellent here as well and staff are great.
In the UK, I stayed at a BnB in Portsmouth. It was a great stay and while some may say BnB are not great, I found that one very good, with friendly staff (Sorry could not recollect the name of the place)
In the US, I stayed in Hiltons every state I visited and generally speaking, I found them true to their fame and of good quality. I very much liked the Le Meridien in KL as well, excellent connectivity and if you select the higher floors, it gives you a bird's eye view of KL City.
Note: I realised I have been staying almost consistently in 4 or 5 star hotels in almost all my travels. Didnt realise that before writing these down.