Hotel prices in India have more than tripled in the last few years, and 
you can’t get a decent 4-5 star hotel in less than USD300 a night. That too, you need to book months ahead. For my recent first trip to Chennai, I was booked in Green Park Hotel by our local office. I got a little uncomfortable when it didn’t show up on any popular hotel sites on the internet; and the price was only USD125 a night. I imagined a small 2-3 star hotel with a small green park behind it.
But I was blown away the minute I saw the huge new hotel building. The lobby 
was big and beautiful with a very high ceiling. The room had everything I need and wish for in a hotel room: big double bed, cupboard with light and hangers, place to keep the bag, working desk with multiple power supply (nothing beats Colombo’s Taj Samudra when it comes to power supply!), high-speed free Internet access through a long cable and a beautiful view of the pool and lawns! But the highlight was the bathroom: not only it was spacious with a glass partition for the shower area, it had a shower from outer space! It was powerful and easy to operate, and had four horizontal jets for targeted acupressure (I am guessing). Food and service was great; Internet connection worked; they gave me a late checkout till 3 PM without any fuss. The final wow came in the form of a small gift that I was 
presented at the time of checkout – ‘thank you for staying with us!’ It was gift wrapped to look like it was sent by a friend, and had a nice pen inside. WOW!
[October 2007]
Tags: chennai, customer service, gift, green park, Hotels, india, shower, WOW!
