THE RETREAT

If cramped stuffy rooms, moldy cupboards and terrible service is what you are looking for, The Retreat, Darjeeling is the place to be. We booked a room for 2, for 13th - 16th January. We called them a week in advance to specifically ask if the rooms we selected would be on floors below the lobby, as we wanted a room with a view and did not want to stay in the basement. We were ensured by the Manager, Mr. Abhijeet, that the rooms would be on the "First Floor". On reaching the resort after a tiring journey from Baghdogra, we finished our formalities, and the bell boy started taking our luggage downstairs. When asked why, the manager explained our rooms would be just one floor below the lobby, the 'first floor'. Reluctantly, we followed the bellboy who went down ANOTHER floor, to a room in a claustrophobic dank corner of the resort. When we protested, the manager Mr. Abhijeet, very rudely said that since we booked a deluxe room, this is what we would get. In the most condescending tone possible, he told us that we could have had better rooms, if we could pay more. He further insisted that since we booked our room , we were free to cancel the booking as well. (Like he'd care!). I was travelling with my mother who is in her mid-50s, and suffers from claustrophobia. We are frequent travellers, and have stayed in all kinds of places, we have never had such a terrible experience before. Our tariff for the deluxe room was approx. Rs. ...with breakfast (exclusive of taxes). For a boutique hotel: The room had no hair dryer, the cupboards were moldy.

Was here on 3rd and 4th Oct 15 with my wife.Regret my decision .Took photographs to share. Cons : 1.Deluxe room is so small ,u feel like being caged 2.No complimentary water bottle even after having so high tariff 3.Stains on curtains and mirror.Looked like a 3rd class hotel 4.In restaurant, they clean utensils with a dirty cloth hanging from the door and people sitting in restaurant can easily see. 5. In morning buffet, served ONLY aloo puri,cornflakes,omlette and toast.Never seen so small menu. 6.Enroute hotel there is garbage station.so close ur nose to reach hotel.and dogs in that garbage shall scare to before you reach hotel. Pros : 1. 24 hrs hot water 2. 5 Min walk from market . Complained manager Mr Santanu as well but he could just apologize and do nothing.

when we reached hotel, they said we have no idea about booking. had to argue with hotel staff for 2-3 hours. called ibibo 4-5 times, requested the manager to understand. He said he knows that its not our fault and ibibo's fault, but he did not allow us to enter the room. After tiring journey we felt humiliated with our family and finally have to surrendered to the cruel intentions of manager and paid rs. 2400 extra for an upgraded which we did not want either.

We were allotted a pathetic room next to hotel's store room. It was stinking a lot. Intercom didn't work for 2 days.WiFi wasn't working,no mobile signal in the room.It was feeling like just due to an online booking and total money already paid,hotel took us for granted and given us such a bad room and worst services.