Hotel Solitaire Inn is the budget hotel in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. It is 6 kilometres away from the city’s main attraction, Gwalior Fort.
Hotel Solitaire Inn was my abode for the solitary night on the weekend trip to Gwalior. I had gone on the trip with my two cousins. Only this hotel had a family room which included a double bed and a single bed which was the main contributing factor for me to book it.
After exploring the Gwalior Fort for the whole day, we checked in the hotel at night. The hotel is located in the city centre in the middle of the jewellery market named Sarafa Bazaar. When the cab dropped me to the location, I did not see any hotel near to the location. All I could see was one jewellery shop after the other. After enquiring from the Suvarna Jewels (jewellery shop) owner, I got to know that I was at the location and the hotel was right next to that jewellery shop. When I carefully looked, I saw a small door with its name written on it.
Table of Contents
Room
The room was of decent size and fairly clean. It had an attached bathroom which was pretty small considering it had both shower and toilet. No toiletries were provided except a cheap quality soap.
Room description had hot water facility but hot water was not working and we had to skip the morning bathe.
Room amenities included free wi-fi and LCD TV. But TV had no channels subscribed to it. The channels got activated after calling the reception but got deactivated again at 8 in the morning. It was disappointing since the check-out time was 12 PM, and the staff should have subscribed the channels at least until the check-out time.
Food
As we had checked-in the hotel at night, we were too lazy to go out for dinner. The hotel menu had a range of items from Indian to Chinese at reasonable prices. We ordered tomato soup, noodles, Manchurian, and veg chop suey. All the items were bland and of low-quality. I should have learnt from my experience in Mussoorie that if hotel menu has reasonably priced dishes, then food would be both dull and of lower quality. But I guess, I had to pour money down the drain one more time to finally learn the lesson.
Our stay included the fixed menu complimentary breakfast. The menu had mentioned three options for breakfast along with tea/coffee to be made available from 8:30 in the morning. The options were paranthas with curd, puri bhaji, and poha. We were three people, so we thought of ordering all the dishes. But we were told that breakfast would be available from 9:30. After further pressing them, they agreed to provide poha on time. As we had already planned our day, we asked them to provide poha for each of us. Even then we were brought poha 30 minutes late which too was average in taste.
My Verdict
Although the room was clean, the service was simply pathetic. Tens of calls must have been made to help desk for smaller things which are expected by any hotel. I even had to call them to provide a bottle of drinking water.
I don’t expect a plethora of amenities from a budget hotel, but I do expect them to provide all the amenities mentioned in their description.
Rs 2000 for 3 persons was paid for a single night and price was not at all worth to the quality of stay. I would not recommend staying in Hotel Solitaire Inn when you are in Gwalior.
More Information
Hotel – Hotel Solitaire Inn
Location – Sarafa Bazaar, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Average Price for a couple – Rs 1500
Have you ever been disappointed by your hotel stay? Share your experience in the comments below!!
Your review of Hotel Solitaire Inn in Gwalior is very helpful! The highlights on the comfort, hospitality, and convenient location near attractions like the fort are great insights for travelers. I appreciate the detailed descriptions, especially the focus on service. Definitely considering it for my next trip!
I have experienced such a service in hotels so many times and it’s sad. They put in so much effort in the looks of the hotel but the real selling point for me is the service. If only they worked harder on the service.
Gwalior is such a lovely place. Sorry to see that the Hotel Solitaire Inn did not provide value for money. Even if it is budget, the amenities should be value for money. Nice to see your honest review which shall definitely help travellers heading to Gwalior.
Too bad … stayed in quite a few “budget” hotels around the world and had super experiences. It comes down to the staff being trained (and willing) to provide friendly and basic services. Your review has convinced me that should I ever find my way to Gwalior, I will avoid this hotel.
I have stayed in a couple of hotels than this and they were much cheaper than this and I had great experience in both of them. Staff behaviour was excellent. It is the behaviour of staff that make or break your stay.
AS you mentioned the location, it reminds me of our hotel stay in Hongkong, but the difference is they are accommodating, and service is excellent. They don’t offer food there, but I stayed at a lot of budget hotels too and honestly, they can improve their service if they want to. That bread and noodles you ordered are
easy to make it, and I can understand why you’re frustrated. Thanks for sharing its good to know to not consider this one in searching for accommodation when we can visit India.
Was your hotel also located in the middle of jewellery or some other shops? I am glad that at least your stay was enjoyable.
It seems like a no frills kind of place. This is one reason why I advocate people open up and give hostels a try. Cheap hotels are usually never great but for the same price in places like Asia you can often get a private room in a top of the range hostel!! It’s surprising really for many people but I put it like this, you can either get the bottom of one category or the best of another!
I also prefer hostels but in India, you won’t even find a single hostel in many places. And Gwalior is one of those places. And even the few places which have hostels, most of the hostel is not of good quality. So, it is better to pay a few extra bucks to get a private room in a decent hotel.
The price does sound reasonable for three persons, including the breakfast. And a clean room is certainly a plus. But service-wise, it’s a put-off really if its that bad. Budget or not, of course we’d expect good service. Serving their breakfast late is also annoying especially if you woke up early and had some activities planned for the entire day.
Absolutely. I don’t expect luxury hotel services in a budget hotel but I expect to get the services that are mentioned on the website.
Thanks for the honest review of this hotel. Will avoid for sure! Whether you are a budget hotel or not, the amenities you claim to have, you should have or make available without a ton of phone calls.
Thanks for the tip. We won’t stay in that hotel. They shouldn’t be in that business if they don’t care about people
Looks clean, love the white decor and the food looks great. For a budget hotel, i would stay here despite the service you didnt expect to recieve. Sometimes for me it depends on price. If I wanted luxury, then I want a smile and excellent service. 🙂
It is not that I wanted luxury or such things. But if a hotel is claiming X and Y facility, then it should provide those facilities. There were a lot cheaper hotels than this one and I chose it over them because of the services they claimed.
This was an interesting review. Hotel Solitaire Inn looks very nice and clean, but it is a shame about the service provided. I thought it was funny that the hotel was so difficult to find among all the jewellery shops!
Yeah, I was literally standing in front of the hotel but its small door on the side of the shop just missed my eyes completely. It was a hilarious moment when the shop owner told me that I am standing right next to the hotel.
It seems like your stay was very bread and butter. You convinced me to look for other lodging when I come to Gwalior. Budget hotels don’t have to have poor service too. A smile is free.
You are absolutely right. After this, I have stayed in a much cheaper hotel with not many services but courteous behaviour of the staff has made my stay enjoyable. Staff behaviour, their responsiveness plays a crucial role in making the stay good or poor. As you said, sometimes just a smile is enough.