Review: Hotel Esplanade Chambers, Chandni Chowk, Kolkata

Hotel Esplanade chambers is where we stayed for 3 nights in Kolkata. It wasn't our first choice. The other guest house I had selected wasn't available, so after some basic checks, I zeroed in on Esplanade Chambers.

At about Rs 1800 a day, Esplanade Chamber is not very cheap and overall I find their services Ok-Ok. No complaints as such.

Good things about Esplanade Chambers: 

• Room was decent
• There are 2 south Indian restaurants within walking distance, hence we didn’t face issue with food.
• Close to Chandni chowk metro and Esplanade, so visiting different parts of the city is easy as public transport is close by
• They allowed us check in 2 hours early and check out an hour late. Good.
• About 3 different charging points helped us charge multiple devices simultaneously.
• They do have a few CCTV cameras for security, (but I never saw any motion in them)
• Main gate was locked during the night. Good.
• Free WiFi was good

Not so good:

• Lift feels very fragile and is not for the faint hearted. It is also narrow. If you have 2 big check-in bags, they won't fit inside.
• No dedicated parking space, if you have a car.
• Breakfast options are too few (only bread toast and omelet were offered) and served little too late (after 8AM). We let it go on 2 out of 3 days, as we couldn’t afford to lose few hours of siteseeing just for breakfast.
• A bit crowded area, surrounded by lots of computer shops.
• On our day 2, we were told of a water problem- they have run out of stock and even overhead tanks have gone dry. We were asked to adjust with a bucket of water they kept in the bathroom for us. But surprisingly, when we ran the tap we did get enough water- probably the quantity that was left in the pipes.
• Noise insulation is not that great. While sound from the outside (road) was fairly insulated, doorbells of other rooms could be heard in our room very often.
• No complementary drinking water.
• There was a steel cupboard/almira in the room, but no lock was provided.  I left the bag in the room and gave key at the reception- nothing happened, but would have been safer if there is a lockable storage.
• They don't own the full building. There're 2-3 other hotels operate in same building (Gypsy and few other)

I had booked via Stayzilla.com. Esplanade Chambers is not a bad hotel, but I feel you might be able to find better hotels in similar price range. If you can afford something better, book in a different hotel.