Hotel Chandela

A very good hotel. Mainly 2 reasons - location and food. The in house restaurant serves very good and fresh food. It's located less than 10 mins car ride from all the Temple sights - Western, Southern and Estern

My first visit to Khajuraho and after a long journey was looking forward to staying here. Had booked two nights in. Before I get into the details I must say the staff is sweet, humble and just doing their jobs. Big shoutout to *** and ***. The hotel is huge as advertised, comes with a pool and a lush garden. The room- *** has a stinky drain. The moment you run the water the entire washroom smells like you are trapped in a drain. I did complain about it the next day but no conclusions and the drain still smells. I would suggest the team runs the basin tap and wait for 2 mins to get consumed by the smell. The buffet breakfast and food taste is ok- variety yes- taste is questionable. Coming to what really made me give them a three star: their selective hospitality. I had a foreigner friend from the UK travelling with me and the white privilege she got really made me question where me and my parents invisible? Or this is how you treat the person who was actually paying for the trip. On our 2nd night we decided to dine at their restaurant. We weren’t very hungry so went with ala carte. They were insisting on the buffet but didnt like the food so were just wanting to eat light. My white friend and I decided to order a Waldorf salad- which I agree was our mistake, and a total disaster as we didn’t read the description of the dish. The salad arrived we both didn’t like it. The waiter ( I noted his name but wont mention here) went to his manager and requested if she could pick something from the buffet instead as they were wrapping up. He came to the table and escorted us to choose what she wanted. She picked a plate and took a variety of salad. I wanted a scoop of chocolate ice cream instead but when we got back to the table the waiter said the option was only for her as she didn’t like the salad and she was a foreigner, I would have to pay extra or order separately. I was taken aback! Are you kidding me? She is my guest, I am hosting her. Whatever we ordered was for the table and you had the audacity to humiliate me. This is the moment I realised hospitality is so subjective. You truly cant be hospitable if it doesn’t come from within and your fellow citizens have the power to mistreat you just cause you have a white person across the table. I must say I have by far stayed in more 5 stars than my “ white friend” but never treated this differently. Safe to say I will definitely visit Kajuraho again but never staying at Hotel Chandela. They also gave us a room on the ground floor where they were hosting a group of students who were playing loud music until midnight running down the corridors. If you were a true five star you would have never allowed this to happen! P.S. They are renovating so the drilling noise starts at 8am until 5 pm. So wish you a nice stay 🥲 I don’t think this is a five star property.

Reception staff is not supportive

My family was with me from US and we were there for 2 nights. The hotel is more of a marriage hall and their total attention is on the marriage party. The restaurant staff is grossly untrained, the senior staff is not crisp and least bothered abt the functioning of the hotel. Taj hotels operated on this property for almost 40 years and since they left these people are only encashing upon the location and infrastructure . Sad state of affairs and lacks professional touch