Hotels
It is always best to ask to see some rooms in a hotel before paying. There can be a vast difference between one room and another, that are in the same price range. If you do not like the first room you are shown, ask to see another. You may notice the next room is slightly, or even much better. Usually you will be shown a substandard room first, and if you do not like that one, you will be shown a better room. This has happened to me hundreds of times. This is true from the lowest place to the highest. In a five-star place, where all of the rooms are the same, some have a good view and other don’t. Also, some rooms may have recently been renovated.

When I go into a room, I check if the sheets are clean, and I check the bathroom to see if it has been cleaned in the last month. I expect the room to be cleanly swept. These are my minimum standards before I will stay in a room. It is best to see if things work in the room, such as the fan or the air-cooler. They may say they have hot water, but often it does not work.

An important thing with me about a hotel is the management. I prefer not to stay in a place where the hotel clerk is drunk or I cannot communicate with them. Good hotel managers can really make your life easier. They can give you helpful information and they can arrange transportation. They can generally make you feel much better about your stay in India.

Depending on the season and the day of the week, in many hotels you can bargain for a lower price. Often hotels have discount rates for the off-season, but they might not tell you about them unless you ask. Many times you can get at least a 10% discount. A hotel has a fixed expenditure to have someone in a room—the cost of electricity, maid service, linen, etc. This may be Rs 30. If the hotel is only going to be 50% full that day, then anything over Rs 30 is profit for them. So if you don’t mind shopping around, you may be able to get a Rs 300 room for Rs 150 on off-days and off-seasons.

In big cities like Mumbai, Chennai, or Calcutta, it can be very difficult to find a room at any price. Especially, during the high seasons, such as December or January. It is best to arrive early in the morning and find a room immediately. Even better, is to reserve a room in advance.
Before checking into a hotel, it is a good idea to find out the checkout time, which is usually 12 noon. In some hotels it is 8 or 9 am. Many times you can get the checkout time extended before you move into the room. If the checkout time is 9 am, you can tell them you want to leave at 11 am. If they refuse, tell them you can’t stay there then. They will often adjust at that point. Some places have a 24-hour checkout, which means if you arrive at 7 pm, you do not have to check out until 7 pm the next day.

Do not believe your rickshaw or taxi driver when they tell you the hotel you want to go to is full or closed. They will then usually say that they have a much better hotel for you to go to. Actually they are probably only interested in taking you to a hotel in which they receive a commission, which in turn will be added onto your bill. When you arrive in a town, it is best to use a rickshaw driver that you choose rather then one who runs up to you with enthusiasm. You have to pay for the extra work he is doing.

Even the most expensive hotels may try to overcharge you. This can particularly happen with groups. You should be careful when making long distance phone calls, as the price can be over three times the normal price. It is best to check and pay your hotel bill the night before, not when you are rushing to the airport the next morning.

Tip It is a good idea to take a business card from the hotel where you are staying and keep it with you. You may forget exactly where your hotel is located. Also many times the taxi drivers cannot understand your English when you tell them the hotel’s name. If you just show them the card, they will immediately figure out how to get you to your hotel.

Staying in a Indian Family’s Home
In certain places you can get a room in the house of an Indian family. This enables you to get a first hand experience of family life in India. In Rajasthan, you can arrange a home stay at the Rajasthan State tourist offices in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner. You can also arrange a home stay in Mumbai and Chennai. You usually arrange this facility with the local tourist office. In Goa and the beach towns, many people offer a room or house to rent. This is usually arranged by asking at the local restaurants or by asking other travelers. Rooms begin at Rs 150 and can go up to well past Rs 1000.

Dharamshalas, Ashrams and Gurudwaras
Dharamshalas and ashrams are usually very basic places found at holy places and pilgrimage sites. Rooms are often extremely simple and may only have a mattress on the floor and a common toilet. Travelers can often stay in a dharamshalas, usually for a small donation. Sometimes there may be restrictions in ashrams such as no smoking or meat eating.

There are often basic guest facilities at Gurudwaras (Sikh temples). It is the tradition of Sikhs to offer hospitality to their guests. Usually you stay at these places for free, but it is good to offer a donation.

Youth Hostels
They are usually cheap and have good facilities. They are often located in an out of the way location, away from the main area in town. You do not have to be a Youth Hostel (HI) member to use the hostels, but a YHA/HI card will usually get you a slightly lower room rate.

Railway Waiting Rooms
Sometimes you may have to stay in a waiting room, for instance if you have a 3 am train. It is much more comfortable to stay in the 1st class waiting room. Officially you need a 1st class or A/C ticket to enter the waiting room and your ticket may be checked. You can often get into a waiting room with a 2nd class Indrail pass or you may be allowed to come in because you are a foreigner. Walk in like you are supposed to be there.

Railway Retiring Rooms
These are often hotel or dormitory rooms right at the railway stations. You are supposed to have a train ticket to stay in them. In a busy station they can be noisy. They can be a very cheap, good place to stay, especially if you have an early morning train.

Some stations have real British Raj type rooms; the rooms may be huge with a lot of furniture. They are usually rented on a 24-hour basis.

Government Places
During the British time, guest houses were set up for the use of government officials. They go under various names such as Dak Bungalows and Forest Rest Houses. Usually Dak Bungalows are the most basic, Rest Houses are better, and a Circuit House is the best. They are for the use of government officials, but if a room is available tourist may be permitted to stay.

Tourist Bungalows
They are usually run by the state government and can often be the best place to stay in town. They are often poorly managed and maintained, but are usually clean. They vary greatly in the facilities offered. Because they are government-run places, often the staff are not very motivated to please their guests, but at least the staff are a bit intelligent and will usually be helpful if dealt with properly.
They often have dorm beds for Rs 50 and double rooms range from Rs 150 to Rs 400. An A/C room is around Rs 500. Double rooms usually have beds, a fan and a bath room. They usually have a restaurant and in some places it may be the only decent place to eat in town.

Budget Hotels
There is a wide range of hotels in India, ranging from places that even fleas would not live in (they couldn’t bear the smell) to some fairly comfortable places. In some towns you can get a clean double room with a bath and a ceiling fan for Rs 125 or less. Some places have squat Indian toilets and other’s western toilets. You can often have an extra bed put in a room and many budget places have rooms for three or four people. You can often bargain down the price in a cheaper hotel.

Expensive Hotels
First class hotels are mainly only found in the big cities and major tourist places. The five-star hotels in India are usually much more expensive than equal facilities in other countries. Staying in a first-class palace hotel can be one of the highlights of a trip to India. Especially in the big cities, prices can by extremely high, $200 or more. During the high-season (Nov to March), many of these hotels can be fully booked months in advance.

There are several major five-star hotel chains such as the Taj Group, Oberoi chain, Welcomgroup, Casino, Clarks, Ashok and Centaur. The Taj Group and Oberoi usually have excellent hotels.
Ashok, is a government-run chain of hotels managed by ITDC. Often the hotels that they run are the cheapest five-star hotels in town, but they are often poorly maintained and have weak management. In some cases, such as the Ashok Hotel in Agra, they can be a very good value. Some times they are the only first-class option in a particular town.

Room Taxes & Service Charges
There are different types of taxes on hotel rooms imposed by the state governments. It is usually called expenditure tax or luxury tax, and it is different from state to state. At most cheap hotels you do not have to pay this tax. The percentage rate of the tax usually goes up as the price of the room increases. A room that costs Rs 200 may have a 10% tax, and a room that costs Rs 500 will have a 15% tax. Luxury hotels usually have a tax of over 20%, while some have up to a 35% tax. Expenditure tax is not supposed to be paid if you settle your hotel bill in foreign currency.
Besides the above tax, a service charge may be added to your hotel bill. This is usually 10%. In some hotels, this is only added to food, room service, and the use of telephones. At others, it is added to the total bill.

Seasonal Prices
Depending on the season and whether there is a festival going on, prices for hotels will vary. The main tourist season is from November to February, and prices for hotels at beaches can be two to four times inflated at this time. During the Christmas-New Year rush the prices can be even higher, especially at the beaches. During a festival, beside the price going up, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to find a decent room at all. If you are going to a big religious festival, you have to take this into consideration and if possible, book a room in advance.

If you go to Puri in the off season you can get 20% to 50% off on your room, but to get a room during the Ratha-yatra festival you may have to reserve it months in advance. During the off-season, unless you ask for a room discount, you may not get it.

Residential Permit Discounts
By showing your residential permit, if you have one, you can often get hotels at the rupee rate instead of the dollars rate that is normally charged foreign tourist. You can often get a 25% to 50% discount.

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