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Trip Inspiration
I have visited ITC Grand Chola in past to have lunch sometime in one of its restaurants. I was already impressed by its grand architecture and hospitality. Thus during my business trip to Chennai, I picked this option to experience the stay for 3 nights. How was the experience? Details to follow.
Best Time To Visit
To visit and stay in ITC Grand Chola, its recommended year long as far as budget permits. Well, in case of Chennai, the recommended time is during winters (October to February). So avoid extreme humid summer weather rest of the months.
Places visited
Regarding the places I explored in Chennai, I have created separate Tripstori. Here I have tried to cover the places within the hotel which I got to explore and share my experience.
ITC Grand Chola Hotel, Little Mount, Guindy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Proximity
This hotel is located near very famous Guindy flyover/Circle and very close to Chennai airport (takes usually 10 minutes to reach by car in off peak hours).
Check-in speed
Its fairly quick, mine took 10 minutes considering first time check-in formalities.
Hotel entrance & lobby
From the entrance, one will get the feel of grandeur which is maintained well.
WiFi
Although its high-speed one and complementary with room booking charges but I saw some reviews from travelers, done booking through reward points or complementary booking program; they have to shell out pretty extra for wifi in room. In the ground level lobby, wifi seems complementary for everyone.
Hotel rooms
There are 4-5 types of rooms and some of them are touching super luxury segment which goes upto 25000 INR per night (excluding presidential suite and all). Mine was probably starting segment costing roughly 8k per night (including discounts). Prices vary based on the season so compare on sites like Trivago.com or Booking.com.
Amenities
There are host of facilities in hotel to explore. Some of them like swimming pool, gym, jacuzzi are complementary and that I tried at my pleasure.
Restaurants
As best of my memory there are total 6 restaurants in this hotel. I explored four out of them (all are renowned with high ratings on food review sites).
Madras Pavilion: The main restaurant with maximum footfall and the same place where complementary breakfast is served. (4.5/5)
Avartana: Progressive South Indian restaurant. Its one of the most innovative restaurant I have ever visited, where food is served very creative way. The menu is set so inquire while booking (5/5)
(Click here to checkout tripstori about Avartan restaurant for detailed experience)
Peshawari: One of the best north India cuisine restaurant in Chennai. The ambience and the attire of crew make you feel like you aren't in Chennai. (4/5)
Ottimo Cucina: This is an Italian restaurant which I heard a lot about but couldn't make it for food. Just took a quick visit and then headed to try Royal Vega.
Royal Vega: if you are a vegan then this is the place to try. The restaurant serves only vegetarian menus as al' carte. (4.5/5)
Café Mercara: Offers myriad coffee flavors and short bites and its open 24 hours. Well I wasn't impressed much with this one compared to other restaurants.
Cheroot malt and cigar lounge: This is more of lounge/pub kind of place with variety of food, mocktails and cocktails on offer over music. Just a quick visit to see the ambience but wasn't able to grab anything.
Febelle, the chocolate room: Indulge into your love for chocolate here. They have some of the signature chocolate collections although bit higher side on pricing.
Transportation
From Chennai airport, my cab booking was done through separate vendor due to the package we have selected to save cost. So in this case, if your airport transfers are not included then it can be 5 times expensive than traditional cab vendor compared to hotel taxi service.Pro-tips
To summarize the experience, it was absolutely fantastic experience throughout for me. The biggest USPs of ITC Grand Chola are 1. Its Grand structure, 2. Ambience, 3. Hospitality, 4. Variety of restaurants on offer and 5. Proximity to airport and IT Parks i.e. Tidel Park, Ascendas, OMR road with a lot of IT companies.
Price comparison: One has to shell out 2000 to 2800 INR for a single person for food in any of the restaurants on offer. Looking at the property the price might be justifiable but it is twice the costlier than usual options in other hotels. (subjective matter so take your own judgment)
Overall the common areas and restaurants make you feel the little glimpse of Chola Kingdom.