Date: 23-25 Feb 2019
Venue: Banjara Hills, Hyderabad

We wanted to take a short break and this time, for a change, it was a city, Hyderabad. Hyderabad is the capital of Telengana, the newly formed state carved out of Andhra Pradesh. We have already been to Vijaywada, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. As a balancing act, we wanted to try Hyderabad. It was a short stay and we looked for a functional place to put up that would be convenient, practical, clean and reasonable priced.

Holiday Inn has come up with a new vector, Holiday Inn Express. They have two hotels in Hyderabad and both looked promising online. We booked the more central location in the upscale Banjara Hills. They provide accommodation in four storeys of this five storey building. It is very close to plush malls and business district. We could see the location would work very well with business travellers or people coming for fuss free trips.

Our room was located on the third floor. With footstep activated corridor lights, this place is as cool as it could get. The room had the softest beds in the world with very hi-tech bedside reading lamps that, we are embarrassed to admit, took us a while to figure out. Often times budget rooms have a small TV set, an apology in the name of this gadget. But this room had a huge television and it was enormous viewing pleasure. A tea-coffee station, small refrigerator and vault completed the setting.

The toilet, wash basin and shower area were intelligently carved in the room. It never felt small but plain good design. Talking of designs, we loved the vector art printed accent wall. The soft colour artwork gave the room a decorative twist without overwhelming the space. A nice design is always such a succor to soar eyes, and we loved the get-up. We only wish there was a wardrobe in the room to shove our stuff away from public sight. Nonetheless, there were ample hangers and we managed.

Even though it is an “Express” (read budget) chain, adjacent to our room was a gym with treadmill, cross-trainer machines and weights. They had tissues, towels and benches here. The apparatus was sufficient for a basic workout.  We needed this to burn off all the holiday-food that we were binging on in Hyderabad.

Talking of food, breakfast was part of our reservation deal.  They lay a buffet every morning that is a big spread but not something that overwhelms you. For instance they have the South Indian idli, sambhar, fresh vadas, chutney; the North Indian parathas (made of atta thankfully) and subzi; the continental omelette, toast, bun-eggs or baked eggs, sausages, sandwiches; a variety of cereals and milk, cut fruits and bananas, juices and lassi, cakes, croissants and tea-coffee. Every item is wholesome yet sumptuous. It is more of a brunch with vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian diets uniformly covered. Post breakfast, we were covered till late afternoon in terms of food.

We also ordered some ala carte items from the menu in the room. They have a tiffin menu that seems to be very popular in Hyderabad.  These are combo meals comprising a chicken dish or paneer dish and rice / paratha and pickles, raw onion, slices of lemon and papad. Rajma-chawal also featured in this category. These combo meals came in colourful tiffin carriers making for great photo op. We loved the methi chicken and jeera rice tiffin. The dishes were low on spice, the parathas were made of healthier wheat flour and the rice was cooked to perfection.  Last but not the least; their mildly sweetened melt-in-the-mouth cheese cake is yum. Do try this; it is worth all the calories.

This piece will not be complete without a paragraph on the hospitality of the staff here. Starting from the security chappie at the scanner machine, to the staff in the dining hall, to the housekeeping department, everyday attended to us with a smile. And that too, not decorative, but heartfelt. Great going guys! You do complete justice to your brand’s tagline #morethanready.

To sum it up, great location, yum food, top notch cleanliness, efficient Wi-Fi and most important fantastic hospitality, we recommend this hotel as a real Fun-Do. We’re glad that we chose Holiday Inn Express Hyderabad Banjara Hills for our holiday. Our leap of faith was rewarded. Here is looking forward to staying at their hotels in other cities across the globe.