Hotel Harsha

Harsha looks pretty unassuming from outside, blending effortlessly into its bourgeois neighbourhood. Which is a rather bad idea for a hotel that charges Rs. 1,500+ for a room in a bourgeois neighbourhood. Like someone famous said, if you have class, you have to show it (and if no one famous said it, please credit that to us).

Yes, Harsha does have the entry-level class that Rs. 1,500+ for a room can buy. It appears rather petite by hotel standards, but then so does almost everything else on that road (except, to an extent, Quality Inn Residency). Harsha perhaps comes closest of 'em all to Quality Inn Residency, in that it has a popular restaurant attached - Belsons Taj Mahal, since 2007. And some good things in the rooms.

The hotel has 3 levels in its 60 rooms - Standard, Executive and Deluxe - with increasing amenities. All rooms come with the basics - A/C, 2 beds, 2 chairs, a TV, a dressing table, a mini-refrigerator, rather professional loos with basic toiletries (there's an interesting water-saving guide pasted inside), free breakfast, room service from the attached restaurant, a luggage closet and an additional rack outside. While there are no balconies and the view from the French windows is pretty sad (if you are unlucky, just the next building), the rooms themselves look as slick as you can expect in this money.

The Executive rooms also come with free coffee (a coffee-maker is kept in each room), softer beds, additional toiletries including a saving kit and a hair drier, and a digital safe locker. And the Deluxe ones, even more spacious, have a partition for any visitors with an additional TV there, an LCD TV, and a bigger refrigerator. The refrigerators may seem limited in utility since the hotel doesn't stock them with or serve liquor, but maybe the hotel knows its guests better.

Professional service, with the manager clad in a blazer and the front office personnel in ties, adds to your comfort factor given that you can be apprehensive when you first step in - we already told you what we think of the facade. Fortunately also for Harsha, no other hotel near the railway station really looks good from outside either (except, again, to an extent, Quality Inn Residency).

Harsha is a good option if you want to stay near the railway station for whatever reason. And if you're here, remember to do Aadab and Lucky.