You don’t want to spend a weekend at a corporate
hotspot of an IT city. Until unless it’s a five star hotel that innovates to
please Gen Y, offers a sumptuous Sunday Brunch and has a nice spa! My recent
stay at the Marriott Whitefield , Bengaluru surprised me as it was a perfect work-and-play weekend.
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| Jump the Queue: Mobile Check-In Counter |
I reached
Bangalore on a Saturday morning for a bloggers trip organised by Marriott
Hotel. As soon as I got into the car I checked in using the Marriott mobile
app. Being a blogger and Gen Y myself people expect me to be quite tech and web
savvy. Truth be told I am always wary of trying new apps on my phone. But the Marriott mobile check-in turned out to
be rather smooth. The cab that hotel had
sent to pick me up was wi-fi enabled, thus making the check-in even simpler.
Once I reached the hotel it took me exactly thirty
seconds to collect my room key that was ready at the mobile check-in counter.
Marriott Hotel has globally rolled out mobile check-in and check-out using its
mobile app. In fact the Marriott hotel in Bangalore was one of the five hotels
in Asia where mobile check-in app was tested, as the global biggie is
constantly innovating for the next generation traveller.
The mobile check-in has another advantage. The
time that you save can be used for a power nap and a luxurious shower. I loved
the room design at Marriott. With a glass wall between the bedroom and bathroom,
the shower area looked bigger and had ample of natural light. Perfect for a
woman, I say. It’s the details after all
that matter.
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| Chic: Room with see-through bathroom |
In a very enjoyable company of the general
manger of the hotel Nick Dumbell and fellow bloggers, Ajay Jain of Kunzum Travel Cafe ,
Kalyan Karmakar of Finely Chopped and Jeet Banik of Traveling Beats, I enjoyed a hearty lunch at the M Cafe. For a
Saturday afternoon the restaurant was packed. I particularly enjoyed my glass
of white wine, biryani and stir fried vegetables from the live counter.
In the evening, I headed to the hotel’s Sama Spa for the Asian Fusion massage. A
speciality at their spa, the treatment is a perfect mix of dry Thai and oil
massage. In fact being a spa addict I had browsed the Marriott app on my iPad
mini to check the spa details and decided on the treatment even before I
reached Bengaluru. Post the relaxing treatment, 15 minutes at the dreamy Jacuzzi
and I was rejuvenated . The affable spa manager told me that while the spa was
open till 10 PM, the fitness centre next to it was open 24/7. I was quite happy
when she told me this as one of my top hotel pet peeve is fitness centre at a
five star that’s not open round the clock.
The evening was spent leisurely sipping cocktails
at the M Bar. That India was winning medals at the Commonwealth Games that was
playing on the screen was a bonus.
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| Blogger Selfie: Jeet Banik, Vishakha Talreja, Kalyan Karmakar, Ajay Jain |
Next day at the Marriott Amazing Race, a treasure
hunt sort of competition for bloggers, we visited the HUL Aerospace Museum that houses fighter planes
and an old church. For Marriott’s #travelbrilliantly campaign we clicked lot of
selfies together. It was great fun.
When we reached hotel we were pretty tired but the
good news was..it was Sunday and the hotel had its special Sunday brunch on!
From steaks to pizza and stir fried vegetables, I tried everything from the
live station. It was a lavish Sunday brunch spread with Sushi, Indian and
Chinese all being served. The outdoor seating with some refreshing cocktails
made for a memorable afternoon. Did someone say this was a business hotel?
I was quite delighted with the breakfast spread at
the M Cafe...and actually ate my breakfast like a Queen. My favourite was the
ragi dosa, a healthy option but didn’t really help as I ate two waffles with chocolate
dressing from the live station. What
takes the cake is the pastry shop Whitefield Baking Company (WBC for short).
The soft baked chocolate cookies were to die for! The ones at Oberoi Hotel in
Delhi are my favourite but the WBC’s came close, very close. I even tweeted
about it few days back that how I missed those cookies (so they must be really
good). Oh I really miss them.
I had an early morning flight on Monday but thank
god for the Marriott mobile app, I was able to check out right from the comfort
of my bed late in the night. The hotel staff was attentive and asked me a night
before if I would like early breakfast in my room. The next morning without worrying
about the hassle of standing at the reception for check out I enjoyed the
sinful chocolate muffins, fresh cut fruits and my cup of cappuccino.
Wait this was suppose to be a work trip, but
proved to be a great staycation!
If you want to read detailed review of the
Marriott Mobile App here it is: http://thehotelexplorer.com/trending/
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