How’s the ITC Grand Chola Hotel in Chennai, India? Check out this honest and unsponsored 4K Tour & Review of this Five Star mega hotel in the heart of the city.
Hi there! My Name is Kevin and today we will take a deep dive into the full ITC Grand Chola experience. We will take a look at the beautiful pool deck and garden, check out many of the properties restaurants and venues, tour all of the common areas including the grand staircase, take an in depth look at my Tower Wing City View Room, have a bit of Room Service and wrap it all up with The Flip Flop Score.
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💰 Room Rate
Room Rate: $230.25 USD
Category: Tower Wing (Club) City View Room
Inclusions: Breakfast, Refundability
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⏰ Typical Posting Times:
8/9:00 (US-EST), 14:00 (UK), 18:30 (India), 20:00 (VN), 23/00:00 (AEST)
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— Video Chapters —
0:00 Hotel Preview
00:10 Intro
00:25 Welcome to Chennai
00:50 Hotel Exterior
01:15 Hotel Location
01:30 Who is ITC?
01:45 Primary Lobby
02:05 Check in & Reception Area
02:30 Grand Central Staircase
03:15 Walking to Pool Deck
03:37 Outdoor Pool Deck
04:00 A Friendly Reminder
04:22 Fitness Center
04:35 ITC One Tower Lobby
05:15 The Resident’s Lounge
05:35 Heading to My Room
06:23 “Tower” Room Tour
07:38 Losing My Luggage
09:37 Bathroom Tour
11:00 “Environmentally Friendly”
12:05 View from Room
12:25 Madras Pavilion Buffet Restaurant
13:20 Cafe Mercara Express
13:50 Peshwari North Indian Restaurant
14:25 Fabelle Chocolate Shop
14:50 Fine Dining Trio
15:15 Avartana South Indian Restaurant
15:40 Nightly Performance
15:55 Room Service Dinner
16:15 Crappy Wifi
16:25 Thumping Music Overnight
17:00 Breakfast Box
17:08 Final Thoughts
17:30 The Flip Flop Score
Music featured in this video is licensed under an Artlist Unlimited License.
This is NOT a promotional video. I pay for all of my flights and hotels (and I always tell you how much!) so I can be as honest and impartial as possible. I do not receive any special treatment that wouldn’t otherwise be publicly accessible, in fact, the hotels and airlines have no idea about my visit and that’s the way I like it!
#itchotels #chennai #india
26 Comments
You have a great selection of elevator music. Hope the bell hop did not get the sack.
Hi Kevin. Recent fan and subscriber. Quick feedback – I'm seeing a lot of "stuttering" (for the lack of a better word) on your panning shots and it muddles the experience. Please look into it. Otherwise good video!
The one thing I dearly miss when I travel around the US and the Europe is the service & hospitality of South Asian hotels. If that itself is so poor at the property, I guess it's a big No No for me. That "If Epcot had an India Pavilion" comment seems spot on….the India pavilion at the Dubai Expo2020 indeed looked just like this hotel's interior 😂😂😂
Aaron Athaide.
Hi Kevin…. This is a gem of a review.. For most of us that had expectations based on the hype.. it was a total let down… Except for the cost, there is nothing Royal or Grand… would be an ideal place to spend the day.. a good nights sleep would probably be a big ask at this property…
Having said that, please do visit Chennai again and review some of the good properties around…
India seems like a mixed bag 🎒
Loved your comments. I stayed at this hotel in 2017 for few times (3) and every time it was excellent. Maybe the covid era had some tolls on the staffing. Thank you for the review and the footage and looking forward to your next review.
Seeing all that detail, all that "stuff", I can't imagine how they keep it clean and fresh looking. Hopefully, the cleaning staff isn't as short-handed as the rest of the staff. If I were paying top dollar for luxury accommodations, I'd expect to have people waiting on me. I also would expect peace and quiet so I could sleep!
Stayed at the ITC Grand Chola a few times pre-COVID. I have stayed in many hotels in Chennai and this was by far my least favorite. At breakfast on a number of occasions when I got up to go to the buffet to get seconds, by the time I got back my table was cleared and found someone else sitting there. No matter what I would do such as leaving my napkin on the chair etc, didn’t work.
Tried one of the restaurants and I ordered lamb curry. Paid top price for three bones and a small piece of lamb.
Another time there was some construction going on and the windows and doors were left open. That night I killed five mosquitoes.
As Kevin said everything is ITC branded. Got some cookies out of the mini bar and I could see the a mouse had gotten to them before me.
This is one of the few hotels (don’t know if they still have it) where a whole floor was for women only. This is a great way for women to feel safe in a place far from home.
Keep up the good work Kevin.
Good review . Chennai is not one of the favourite places for me.. too hot and humid.
Our stay at both ITC Maurya in Delhi and ITC Royal Bengal, Kolkata was also not great. Better to stay in marriot courtyard in these cities than wasting your time and money on luxury collection hotels
The subtle racist undertones in your commentary are sickening. You sound white but I picture you as an Indian guy who was bullied at school by white kids who made you hate yourself. Sort of a Dinesh D’Souza travel influencer or should I say de-influencer since I am too put off to watch any more of your sepoy videos. Decolonize, brother.
Greetings Kevin, as a seasoned Indian traveler with extensive experience of visiting numerous hotels, I have made a discerning observation that ITC Hotels typically receive lower ratings compared to Taj and The Oberoi's, both of which are celebrated for their impeccable service standards. In contrast, ITC Hotels seem to have a greater inclination towards catering to the needs of business travelers rather than leisure tourists, which can significantly impact the overall guest experience. The variance in the level of hospitality offered by these establishments is akin to comparing a slice of heaven to a visit to the dentist – one is a blissful experience, while the other may cause some discomfort.
6:35 "This room looks like what Hollywood thinks big fancy Indian Hotel rooms look like," you nailed it with this comment. I get you.
At the point when your bag was lost and had accidentally been put into another Guests room l would have been saying goodbye and not waiting for the noise from a function to keep me awake most of the night. The whole experience would have tipped me over the edge, so kudos to you for still doing a fair and reasonable review 👍
Most inefficient ITC hotel I have stayed in
My opinion: from your video this looks like a beautiful restaurant. You had a bad experience with missing luggage and you booked into a lower class suite, which has, unfortunately, ruined your experience.
As an Indian I wouldn't stay there either. Not worth the money.
I am all for critical review of this place but I felt you were a little lenient about Oberai in Bangalore compared to this. Would have liked both to be bad mouthed similarly 🤣
Great review! More like an empty museum than a welcoming hotel!
Had a terrible experience there.
Thanks for giving us a fair revue.
It dies look tacky for a 4/5 star priced hotel.
They operate like the government institution…low wage staff who care less for anyone…no training.
They probable recycle their foods that are not consumed.
Thanks!
Yah I guess things have changed with time.service becoming lower and more islolated
Visit palaces n royal hotels of RAJASTHAN
Experience royalty , luxury n legacy of rajasthan palaces n hotels
Para mí es total mente hermoso y tradicional a la cultura India. Si querés entrar lujo, deberías de pagar más. Pero no…