Samode Palace

a wonderful historic heritage hotel. Beautiful grounds, rooms well appointed. Food was excellent. The public areas had so much history, they were fantastic. A film crew were operating whilst we visited, they were very noisy and did not take into account the needs of the guests. our biggest concern was that monkeys used our balcony at night to sleep and defecate on, management need to address this issue as we were unable to safely use the balcony

This was to be the highlight of our tour of Rajasthan, being the biggest and most expensive place we would stay. Expectations were high, maybe too high, and unfortunately it didn’t deliver. Where to start? Well 6 months earlier we had booked this place along with 11 other stops on a 3 week tour round the state. It was confirmed and then paid for along with all the other stops. Not long after we got an email saying they had received a wedding booking for the whole hotel and just cancelled our reservation. Standard procedure apparently but clearly not a procedure any right minded person outside India would think as acceptable behaviour. Still wanting to visit this place they gave us an alternative date but this of course meant that many of our other bookings needed to re shuffled where possible, but not all could be which left some pretty long drives between some places. So arriving after a 6 hour drive we finally checked in with high expectations of what would be our biggest and most expensive palace. We were shown our room and it was nice. Just ….. nice. It was a bit dark owing to the small windows and the ‘balcony’ was more like a fire exit. You certainly wouldn’t spend any time there. But the room itself was very oldy-worldy and ….. nice. But the thing is we were expecting ‘amazing’. We went to the pool and contemplated what had happened and eventually I went to reception and asked if they had other rooms we could check. They showed us a few rooms including one with a balcony and corner view where you could see the sunrise, look down over the main pool and almost sunset. The room had a totally different feel to our first room, arguably not as nice BUT it was light, had a nice feel and a great balcony. We were happy to move. It still wasn’t ‘amazing’ but fit better for us. After one night there we both woke up with stomach issues which was strange as we’d really enjoyed the food the night before and the restaurant staff were great. So we both took it very easy that day but in the evening we suddenly heard a loud cracking noise and found the large glass shower wall had detached itself from the wall and was balanced perilously. Pretty dangerous. So once again we were forced to move. They showed us a few quite soulless rooms but eventually found a good enough one with a balcony at the front of the building overlooking the garden. Nice but not amazing. At this point I think the only thing they could have done to save us from leaving all a bit disappointed was give us a royal suite but they didn’t bite. The hotel was almost empty but they still didn’t offer a royal suite. After staying 3 nights we checked out having still enjoyed the place but leaving all a bit disappointed. It was stop number 6 on our trip and it is currently our least favourite so far. Likely to be 12th by the end too. On the plus side, the palace itself is impressive. It’s big, it’s grandiose and sits in a beautiful peaceful valley with mountains and nature all around. The staff are great, it’s clean and there’s nice walks around the hills if you’re up for it. But the biggest draw back we found with big hotels is they really don’t care about individual guests. Not like the smaller heritage hotels do. At those places you normally meet the staff, the management and the owners who all care about your stay. At Samode, the staff are great, but don’t think for one moment the management or owners care about you. They’re more interested in huge weddings, film shoots and photo shoots, not individuals. We won’t be back again. The pool at the back of the hotel was a nice place to hang in the daytime and the restaurant food was great. Great staff too. But I wouldn’t advise any of my friends to go there, you are treated much better at the smaller places like Fort Barli or Ranvas where everyone cares about you, the rooms are just as good, if not better and the food too. Having stayed at the sister hotel in Jaipur a few years ago, Samode Haveli, we were returning guests too, but the Samode group won’t get any more of my money from now on. My advice, stay at a smaller place with less rooms. If you’ve already booked and coming soon then check your room, if you’re not happy then insist you see a few other rooms until you find one that best suits your taste, but unless you’ve booked a royal suite (£700 a night) you may just think it’s ‘nice’.

Thanks to Samode Palace, I had the most beautiful, fairytale wedding. It is honestly difficult to put into words how perfect my wedding was. I get emotional just thinking about it. My (now!) husband and I could not have asked for a better setting. The entire event was truly magical for all of us. My husband is American, and many of our guests came from the states. All of them were blown away by the experience at Samode. We took the entire Palace and the Bagh for our wedding. We held events at both the Palace and the Bagh. All of the events were stunning and seamless. The team at Samode knows what they are doing, and they execute everything flawlessly. We genuinely never had to worry about anything. Everyone at Samode bent over backwards to accommodate us. The staff was kind and helpful to all of our guests. Every person was friendly and welcoming. We all felt at ease (and at home) during our entire stay. I am so grateful to everyone at Samode and for the beauty of the Palace and Bagh. Our wedding surpassed my wildest dreams. If you are looking for the perfect wedding destination, look no further than Samode.

Room: entrance room floor of our suite was dirty, but the rest of the room was great. Service: Excellent Breakfast: Friendly staff, made what we wanted. Eg: Dosa Dinner: Food very good, but not exceptional. We ate here two nights. Feel: Exceptional. Fantastic Palace hotel. Retains the historic feel. Durbar Hall breathtaking. Location: 1.5 hours drive from Jaipur city; difficult at night, but well worth the drive. Pool: excellent atmosphere and clean(lower pool). A must stay if visiting Rajasthan.

Our Samode Palace experience did not start off Royally. Unlike the warm welcomes of other high end hotels during our time in India our introduction at the front desk was a cold one. A serious mustached man awkwardly requested our passports promptly followed by US election questioning. Then stating something to the effect of "Lucky you because we are upgrading our room." He then read off of a paper about the typical information of any hotel. We were all extremely put off by this guy. After we were finished dealing with this guy we were pondering leaving and reached out to our agent. *At the front desk later we also had some other issues with the coordination of a photoshoot it was resolved through our agent and who I can assume was the Samode GM. Once settled we saw a staff member in the main courtyard and engaged him to give us a palace tour. This staff member, Sahoo was an absolute delight. With an excitement to him he walked us through the palace explaining history and the utility of the areas. He tried all of his English on us and I tried all of my terrible Hindi on him. For our time there he remained at our call everyday after 2pm when he started work making sure we were being taken care of. I knew I could engage with him if we needed anything! He was a genuinely caring human, this was next level care for us. I wish we could of brought Sahoo along for the rest of our India trip! The restaurant group was also fantastic. I will probably forget a name or 2 and I am sorry but the Food and beverage manager, Sundarban, Subha and Gaju were all incredible. I hope I am not forgetting names! The WHOLE crew at the restaurant was great! We even had a cooking demo that was one of the highlights of my wives and our friends India experience. The second and third night they had a special set-up in an upper area for our dinner. It was beautiful. Sahoo and the dining team really treated us right. We left so impressed and they set the India hospitality bar very high.