The Taj Mahal Palace

Shakeel is the best ever in Agra! A 5-star rating is not enough for the services and recommendations he had made for us. You will never be lost with Shakeel. No problem is difficult to solve with Shakeel. On our first day, we went on a ATM tour, we visited more than four ATMs until we successfully withdrawn, thank God he didn't give up otherwise, we ran out of cash. When you have Shakeel around you will have 3-in-1, a security guard, a driver, and tour guide. One of the best characteristics of Shakeel is that he is always on time. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND HIM! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Communication with the hotel before the stay was pretty disappointing, took 2-3 days to receive a respond to a simple question, and I was even asked which property I was inquiring about when I emailed the hotel direct and they would have my reservation on file if they bothered to look; Leela and Oberoi hotels would reply within the hour. Check in was a bit of a fiasco, to be fair it was handled by a trainee, however the experience was woeful - I had booked through Amex FHR but there was no confirmation of benefits and the receptionist had no idea and did not seem concerned when I asked; waiting in the club lounge to be checked in a waiter asked for my drink order and then never came back with the drink. The entire process (including a room change) took 90 minutes and reminded me of Fawlty Towers. I had respectfully requested a room with a view if available on booking and was assigned one looking at the pool, despite other rooms being available. As the hotel wasn't full I asked if I could have a different room and was allocated one with a partial sea view, which was much appreciated. But the changeover was a fiasco and took far longer than it should have. Both rooms however were nicely furnished. For some reason however they didnt turn on the a/c on the 6th floor common areas, so it was always hot and stuffy. The common areas of the hotel are well maintained and beautiful, there's a heritage tour that offers more on the history of the hotel which is worth joining. A well equipped gym and decent sized albeit crowded pool offers respite from the heat. The lobby was always busy and accessing vehicles was through the tower wing, which is a little annoying to be honest. Breakfast was pretty good, a comprehensive selection as one would expect of a hotel in this price bracket, they even had Alphonso mangoes which were fabulous. The service was friendly and faultless. The food in the club lounge was pretty average but the service, decor and ambiance were great. A light lunch at Aquarius - a woeful salad with tinned peaces, decent lamb and a panna cotta that was more a mousse was disappointing and expensive for what it was. Dinner at Golden Dragon was a surprise. Mumbai has tens of thousands of well traveled HNWI with money to burn and the restaurant was priced accordingly, with a swag of awards to its name. The food however was an unpleasant shock. Kudos to the restaurant manager for service recovery however, maybe it was just my palate and expectations, the restaurant was pretty full and the euro gent sitting at the next table said he liked his meal but he "was no expert". In spite of the disappointing food however I would not hesitate to stay here again, the property is beautiful and the service staff really do make the effort. The location is great and the rooms and bed are very comfortable. I would however hesitate to eat at the property. My Amex FHR rate was double the lowest available rate (I think Taj discounts rooms last minute if they remain unsold) however and I would recommend not paying more for FHR benefits as it is not worth it at this property.

First of all, I get it, the place is old. Really old. But just like my Granny, age alone doesn’t make you legendary. Actually, that’s a bad analogy. Granny is legendary, but not because she’s old. She’s just amazing. This place? Not so much. Everyone insisted that if I ever found myself in Mumbai, I had to stay here. So I did. And well... I did. Yes, the staff are polite enough. Yes, the location is great. But beyond that? It’s just tired. Not “charming vintage” tired, more “1970s safari suit found at the back of your uncle’s wardrobe” tired. I stayed in the fancy club rooms, and even those need a full refurb. They’re bang average. Don’t even get me started on the bathrooms, borderline unusable if you’re staying as a couple. The Taj Club was a rare highlight, free drinks, afternoon tea, and genuinely excellent service. Shame the rest of the hotel can’t keep up. Some lowlights: The Tower: The adjoining tower feels like a glorified Indian Holiday Inn. It draws a more "mainstream" crowd, crowd being the operative word. At least they’re not allowed in the main pool. Weddings Galore: Indians love weddings. Indians really love weddings at this hotel. Which means constant crowds and noise at all hours. So much for five-star serenity. Overpriced Mediocrity: The food is decent compared to street options, but hardly gourmet. We tried “Wasabi”, a Japanese tasting menu, and the wine for four came to around £600, which would be fine if it were excellent, but it wasn’t. I’ve had better sushi in Manchester, served with chips. They called it “fusion” with a straight face. Gotta love them Mancs. The Guests: A surreal mix of entitled Indian tourists and British middle managers living out some “Last Days of the Raj” fantasy. Equally unbearable. The upside? Great location. Friendly staff. Very slick airport car service. Verdict: Perfectly functional, but it won’t be cracking my top twenty hotels anytime soon. Or ever.

Well what can I say about the Taj ?? From entering the Taj you are made to feel like a member of a family and not a guest, the check in procedure is seamless with the added touch of going into a lounge for a drink whilst members of staff come back and forth to complete your check in, the room we had was beautiful. We dined in the restaurants and they were fantastic, but the pool restaurant stood out for me for the simple reason that staff would, like other areas of the hotel go above and beyond for you and also my favourite drink was served there all day - Falouda !!! We took our very own electric carriage which we booked with staff and had a great sight seeing tour around Mumbai with a driver who gave us a lot of information and took photos of us at each stopping point. Personal thank you to front of house host Deepy who went that bit further with myself and my wife, on check in she gave us the traditional welcome with a gift and pray for us and check out she was so nice to my wife and gave her a scarf that it made her cry with happiness. Bhoomi & Khevna were the looking after us in the lounge when we arrived for our seamless check in and gave us a great start to our stay.

Yet another wonderful stay where memories have been created. It was lovely to see our butler Adrian again, who has become a close friend of ours. The attentive care to celebrating my wife’s 50th birthday was much appreciated. The hotel is just wonderful. Some things to note in the Club lounge though. Please do restrict and police calls and video calls. Several guests were openly speaking on loud speaker phone, this disturbed the ambience of the lounge and even lead to a serious verbal altercation one evening between two guests. Staff need to step in much earlier to close these calls down.