This Review of The Lodhi in New Delhi, India is from our recent site inspection visit, which also included Amanbagh in Rajasthan and the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur. The Lodhi originally opened as the Aman New Delhi, in 2009, but in 2013, when the real estate firm DLF sold Aman Resorts back to Aman's founder, Adrian Zecha, it retained the hotel but changed the name back to its former name, The Lodhi, to avoid paying the significant fees that keeping it branded as an Aman would have entailed.
The Lodhi, New Delhi Location and Check-In
The Lodhi is located on Lodhi Road near the Lodhi Gardens in a residential area in central New Delhi, about 12 miles from New Delhi Airport. If there's minimal traffic, it could take just ~20 minutes between the airport and the hotel, but if there's significant traffic, I'd allow close to an hour, which is what it took us when we arrived during the evening rush hour.
We were checked in quite quickly and soon on our way to the 6th floor, where we were in a Standard Room.
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- Complimentary 50 minute massage for 2 persons, once during stay
- Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
Here's my The Lodhi Video Review:
Signature Terrace Room
I highly recommend avoiding a Standard Room, especially an accessible room (the room we were originally in–see the above video) and reserving a Signature Terrace Room or higher category room or suite.
Signature Terrace Rooms are akin to Junior Suites, with a spacious open plan design that includes a four poster bed and seating area with a sofa facing a 65 inch TV and Bose speakers. The full length windows overlook the lawns and let in good natural light.
I liked the bouquet of fresh red roses on the coffee table, as well as the smaller bouquet on the nightstand, by the bed.
The bathroom was more colorful than the Standard Room, tiled in mint green. On the left was closet space, and across from it, a rain shower, while the center of the bathroom was given over to a large soaking tub.
On the right was the sink (oddly, given all the other thoughtful finishes, there was only one sink, not double sinks) and across from it, a separate toilet chamber with a Japanese Toto toilet.
The Lodhi Breakfast
Breakfast at The Lodhi is served in the hotel's Elan Restaurant, on the ground floor, from 7am. Continental breakfast for two is complimentary as a Virtuoso benefit, and includes fresh juice, seasonal fruit, pastries and tea or coffee.
Indian Accent Restaurant
I highly recommend reserving Indian Accent for dinner, or stopping by for lunch–it's easily some of the best Indian cuisine we've enjoyed, together with our favorite dishes from Amanbagh. See my Indian Accent Review.
Swimming Pool and Fitness
A great reason to stay at The Lodhi is its Health Club, which includes a 50 meter outdoor lap pool (heated in winter), three tennis courts, two air conditioned squash courts, a fitness center with Technogym equipment, Pilates Studio, and Spa with 8 treatment rooms for massages and other treatments. The men's and women's changing rooms each have their own hammam and plunge pools.
The Verdict
We liked but didn't love The Lodhi. Some of this undoubtedly had to do with the fact that, although we'd arranged our site inspection stay 10 months in advance, just a few weeks before arrival we were told that we couldn't stay during our date due to a wedding that was taking over the hotel. I pushed back on this, and was grudgingly accommodated, but it was no surprise when it turned out we were in a decidedly unimpressive standard room that was accessible, for wheelchair bound guests.
To be fair, given our evening flight the next day and due to the fact that our son wasn't feeling well, the hotel did eventually move us to a much better Signature Terrace Room, which had a normal bathroom, including a Toto toilet and rain shower, which our standard accessible room had not had. Unfortunately our room key didn't work, despite 3 attempts to reprogram it, so we had to have hotel staff open the door for us each time we went out and returned to the room, an annoyance.
The Lodhi's Health Club is extensive for a city center hotel, and had our son been feeling better, he and my husband would have greatly enjoyed playing squash in one of the squash courts, or perhaps tennis.
By far the highlight of our stay was our dinner and lunch at Indian Accent Restaurant, which is next to the hotel but not owned by it. We enjoyed it so much we look forward to trying Indian Accent in New York.
If you've recently stayed at The Lodhi in New Delhi (ideally not when it's in a sold out situation due to a wedding or other event) what was your experience?
Recommended Posts
Amanbagh Menus and Dining Review
Amanbagh Review, Rajasthan, India
Review: The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur
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