Hotel Omasila Padum – Painfully Bad Experience

In all my years of traveling, I have stayed at numerous hotels. Some were good and some were not that good. But only a handful of hotels were so painfully bad that the time spent there got etched in the memory. My stay at Hotel Omasila in Padum was one such bad experience.

In all honesty, before I mention the details, let me first admit that the hotel was undergoing renovation when I arrived here. So a lot of what I went through was because of the ongoing work.

But even that was actually the hotel’s mistake. Even if I am to forget the inconvenience caused by the ongoing renovation, it does not account for the poor level of service that we were provided.

Why accept guests in a hotel that is half-ready, ignore their requests, and still charge them much as a luxurious hotel would? Read on to find out more.

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Hotels in Padum

I had been to Padum before a few times. This wasn’t my first time there. But during those trips, we either ended up staying at homestays in the nearby villages or budget guest houses.

This time, however, I was looking for a good hotel because my friend was a little picky about it. So I googled for good luxury hotels in Padum and that is how I found Omasila.

The building from the outside looked pretty and like a grand hotel. I contacted them and they quoted Rs. 4500 per day, meals included. By the prices as well, they sounded like a high-end hotel.

I was able to negotiate this price down to Rs. 3500 and booked a room for 2 days.

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Hotel Omasila

When we finally arrived at the hotel a couple of weeks later, I could not believe what I was seeing. The hotel was a complete disaster and looked nothing like the pictures posted on the web.

There was renovation work going on and I could not believe they kept the hotel for guests in such a condition. But I guess greed knows no bounds. Below is a breakdown of what we got for Rs. 3500 per day.

The rooms were dusty, shabby, and freshly lime-washed. There was lime paint on almost everything and the smell was overwhelming.

There was one old bed in the room and that too was highly uncomfortable. Other than that, there was just one old broken cupboard, covered in paint.

All our luggage, bags and everything had to be kept on the ground because there was no other furniture.

The washroom was bad, really bad. The toilet seat was broken. There were large windows in the washroom opening in the backyard of the hotel.

In the name of the curtains, the windows were hardly covered by old dirty clothes. If one was to walk in the backyard, the person will get a clear view of inside the washroom.

The hotel was a huge safety Risk. Because of the renovation work, there were nails all over the hotels, scattered on the ground. Broken wood pieces were everywhere and we had to watch every step that we took.

Live electric wires were lying around on the ground. Imagine if you arrived here with a child.

The hotel is also located on the outskirts of Padum. So if you were staying here, you will have to drive about 3-4 kilometers to get to the main market area.

Service

For the renovation work, the owner was using the hotel staff itself. So there was absolutely no one to attend to the guests. There was no phone in the room and even for a glass of water, we had to walk around the hotel looking for someone to ask.

The food was bad, and I mean really bad. For a price that high, we were served poorly cooked daal chawal, half-baked rotis, and a sabzi that had no taste at all.

The owner was nowhere to be seen of course. The guy in charge had no idea how to take care of the guests. On our second day, he started arguing me with over the payment that I had already made online.

He went to the extent of being rude until the owner called him to confirm that the payment was already received.

As I said, all this could be because of the ongoing renovation but then my question is, why open a hotel that is not even close to being ready for guests?

Why charge someone so high for shabby rooms? You should not accept guests until you are ready. Why deceive someone? Why make someone suffer for 2 days just because of your own greed?

Hotel Omasila – Conclusion

My final verdict is that this is one hotel in Padum that you must avoid at all costs. There are a lot of other hotels and you should find another one, that is worth the money spent. The owner needs to take some lessons in hotel management and catering to the guests.

After completing the renovation, they may start to look good like a fancy hotel but the fact that they wouldn’t mind deceiving guests, being rude to them, and providing bad service still remain.

I hope the pictures and information on Hotel Omasila in Padum were of help.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section below. You can also follow me on Instagram to chat with me live or subscribe to my YouTube channel and ask a question there.