Guest User
October 23, 2022
We stayed at this hotel as a part of a college reunion. I was accompanied by my wife. We were in a group of 43 on a full board basis and our group were assigned 23 rooms all over the hotel. At first glance the hotel and it’s setting is idyllic, with beautiful manicured gardens and flowers surrounded by spectacular mountains and valleys. There are two kinds of accommodations at this hotel. Most of the rooms are in the main building on two floors, ground and above that. In addition, they have four or five chalets that are separate from the main building. We were initially given a room on the ground floor, on the right side of the main building. However, when we got to it, not only did it have dirty used dishes of someone’s lunch, but the room was dark due to dark floor tiles. But most importantly, there was a strong smell of feces coming from the bathroom that had wafted into the entire room. We immediately complained and after a bit of reluctance on the reception’s part, we were given another room on the extreme left of the main building, still on the ground floor. This room had been built recently and was cheerful and bright. But there was the same smell of feces coming from the bathroom. On closer investigation, I noticed a brown fluid in the commode, and I realized that the toilet had been used but not flushed. Flushing took care of that and the smell became less. Since we were tired and not looking for another show down with the reception staff, we opted to stay here. When we returned from dinner, the toilet bowl again had the brown water. That’s when we realized that there is a plumbing defect so that fecal material backs up from the sewer about 15 minutes after it is flushed. That explained the foul smell in the bathroom! At breakfast the next morning, we realized that all our friends who had rooms on the ground floor had the same problem. But none of the rooms on the upper level, or those in the chalets had that problem. Basically, the toilets on the ground floor have poor plumbing that allows sewer water to back up. Also, the bathrooms are poorly designed so that the shower water flowed across the entire length of the bathroom to a drain at the other end. Therefore, the bathroom floor was always wet with soapy water. The only thing good about the bathroom was that they had ample hot water in the mornings, though only luke warm water in the evenings. Other than the bathrooms, the rest of the hotel was as perfect as any hotel in a mountainous area in Pakistan could be. The sheets and comforters were reasonably clean. The towels were not threadbare. And our room had a large verandah that was not boxed in by glass panels so that we had a wonderful view of the mountains and valley. We did not have wifi in our room. The hotel served excellent food. We got good weather so that they served breakfast and lunch in the garden surrounded by flowers, glorious sunshine and a spectacular view. Dinner was in the dining room as it got rather