Pristine Hotel

I stayed here for a day and the experience was horrendous. Customer service is something alien to the team in this hotel. All Receptionists(Pankaj in particular) are unwelcoming, indifferent and rude. Please look at the face while talking. That’s basic courtesy to any human being. I was told restaurant is in ground floor but no one came to take the order. I went to the room and called room service to be told that restaurant was in first floor but when I went to the restaurant at 8:30pm there was no food nor were there any waiters. I Had to go down to reception again to check. Again was illtreated by an indifferent receptionist who told me bluntly“you need to wait”. I had to go to temple early in the morning and hot water was not available. Called the service number to be told “you should inform us early”. I read many comments about poor customer service for this hotel while writing this review. Considering they haven’t changed despite so many feedback for poor service… they must think of customers as a doormat

In short: this hotel is a joke. Don’t bother staying here as I’m sure this place is going to go bankrupt soon. Long version: I carefully selected to stay here for my visit to Varanasi based off the reviews and the cleanliness. I’m American and it’s unfortunately quite difficult to find hotels in India where hygiene actually matters. However, there was NO POWER when my mother and I arrived. The staff was a mess and gave us THREE different stories, one person said A/C would be fixed that same night, another person said the next day, and a third person said it had been gone for several days and they have no actual idea when it could possibly be repaired. We were furious and asked why nobody alerted us ahead of time so that we could’ve cancelled our booking and stayed elsewhere! The lady at the front desk was one of the worst, constantly smiling in a patronizing manner when I asked serious questions, instead of answering me. And don’t get me started on Vikranth, the supposed manager of this dump. Every time I spoke to him in English, he spoke back to me in Hindi. I can’t count how many times I had to say that I don’t speak Hindi, I’m from America!!! I’m not sure why these people bother to work in hospitality in the first place if they can’t even speak English. Also, he was incredibly misogynistic and rude, telling us to get out at 9pm at NIGHT. How are TWO WOMEN supposed to suddenly leave at night? And go where?!?! Especially when we already FULLY PAID ahead of time and he wouldn’t issue us a refund!! We had to stay here for two nights in misery because other hotels of our liking were fully booked, plus the incompetent staff kept assuring us that the A/C would be fixed within a few hours. The funny part is, my mom and I changed hotels and stayed in Varanasi for a week, but I called and inquired out of curiosity, and apparently the A/C STILL wasn’t fixed after a full week! Rumor is that this hotel is going bankrupt and they simply don’t have the funds to repair something as necessary as an A/C unit. Absolutely ridiculous. Please don’t bother staying here unless you like living in a sauna with zero help. The only good people in this entire hotel were the restaurant server and manager. Everyone else was useless!

From the moment we arrived at Pristine Hotel Varanasi we were greeted by a very warm and friendly welcome from the staff. We arrived after 10:30pm but the staff were ready for us and even kept the kitchen open an extra 30 minutes to serve us delicious vegetarian food to our room, organised by the head of food and beverage, who personally greeted up and the reception manager/captain (tall, broad shouldered man at the front desk). From that moment the experience got better and better with the staff making us feel appreciated and welcome every step of the way, from the security at the main entrance who greet you with their hands pressed together in a prayer pose and the gentle murmurings of “namaste”, to the amazing breakfast staff who go out of their way to offer you hot food fresh from the kitchen, coffee and a selection of treats from the breakfast buffet. A special mention for breakfast manager/captain SANDEEP and his steward JITENDRA who have really made breakfast special and made us feel so well looked after. I read a previous review complaining about the breakfast experience and I insist that you ignore that review when booking your stay because I can assure you it isn’t true and in hindsight I wish I booked our stay with breakfast, instead I let that review effect my decision and we are paying for it separately which is only £5 per person but maybe cheaper if you book breakfast with your stay. Finally the room attendants; HEMCHDAR and INDRESH, do an incredible job, they work really hard and make sure the room is finished to perfection everyday just like it was on our arrival. To be honest, we have stayed in many hotels, ashrams and home stays across India and Nepal but I can honestly say that for my wife and I this has been BY FAR the best experience. I cannot recommend Pristine Hotel enough. It truly is everything we hoped for and finally, just to mention, the location of the hotel is away from the madness of the ghats and after several weeks in India it’s nice to be away from things, although it’s only a 20/25 min ride which costs 150-200 rupees. Thank you hotel Pristine, it’s been a pleasure staying with you!