Even from an Ibis hotel, you can expect more.
When we return from our trip to the Taj Mahal, we book the Ibis for our last night in Jaipur. We arrive at the end of the day and leave for the airport in the morning, so we only need a place to sleep.
Ibis Civil Lines
We booked the Ibis because with a hotel chain – in this case All Accor – you can expect a certain standard. Now I know Ibis is a budget brand and you shouldn’t have high expectations here, but the value for money of this hotel was poor. For instance, I think you should at least expect a hotel to be clean, but it was not.
Membership benefits All Accor
We currently have silver status with ALL Accor. With this, you get priority check-in – priority check in, late check-out and a welcome drink. Of course, the real fun starts with room upgrades and free breakfast, but the benefits that come with Silver status are also nice to have.
Room Ibis Jaipur Civil Lines
The room at the Ibis in Jaipur is small. It is hard to describe how small the room is, so I hope the photos make more sense.
Because there is very little space, everything is fairly crammed together and you feel like you bump into everything when you want to walk past the bed. On top of that, the Ibis – at least our room – is not in the best condition. Skirting boards are loose, there are cracks in the floor and white surfaces have turned yellow.
In this respect, the bathroom is the worst part. It is small and feels like a caravan shower cubicle. If you want to go to the toilet, you have to stand with one foot in the shower cubicle and the toilet roll hangs under the sink, because otherwise there is not enough space. It is a plastic cabin inside the bedroom with a fake wood-look floor. Camping in a hotel room may sound cute, but it is not.
Advantages
- The Spice it up restaurant is attached to the Ibis.
We checked in around dinner time and since we couldn’t use a credit card or debit card, we had to eat at the hotel.
For €10 per personf, you can use the buffet. Although expensive by Indian standards, I had a nice meal - The Ibis’ lobby is relaxed, hip and offers plenty of space to sit
- Swimming pool, roof terrace and gym available
Cons
- It is not clean (hair, dust and dirt on the floor, stains on the floor and the cups for coffee and tea are also dirty
- No extra towel or bath mat, which means you have to dry your feet and then step on a wet floor.
- The bathroom is a glorified caravan style cabin.
- Ibis offers its members a free welcome drink, but there was actually nowhere to choose from. The bar has no options for this benefit.
- Do not order lassi here. Surprisingly they cannot make it properly. We have drunk the requisite lassi by now and this one was really not good.
Cost Ibis Jaipur Civil Lines
We pay €80 for an overnight stay (November 2023). This includes the buffet for two people. So the room itself costs 60 euros per night. This does not seem expensive, but I think there are better hotels to be had in this segment in Jaipur.
Location Ibis Jaipur Civil Lines
The Ibis is slightly outside the city centre (compared to, say, the Fairfield, where we stayed the first few nights). Although we could not pay by debit card and were thus tied to the hotel, there are also few restaurants around here.
The advantage of this location is that you are close to the airport. This is about half an hour away.
Ibis Jaipur Civil Lines breakfast
As we were allowed into the airport lounge before our flight, we did not have breakfast at the Ibis, but it should be said that the breakfast looks fine.
Since the dinner buffet is also served here, I suspect it comes from the same kitchen and it was fine during the evening buffet. Breakfast is very busy though, but I’m not surprised by that anymore in India.
Remote working Jaipur
The hotel has a nice lobby and reasonable internet. Personally, I found it a bit too chaotic to work there, but if you have good noise cancelling headphones you can open your laptop here just fine.
The lobby does not lend itself to a few hours of intense or focused work.
