Monday 22 September 2014

Siliserh Lake Palace – Does the Government Need to Run Hotels?

Just 15 km from Alwar is a beautiful man-made lake and adjoining the lake is the palace Siliserh Lake Palace. The palace has been taken over by the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) and converted into a hotel by the same name.

Siliserh Lake & Siliserh Lake Palace Hotel, Alwar, Rajasthan

There are no other hotels in and around Siliserh. Assuming that it is a palace that has been converted into a hotel (as is the trend in Rajasthan with so many other properties) I was quite excited when I had booked a room online. The online pictures seemed quite enticing.

The Silserh Palace- surrounded by dense vegetation on one side & lake on the other three sides

When I reached the place I was quite fascinated by the beauty of the place as the lake is surrounded by Aravalli hills – so I thought I had made the right decision. But my first shock was when the room I had booked (a non-AC as it was not summers) had the door almost falling. On top of that inside the room there were at least 15-20 lizards and lots of mosquitoes. When I protested about this they showed me some other rooms which were equally bad with paint chipping and the rooms in itself in a state of disrepair.

Beautiful view of the Silserh Lake from the hotel

Finally I asked for my room to be upgraded to an AC room for which I had to shell out extra money. After moving into the new room as I felt the room to be warm (due to permanently closed windows) I started the AC but within an hour the AC conked off and I had to spend a miserable night in that room. In the morning an electrician came and repaired the wires and assured me that now it will run properly. As the whole day I was out of the hotel I had no inkling of what was in store for me. The next night after starting the AC it kept tripping the whole night spoiling my whole night.

Silserh Lakae Palace Hotel in a state of disrepair

Also as this is a secluded place the hotel is the only place for meals and they do not give you too many options on the menu.

My question is why should a government be in the business of managing (mismanaging?) hotels? Why not ask a private player to run it instead who can market it properly as well as also do the maintenance of this heritage property in a better manner.

The traditional Rajasthani architecture being spoilt by a bad paint job

Also instead of just keeping a few boats and speed boats this place can really be developed into a hub of water sports activity.

Also read stories of places in and around Alwar –

Siliserh Lake near Alwar, Rajasthan
Cenotaph of Bakhtawar Singh of Alwar
Water Tank at City Palace, Alwar
Bala Quila – Alwar’s Way of How Not to Promote Tourism
Jaisamand Lake near Alwar, Rajasthan 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is lovely.

Anil Yadav said...

Thank you ladyfi for liking the post/photos!