My wife and I stayed for 2 nights at the Mt. Narsing Resort in the month of July 2006. Having spent 2 days in Gangtok, we had planned to spend rest of our Sikkim's stay at Ravangla. We were excited to know that it was a small resort with just 8-9 rooms on a hill top away from the hustle bustle of a town like Gangtok. The resort remained empty during July due to off season and we were told that we would get personal attention. We paid for 2 nights stay in a super luxury room (the best ones they have) and 2 days of sight-seeing in a personal vehicle.
The resort was indeed in a beautiful location and the rooms were spacious. But the bathrooms were small and lacked the basic supplies such as soaps, buckets, napkins etc. We were the only customers in the small resort, yet the staff lacked interest in serving us and fulfilling even the basic expectations. Right from the owner to the manager and the cab driver, apathy towards customers was evident.
We had paid money in advance to later realize that our sightseeing was planned very badly. We did not understand the map very well and so trusted the owner, Mr. Karma, who displayed enthusiasm before getting paid. But after receiving money, Mr. Karma sent us to those places on day 1 which were enroute to railway station of New Jalpaiguri (NJP). In our deal we were getting a drop at NJP station after half-day sightseeing on day 2. By visiting the places enroute to NJP station on day 1, we could not visit the attractions on day 2 because it was not possible to reach NJP after visiting an attraction in the opposite direction. Mr. karma saved good money planning our trip in this fashion because a day's travel in Sikkim could cost as much as or more than a 3-starred hotel room's rent.
The food and the service, just like travel, turned out to be equally pathetic. Mt. Narsing Resort serves home-style cooked food, which is supposed to be more palatable as compared to the rich food at hotels. But they used cheap ingredients such as chicken cartilages mixed with chicken meat and potatoes to save cost in all the meals. In addition to this, they were not thoughtful enough to provide the basic facilities in the room and even upon request they hesitated. Before leaving we discussed the matter with the manager of the resort (the owner did not stay at the resort) and found him disinterested in the issues we raised.
Our experience at small resorts at tourist attractions like Coorg (Karnataka) was great because people showed enthusiasm in keeping their guests comfortable. In this trip, we could not believe Mt. Narsing Resort could cut our pie in almost half while trying to cut corners. Ultimately, our recommendation would be to stay away from the resort.
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.
