Five urban refuges for the inspired business traveller
Travelling on work? Are you planning to stay at the same anonymous 100-room multi-national hotel in the central business district?
Change the way you travel for work. Change to a more personal, low-impact place to stay with a smaller energy footprint. Make the right choice – a place that employs locally and gives you the inside scoop on the city you are visiting.
Enjoy our travel writers’ pick of their five favourite urban refuges:
1. Janice Pariat picks Amarya Haveli in New Delhi
Amarya Haveli is a peaceful 6-room sanctuary located in Hauz Khas, a quiet South Delhi neighbourhood known for its chic market complex within 13th-century ruins and a sprawling park. The airport is 15kms away and the hotel offers transfers at an extra charge. Ideal for couples and single business travellers.
Why Stay Here! Eco-friendly – no plastics, all natural materials; 100% cotton linen and towels; water and energy conservation measures; locally sourced food; local employment; and gorgeously restored salvaged antique furniture; cooking classes.
What’s Hot! The beautifully-done up terrace reminiscent of rooftop restaurants in hill-stations such as McLeodganj, albeit this is a fancier version, with strings of fairy lights, cane furniture and twinkling oil lamps placed along the terrace walls.
Prices start from Rs 6,100 per single room per night with breakfast and Wi-Fi.
Read more and make a booking
2. Iftekar Ahsan picks Fairlawn in Kolkata
Live in this beautiful 18th century house, full of character and experience the old-world charm of Calcutta located in the heart of the city. Artists, sculptors, actors and writers from all around the world have stayed here to make use of its unique atmosphere – Gunther Grass, Sting, Julie Christie and Tom Stoppard….and so can you!
Why Stay Here! The upkeep of this ancient building in the centre of a chaotic city like Calcutta is in itself a feat worth applauding. The house has been restored and looked after keeping its exact original structure intact. Lush environs won it the Green Hoteliers Award. Employs backward community people from Orissa and West Bengal.
What’s Hot! An absolutely lived-in feel, where you pay for a hotel and walk into a home.
Prices start from Rs1,500 per single room per night with breakfast.
Read more and make a booking
3. Indu Balachandran picks Villa Pottipatti in Bangalore
Villa Pottipatti is a ‘non-hotel’ hotel - a charming picturesque heritage building that transports you back in time to British Raj in Bangalore, one of the busiest business cities in India. The hurried work traveller will find this such a ‘different’ place to return to, every evening. A small conference room allows such guests to call business partners over for a meeting.
Why Stay Here! Solar heating, CFL bulbs, waste water recycling, and 100% cotton towels and linen. In addition, there are organic fruit orchards whose produce comes to the breakfast table. A truly exceptional piece of preserved architecture and history in the middle of a city that is fast losing its identity.
What’s Hot! Swimming in the house’s own private pool after a hard days of meetings, and then slipping into soft linen sheets on a charming ‘old-world’ four-poster bed.
Prices start from Rs 3,500 per single room per night.
Read more and make a booking
4. David Stott picks Footprint Bed & Breakfast in Chennai
Stay in this fairly anonymous looking urban apartment block, where three flats have been hollowed out to create nine very private and peaceful rooms that are cool, bright, and effortlessly stylish. It’s centrally located not more than 20 minutes from the airport or stations and is located in the upmarket South Central locality of Chamiers Road.
Why Stay Here! CFL bulbs, fair-trade handmade soaps, bulk toiletries, local employment, local cuisine, local art and craft from artisans in Auroville, 100% linen and cotton towels; energy and water conservation measures.
What’s Hot! A place that’s more homely than a hotel, more private than a homestay, and more stylish than a guest house.
Prices start from Rs 3,000 per single room per night with breakfast and Wi-Fi.
Read more and make a booking
5. Simrit Malhi picks Raintree Lodge in Cochin
Friendly guesthouse with 5 comfortable rooms tucked away in an 18th century Dutch building in atmospheric Fort Cochin, the gateway to Kerala. This is an unpretentious restored 18th century Dutch house with spacious, spotlessly clean rooms.
Why Stay Here! Edgar, the owner, prides himself on employing only local people, and offers his guests the services of local tour operators and local guides to show the real Cochin. This is a small hotel with a small footprint, offering an authentic experience of Fort Cochin at great value.
What’s Hot! The quiet and calm – considering the location in the heart of Fort Cochin, and the bonus use of the gorgeous pool at the Old Harbour Hotel.
Prices start from Rs 2,300 per single room per night.
Read more and make a booking
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