Jan 10, 2009 09:38 PM
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We had decided to take a trip to dapoli and mahabaleshwar with our friends from the 1st to the 4th jan 2009. there were 4 families in all. we made bookings in advance: 4 bedroom bungalows in both places. we decided to visit dapoli first and then go on to mahabaleshwar.
when we were booking for mahabaleshwar, we chose SAI VILLA . the owner of the bungalow assured us that dapoli is a small place and we would leave from there within one day as we'd get too bored and all that. he said his bungalow was beautiful with a lawn for the children to play in and all kinds of facilities. he said he would book Sai Villa for us for the 3rd(check out on 4th) and so we proceeded on our trip.
dapoli was a wonderful experience. contrary to what the sai villa owner said, we didnt want to leave from there. anyhow, since we had made this m'shwar booking, we started for it on the 3rd. enroute to m'shwar this man called us twice to ensure we were coming. he had been calling us from the day we had booked his bungalow. when we reached the bungalow, we were informed by the caretaker there that: sir has said that the previous guests have not yet left so we cannot stay in sai villa! we were stunned. this person was calling us repeatedly and asking if we were coming, and here when we reached, we were told we could not check in as it was already occuppied.
after a bit of stern persuation the caretaker agreed to call the pune based owner(cells had no network where we were) and they gave us a bungalow 5 OAKS opposite sai villa this bungalow looked like it was still not completed, there was no grass planted in the lawn, and the stairway to the upper floor was only iron railing with no bannister and gaps between the stairs for our 4 & 5 year olds to fall through.
the worst part was the caretaker of 5 oaks. he had to be the unhappiest man when he came to know he had to recieve unannounced guests. he would refuse to help with anything be it arranging for omelette breakfasts, providing the maid with a mattress to sleep on, providing one room with a fresh bedsheet when the kids had soiled the one already spread and so forth. he would ask us to pay for whatever we asked him to do. maid's mattress: 100/-, change of bedsheet: no permission from owner, we had to buy our own eggs and give him and then he comes and tells us madam did not give me any money for onions, it costs 25/- per kg and so I cannot make eggs. we told him, put half the onions you were using in the kanda poha into the omelette. so we got kanda poha minus the kanda! oh and he also wanted to charge us for tea@ 10/- per cup! all this after paying up all the money for the bungalow.
5 oaks has nice interiors and a nice location but the caretaker is so bad we felt we were freeloaders instead of paying customers. and if youever want to go to sai villa, please put in 2 bookings: one in sai villa, and one elsewhere or even you may be stranded like we were.
