Love Dale Villa, Lonavala - Experience of staying in a Bungalow

We are three families, total of 14 people which included 2 teenagers, 3 kids and 3 senior citizens. So, basis this background our requirement was a Bungalow or a stand alone house with minimum 4 bedrooms. Since it is summer, we required ACs on all the bedrooms.

Keeping the above requirements in mind we searched in Booking.com for a place to stay at Lonavala, Maharashtra. After doing an extensive search, looking at the budget and the amenities, we zeroed down to this Bungalow. This whole process was done through Booking.com. Before booking, since there was no contact information, we had to completely rely on the information displayed on the website.

Post booking the Bungalow, I got a call from the Manager stating that we need to pay the 50% advance within 24 hrs to book it. So accordingly I transferred it immediately.

Before transferring the amount I checked with the Manager about the rooms. The first shock came when he mentioned that out of 5 bedrooms only 4 bedrooms have AC. Then he mentioned that other bedrooms are quite big and they will provide additional futons for people to sleep. When I reviewed the situation and found that we can accomodate this, I said fine. Then another shock came when he said that there is no swimming pool. When I pointed out that in the Booking.com website it is shown as a part of this property, the manager said the charges are separate for the usage of the swimming pool. Again we compromised to this and continued towards booking this place.

Then we asked for the food arrangments since nothing was free in the given amount he said that there is common kitchen from which they will provide food for additional cost. Post negotiations we came to a common figure and closed this deal as well.

When we reached the Bungalow, we were in more shocks. We found 3 ladies working in the Kitchen, 2 kids running around. Meanwhile, while we were searching for the location, the owner was continuously pestering me with messages to give the advance payment. I requested him to wait for some time, once we reach the place we will pay and accordingly as soon as we reached we paid the manager cash with the agreed amount.

Then further shocks were in store for us. We found out that only 4 bedrooms are available for us which includes 1 without AC. The fifth bedroom was locked by the Owner. We had to literally follow up continously with the manager for unlocking the bedroom while he giving all sorts of excuses. Also, when we complained about the A/C not working in the third bedroom, instead of apologising, the house owner, on the phone, threatened that we are free to vacate the house and go wherever we want.

The lunch was served with some thin plastic coated paper which we could not hold in our hands. However, we saw lot of good plates kept in the showcase of the living room. When we enquired about it he said that it is owner's property and we are not supposed to touch it.

Again same thing happened during the dinner. We had eat all our food in thin, throwable paper plates.

Next day, we lost our patience and we could not tolerate it anymore, we protested about the plates and cups. Post a verbal altercation he reluctantly opened the storerooom and provided us decent utensils.

Afternoon we had gone out to explore Karla caves and post that we came and rested till evening.

In the evening as we were planning to start our party, I found that 1 beer bottle out 2 bottles kept in the fridge was missing. I thought maybe I had calculated wrongly so ignored it. Then the next thing to my horror, a full bottle of whisky went missing. I had kept it in the living room table and the bottle was more than half full. This just tipped our patience.

When I confronted the main lady cook she just ignored me. At that time one of the assistant cook, an old lady, told us that the main cook drank the whisky. This was the ultimate shocker to us. We also found out that this cook was the wife of the manager.

We called the manager. He came later and told us that she has some medical problems and it has relapsed. We just told her that we don't want this lady in our house. He said that he will make arrangements to take her back to the hospital.

In the late night this lady cook did lot of tamasha, She was trying to get away while one lady was trying to stop her. Finally the husband arrived in a car and took her away, god knows which place.

The whole incident left us with a feeling of fear, aprehension, bitter taste and mistrust towards the owner, the manager and the Booking.com organisation.

I would advise everyone whoever books this bungalow to be very cautious and check properly before doing this booking. The owner and care taker seemed only interested in the money and were least bothered about customers comfort. Please stay away from this property if you want a peaceful and enjoyable holiday.

This is the link to the place:
https://www.booking.com/hotel/in/love-dale-villq.en-gb.html