Banjara Camps runs a few retreats in Himachal and also organizes trips to a number of places from Ladakh to Arunachal through their associates. They are more in eco tours and adventure tours and do not claim to guarantee the best comfort in their tours. I am fine with that - I get to read some good books at Banjara resorts and not see a TV. Anyway, having traveled through them for 2 years all I can say is: expect the unexpected.
They do excellent and meticulous planning. Their price is reasonable - a bit on the expensive side but I wouldn’t mind paying that extra to have a hassle-free holiday in remote places of the Himalayas.
The drivers they arrange are some of the best drivers I have seen on mountain roads. Hats off to the two drivers I had - Jeevanjeet and Tashi. Food at their Sangla resort is probably the most exotic anyone can offer in such a remote place but then sometimes all that we need in such a trip is hot simple, home-style food.
Some of their managers at some resorts are very caring (we had great experience in Banjara retreats in Sojha and Thanedar) whereas some of the other representatives are not so. I had the experience of landing up at a camp (at Pangong Tso, Ladakh) after 4 hours of strenuous drive to see thate the camp had been shut down for quite some time. None from Banjara had bothered to keep themselves updated or keep me updated.
I could not enjoy the beauty of the place and we (my child included) had to return to the base at Leh late in the day with a higher risk as I had no alternate option to stay at Pangong. Of course I did receive a formal apology from Banjara representative on e-mail after a week. :-(
But, again, we had Dr. CP Dorjey at Leh who went out of the way to take us to his home for a dinner and exposure to Ladakhi household. The hospitality was completely unexpected and it was a very pleasant experience.
Banjara can also look at educating their staff more on local history, geography or culture as many of them do not seem to meet the basic curiosities of the traveler - like, "what’s name of that mountain"or "how old is this structure". I don’t need a scholar but I definitely need a person who has basic knowledge of the place and willing to explain - I am not traveling to just click photographs.
Yes, they can organize a safe trip for you to remote places in the Himalayas at reasonable cost - but don’t expect everything to go like clock-work and in case you are stuck, be prepared to manage things with the help of the drivers - the drivers seem to be the most reliable people from Banjara. Expect the unexpected - that’s Banjara Camps for me.