Due to a holiday voucher from The Mobile Store, we landed up at the Sterling Fernhill resort in Ooty. The route was well marked out with signboards from Fernhill Palace.
Check-in was a breeze too. We got our room keys and were guided to our room within 5 minutes of arrival. The room was of a decent size, though a bit old. I opened the curtains and the view was breathtaking! Things seemed to be going good.
And from then on, everything went downhill. The pot was not cleaned; it took 20 minutes with a reminder call to get housekeeping to clean it. This, after a 7 hour road trip and on a hungry stomach.
Front desk had no clue about directions to sightseeing locations! Come on, this is a hill station where tourists are among the largest contributors to the local economy. You can’t refer everything to the travel desk. The travel desk guy was mainly interested in getting us a taxi, awfully expensive one at that, though we told him we have our own vehicle to commute.
The greatest adventure happened when at 11:15pm, deep in sleep, we heard a huge rattling sound on the floor. The convection heater had fallen and was making a huge din. I scrambled around in the dark wondering what to do. I switched off the Mains but the heater wouldn’t stop. Finally, with some courage, I managed to turn the heater’s switch off. I then called Front Desk (Room Service and Housekeeping didn’t respond) and explained the situation. They said someone would be at our door shortly.
11:30 - No response. Reminder call made.
11:45 - No response yet. Reminder call and I was promised someone would be there in 5 minutes.
00:05 - No response yet. Reminder call, with lesser temper than earlier.
00:10 - Help finally arrives!! The heater got replaced by 00:20.
Excellent service I must say! I was wondering if someone called them reporting a fire, would they react in less than an hour? This midnight adventure delayed our journey Regarding other aspects, food was passable. Breakfast was best - great dosas. Lunch was ok. Dinner was too slow in the coming. Snacks were decent.
We didn’t try out any of the outdoor/indoor activities that they had to offer. To sum it up, I wouldn’t go back to this place again. And, thanks Sterling but I don’t see value in taking your time-share.