Thursday, March 06, 2008

Brick, mortar,glass cladding and steel do a hotel make. The squat structure by the domestic airport has been transformed from the public sector behemoth it once was, touched by a magic sprinkle called for-profit enterprise; though that path did witness a few eyebrow-raising quick ownership changes enroute. The atrium is beautiful, vast given the frugal norm in this space-hungry city, stunning given the contrast with its ugly cement exterior. Stunned the suits as well, and that’s quite something, since this bunch excels at seen it all-done it all. Impeccable poolside, tropical aviary, rippling stream and envy-invoking rattan for the seating clusters. The meeting rooms have cushioned walls, something even the town biggies have missed out on. One tiny nit– those strings of artificial flowers lining the railings do look plastic.

Decent enough week. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

9 comments:

Billy said...

The hotel sounds nice. Too bad about the plastic flowers though. One would think they could afford proper landscaping maintenance with all of the other pricey changes made. Lovely description.

quin browne said...

it is time i start to save my money to visit, methinks.

Baby Island said...

Crazy how those suites might have passed up the hotel if they were only seeing the outside? You know that little ditty about not judging a book by it's cover..

Well, perhaps except for the plastic flowers..

AmitL said...

-for-profit enterprise..now,that's a good title. I guess handing over some structures to the private sector does do wonders.:)

Artificial flowers on the railings?Arghhh..

Which hotel is it?(I can't recall the name)

Anonymous said...

Extravagant! Cushioned walls ... sorry for the plastic flowers. Is it in Mumbai?

austere said...

abbagirl: my colleague thought they were ok, maybe its us womenfolk who see these things.

QUIN! before your movies make you famous,before the socialites and paparazzi chase you for a photop, before the dollar slides again, before monsoon, before long, COMEONOVER!

babyisland- you bet! but happens almost always, right? this one used to be a govt run hotel, centaur by the airport. spiffy it is, now.

amitl- centaur. you can spend some of your hard earned dirhams there on your next visit. :)

mago- oh yes, centaur by the domestic airport which looks really smart now, very different. we look good!

Anonymous said...

Plastic flowers are so tacky!

I thought only asylums had padded walls. ha,ha,ha

I hope you are well! I have so much catching up to do in blog world.

Do you know why your blog is displays html tags? Just wondering

Later,
-P

Portia said...

mmm, how luxurious.
the plastic flowers would turn me off too. it's in the details.

i love watching your slideshow. hope this week is a good one:)

austere said...

proxima: heh. asylums, ha. Some of the inhabitants/ guests would be better there, I daresay.
html tags? No clue. some google issue.

portia- it was a good week. a crazily busy one, horrendous commute to town, but the songs I heard on fm were good. :)