Hotel Taj Plaza

We were in Agra for one night to see the Taj Mahal and booked this hotel as a good budget option with a view of the Taj Mahal. The hotel delivered what it promised and we had no complaints. The location could not have been better and we found all the staff to be helpful and kind.

This hotel was a 10 minute walk down a quiet street to the East gate (best gate) of the Taj Mahal. From the rooftop you can also view the Taj Mahal. Just down the road is the fancy Oberoi Hotel, go for a drink. The rooms are comfortable, staff are helpful and the restaurant is yummy.

Comfortable room, need better cleanliness to improve the level of the hotel Direct view on Taj Mahal Rooftop restaurant with excellent cuisine 10 minutes walk far to the Taj Hotel attendants very helpful Cheap

Likes : 1) I picked this place to stay just because it is 700m from Taj Mahal. 2) I liked their rooftop cafe with swings and chairs to sunbathe. 3) I also liked the fact that their male staff allowed me to use their room at 6:00 a.m. for 1 hour to change my party dress and get into comfortable wear, without forcing me to checkin. which saved me 300 INR (cost of early checkin). They were quite welcoming. But read on to know why I wont recommend this stay : Now the dislikes : 1) I didn''t really like their in house restaurent on the ground floor - it was way too expensive as compared to roadside stalls outside the hotel. 2) Other thing that I disliked is - the lighting inside the room wasn't good enough, I have an inclination for different kinds of and several yellow and white lightings and lampshades - but this was missing. 3) The mattress wasn't good enough, it was so ordinary. I was shocked to see this hotel had got 3 star rating, the mattress was very much like the single layer one we see in any ordinary guest house. Even bunk beds in dorm have better mattresses. 4) The TV also was so ordinary - box like - that we had in our homes in old days. They should have got Flat screen TV installed. 5) I also didn't like the fact that the lady receptionist there phoned me at 10:30 a.m. and asked "Madam, when would you checkout? we have people checkout by 11:00 - 11:30 a.m." I didn't like this statement of hers because I already seen that the checkout time was mentioned at their reception as 12:00 Noon. I felt that the charm with which they welcome their guests, they don't bid them 'bye' with same respect. So i informed her politely that she shouldn't have said that and then she went all sorry. Since the dislikes are more than the likes, I am definitely not going to book this hotel again. Never.

Except for the view on Taj Mahal and the good location, we did not enjoy our stay at Taj Plaza. Our room was noisy, it was very difficult to have a good sleep. The bathroom was so dirty that I had to clean up myself some crusts on the wall. Tubes and sanitaries were old and rusty. Also towels were dirty with big spots on them, and I had to ask for new ones. I asked to the staff at the reception to clean up our room but the did not provide for it. Breakfast was ok.