Stayed at the Ethnotel Kolkata during a stopover for 5 hrs at 1am in the morning. It’s close to the airport (about a 10 minute drive), rooms are reasonably clean but I didn’t get much (any) sleep due to the fact there was a sound reminiscent of a helicopter going the whole night. I presume this was the venting/fan system. I turned my fan off in the bathroom but this seemed to have made it worse. Service was fine, their driver picked me up from airport and had the sign ready which was good (worse thing is coming out of airport in a foreign airport and you can’t find the damn driver). I didn’t eat so can’t comment on that. If it wasn’t for the helicopter sound this hotel would have been fine for a night, nothing to write home about, but satisfactory for a 1 night stay.
The front desk were nice, efficient and got me checked in in a couple of minutes, maybe less, which is always appreciated early morning and after a longish flight.
The Ethnotel Kolkata was pretty cheap, around USD$50 per night I think but for the amount of time I stayed there and the amount of sleep I got, I think you’re better off just sleeping in the airport. The immigration guy even suggested I should have found a lounge and slept in there. I couldn’t find anything online about a lounge you could sleep in and it was too late at night to be walking around the airport trying to find something, but there might be one. Worst case scenario, you sleep on the airport chairs, which might not be that bad.
Here’s what is says about the Ethnotel Kolkata on their cutting edge website:
“Ethnotel Kolkata, A Three Star Hotel, A Unit of Raha Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, welcomes you to a world of elegance, luxury and comfort located five minutes away from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata. One of the leading hotels near airport in Kolkata offers the elegance and a variety of services which you will never forget so come and enjoy the oriental hospitality and western luxury at an affordable price.”
There are two things you can believe here, “five minutes from the Airport” (maybe 5-10), and the last two words – “affordable price”.
Check out the Ethnotel Kolkata website here.
Find out more about Kolkata here and more about Bhutan here.
