Staycation at Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar: An Honest Review

As an ardent traveller, I prefer to mark any celebration by taking a trip. For my birthdays, this usually results in staycations in and around Delhi-NCR, as we don’t often have the luxury of taking a long period of time off in the middle of August. This year too, for my 35^th birthday, a staycation seemed the easiest way for us to celebrate. After going down the rabbit hole of Google suggestions on hotels with private pool villas, it seemed the only one we hadn’t already tried was the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar, which is run by the Select group (of Select Citywalk mall fame). So, this was where we brought in my birthday a couple of weeks ago. And now, I’m here to my share my honest review of the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar with you.

Before moving on to the review portion though, here’s some general information about the resort, which also has a branch in Goa. The Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar is built on the premise of traditional Rajasthani hospitality. As such, the management has tried to recreate a rural Rajasthani village scenario through the use of handicrafts and design elements. Do not expect the kind of authenticity one gets from staying at an original Haveli or Palace converted to a hotel, because this is merely a recreation of that kind of place. Keeping this in mind, read on for the review of Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar.

BOOKINGS AND HOW TO GET THERE:

There are always deals on bookings on various booking sites, but I believe it’s best to book directly from the website of the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar.

Manesar village is located an hour and a half outside of Delhi, and the resort is easily reachable from the Capital city. Located right off the Delhi-Jaipur Highway (NH8), the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar is 20 minutes from Gurugram and 30 minutes from Indira Gandhi International Airport. 

TYPES OF ROOMS:

There are a variety of rooms to choose from depending on your budget and needs. Starting from the modest Heritage Superior Rooms and Premium Rooms, you move onto the Aangan Suites, Haveli Suites and the best in-class offering of Heritage Vilas that come with a plunge pool.

We chose to stay in the Heritage Vila, which was tastefully done up – the interiors were certainly a lot better than the exteriors of the rest of the hotel! Welcome treats like a bottle of wine, sweets and mini bar goodies for first-time use, were complimentary with this category of room.

THINGS TO DO:

Recreation: The website of Heritage Village Spa & Resort, Manesar lists out numerous unique things to do. These include candlelit dinners by the poolside, being regaled by traditional Rajasthani musicians and performers in the common areas of the hotel, stargazing through a telescope, organised activities for children such as planting saplings, cooking and drawing sessions, as well as organised activities for adults like cocktail demo sessions, golf lessons and live music performances. Children can also enjoy their kids play area.

Dining: There are six restaurants and bars on the property. The Mughal-style Jharokha is their coffee shop, Red Lounge is their bar, The Deck offers poolside service, Pappu Tea Stall is a tiny café, and Barahandi and Mardan are other restaurants. Though we didn’t visit all of these, the Pool Deck was not serving anything while we were there except for coconut water, and Pappu Tea Stall also seemed abandoned and defunct.

Sports: Apart from the main attraction, which is Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar’s Golf Course, they have an activity and experiences section run by a third party called Cheer Fit. Here one can participate in Power Cricket, Bungee Basketball, Soft Archery, Paintball Combat, Trampoline, Cycling and Paintball Target Shooting.

Relaxation: One can book individual or couple’s massages at their Aruna Spa. There is also a common pool apart from the plunge pools in the high-end villas. However, this pool is a bit small considering it’s meant for the entire property.

Weddings & Events: At the very outset, it’s clear that the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar is geared towards hosting weddings and events. This is most evident from their numerous banquet halls, event venues, sprawling lawns, technologically equipped boardrooms and conference halls. They also offer a dedicated event management team to assist with the event or celebration.

REVIEW OF HERITAGE VILLAGE RESORT & SPA, MANESAR:

Now that you have read what the hotel has to offer, let’s come to the most important part of this post – the review of the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar. As avid staycationers, my husband and I keep an eye out for exciting new properties in and around Delhi. In the past, no one in our circles had avidly recommended this one, and after we visited it, we realised why. There is nothing outwardly wrong with the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar. Yet, it lacks the finesse and luxurious bearing one expects when paying such a high price point.

The animal sculptures that greet guests at the entrance are ugly and shockingly unlife-like and the décor of the hotel in general is surprisingly cheap looking too. However, the room décor in our expensive suite was tasteful and nice. The room itself was quite comfortable but the plunge pool was nothing more than a fountain! Though they gave us plenty of free goodies, they skimped on Prosecco which my husband had requested instead of the wine, and so we ended buying our own Prosecco. In a very unusual move, they also didn’t give us a complimentary cake despite knowing it was a birthday staycation. This has never happened to us before in any property!

We didn’t venture into the common pool because it was too small and crammed full. The food was decent but nothing sticks out in memory as being exceptional. The service was eager but unpolished, and our bathroom had a clogging issue.

The bottom-line, is if we had been charged less, we would perhaps have not found these seemingly minor issues worthy of complaint. As it stands, the stay was an average one at best, and certainly not worth the amount we paid. Perhaps, one of the more economical and smaller rooms would have provided better value for money. We wanted an exclusive, luxurious experience but unfortunately, our stay fell short on that.

Nevertheless, all getaways are fun, and my husband and I cherished some ‘alone time’ together, so it was not a complete waste, but I do not see us returning to the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar any time soon.

If you would like a visual tour of the Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Manesar, check out my Instagram reel below:

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A post shared by Noor – Lifestyle Journalist (@nooranandchawla)

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This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla and it is sponsored by BakezbyDaizy.

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*This is not a sponsored post.

**Copyright in pictures and content belongs to nooranandchawla.com and cannot be republished or repurposed without express permission of the author. As I am a copyright lawyer by profession, infringement of any kind will invite strict legal action.

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