You Can Check Into Howard Johnson Hotel For Business Or Even A Staycation

A business hotel located midway between the Kempegowda International Airport and the city centre in Hebbal can only mean good news for harried professionals, who don’t have to travel all the way CBD. But Howard Johnson also makes for a great staycation because of its luxury amenities and reasonable packages.

Whether you need to only spend the nights in your room, or turn your hotel room into an office cum leisure space, or even just check in to chill over the weekend, Howard Johnson aka HoJo might have something just for you. We checked in one weekend afternoon for a quick staycation, and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in a suite {the hotel offers eight of them} that offered a spacious sit out area, complete with welcome cookies and chocolate {a nice touch} to fruits, the usual tea and coffee, a mini-bar {chargeable}, and a proper workstation option. Plus, a complimentary bottle of wine! The living room leads to a bedroom with a view of the Bangalore skyline. The bathrooms {with see-through glass} come with a large bathtub to while away all your stress.

The hotel offers 117 rooms — with 81 Deluxe Rooms that have all the above-mentioned features, a king-sized bed, a mini bar and a 32-LCD TV, and electronic safe. There are also 23 Executive Club Rooms with similar facilities but additional highlights such as the cocktail hours at Hayek Lounge, a private space to chill, hold quick meetings over cocktails or coffee {there is a full day tea and coffee service}. There are also 8 suites and 5 premium rooms. The Premium category of rooms offers the same amenities but is much bigger {440 sq ft approximately} and located at the end of the floor. Perfect for long stay folks or families.

Looking to book the hotel for office meetings or even book out a conference room for a day of workshops? There are plenty of options at Howard Johnson. The Cave is a meeting room located on the first floor with a capacity for 30 people and can be used for training sessions, business meetings and boardroom discussions. Arlene I and II are boardrooms located on the first and third floor and can hold up to 15 people. For a whole-day affair, which involves the entire office, there’s the Dublin Hall spread over 2,950 sq ft on the 2nd Floor, with a pre-function area too. 

After a check-in and hotel tour, we found ourselves at Nest, HoJo’s all-day dining restaurant. If you are a big group, then you can book one of the two private dining rooms, which can seat six people. Nest hosts buffet lunches and dinners, with everything from fresh salads, starters, cold cuts, and a choice of Indian, Chinese, Continental and South Indian in mains. You can also pick from their a la carte menu.

We tried some Indian specials like the zaitooni murg, an olive-marinated chicken kebab, dal makhani, butter chicken, and the nawabi naan {a garlic, cheese and sesame number} finished off with delicious shahi tukra. Currently, they are running an offer on the buffet which is priced at INR 699 plus tax instead of the usual INR 999 plus tax. Nest is open 24/7 to specially cater to those who take red-eye flights and check in late. Breakfast here offers the usual South Indian staples along with Mumbai vada pao, Nutella and peanut butter toasts, eggs to order, fresh breads and croissants along with bacon, cold cuts and cheese, of course. For a caffeine fix, get yourself cappuccinos and cookies at the Verve Coffee Lounge.

For evening time, there is the Marea Bar Lounge, where you can try the hotel’s specialty cocktails, and Asian bar bites and take in match screenings and or a live music act.

Cannot be bothered to go down for lunches and dinners? Then just do room service, where you can order in everything from New Zealand lamb chops to Norwegian Salmon.

Our favourite part of the HoJo experience was, of course, the swimming pool located on the fifth floor. The rooftop ambience is a charmer, and you can see the city skyline from the pool. There is also a gym and changing room attached. The deck area is also a place for early morning yoga on Sundays where an instructor will come and teach you asanas. Post your swim, you can head to the spa like we did and take in any of the treatments available from Swedish to Balinese. Most of the spa therapies here are for an hour, but can also go up to 90 minutes, so keep that time in mind, before you go back to your room and lounge around in your bathtub.

Next up is Sunday brunch {INR 999 plus tax for non-alcoholic and INR 1,500 plus tax for alcoholic, including access to kids play corner and live cooking stations}, and the day we tried it out, the theme was mango. So there were raw mango salads, mango-flavoured drinks and starters, mango curries, and even fun, mango desserts. Coming up soon in June is a jackfruit special promotion that will present this fruit in its raw and ripe form — from starters to curries and desserts.

For those travellers, who can’t wait to explore the city, the hotel also arranges a shuttle to local attractions. Or cars to make a quick getaway to nearby Mysore. Plus, round-the-clock airport shuttles for drops and pick ups.

Price: INR 7,000 + tax upwards depending on the kind of room you choose.