OK, so this probably was gonna start out as a bad review, but in the end, despite how dirty it was, the Kings Crown Hotel won me over with its charm.
After all this was an Indian hotel that cost $19 a night. You see everything is economies of scale.
Table of Contents
The Indian Hotel scene
To put it mildly the hotel scene in India is fucked. In places like Thailand, Cambodia or particularly Vietnam hotels are great value and creep up incrementally from the $20 range to the thousands. The key here is the word incrementally. This has meant me personally getting a HUGE suite for as little as 40 bucks.
In India and so far I mean everywhere I have been in the country hotels are 20 to 30 bucks or 200 to 300 bucks with there being fuck all in between. And when I did find one in the 60 dollar range it ended up being one of the worst hotels I have stayed in.
The problem with these cheap ones though is that you very much get what you pay for. In many ways this is indicative of India in general, with there being no middle class, but simply rich, poor and extremely poor.
Click to read about he worst hotel in Siliguri.
The Kings Crown Hotel
Kings Crown VIP Road is a locally owned budget hotel located in Tegharia, right off VIP Road, making it around a 10 to 15 minute drive from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport depending on traffic. If of course any of that means anything at all to you.
Rooms generally sit between $18 and $25 per night and this place is clearly aimed at transit passengers, budget travelers and anyone needing a cheap crash pad near the airport rather than comfort seekers or honeymooners. It is basic, rough around the edges, but functional, and if all you need is a bed near the airport it does the job.
The Rooms and the Service at Kings Crown
I did not actually book the cheapest room, so god knows WTF that looked like. I instead got the middle ground one. The first room alas did not have working AC, so I ended up in a slightly bigger one.
The bed was OK, there was a desk, but it can best be described as quite dirty. Although I am sad to say not all that dirty by Indian standards.
Location though was fabulous and only 15 minutes drive from the airport. On my last day though I renewed my room in the morning online. Later on I got a knock at the door as two heavies with a card reader came to get me to pay. I explained I already had and that I was unlikely to run on a $19 room. I laughed. They did not.
At the very end though the owner, or manager asked me for a review four times and gave me a bunch of flowers. Shit hotel or not I have never been given flowers. This in my mind at least saved the day.
Would I stay here again? Well only if India stop thinking I’m a spy and I go to Calcutta again. Both of these are as likely as each other.
Address and contact for Kings Crown Hotel
Kings Crown VIP Road
Nazrul Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue
VIP Rd, Tegharia
Kolkata, West Bengal 700052
India
Phone: +91 98301 66630
Click to see my tours with YPT to India and beyond.