The only bad thing about the Leela Chennai, is the Leela Bengaluru, I’ll explain.
Hi there, my name is Kevin. This channel came from a love of traveling,
a love of the full process and the journey itself. I feature airline trip reports and
high end hotel reviews from all over the world. My reviews aren’t sponsored by
airlines or hotels so you can be sure to get my unbiased honest opinion. Am I an expert?
You can decide. Am I fair? Yea, I am. Let’s get into it, welcome to Chennai.
The Leela Palace Chennai is located in a quiet, mostly residential
neighborhood near the Bay of Bengal. Keyword there, near, not on.
If you’d like to know the exact nightly rate that I paid for my stay or my next five videos
in queue, please check out the description below. Considering I visited Chennai near the peak of
their monsoon season, I’ll happily take the hazy and cloudy days I was served up.
The Leela Chennai opened officially in January of 2013 and has a total of 326 rooms.
Without further ado, let me explain my opening tease. I stayed here literally right after my
stay at the Leela Bengaluru, that was a mistake. As you’ll see throughout this video, this hotel is
beautiful and grand and dazzling and elegant, but as you may have seen in my other video,
it is no where near as beautiful and grand and dazzling and elegant as it’s sister property
in Bengaluru. So, if I sound a bit, I don’t know, less than blown away today- that’s why.
The hotel is an easy 30-40 minute drive from the airport and is near the coastline,
but it most certainly is not on it. Leela describes the hotel as urban beachfront and
uses heavily photoshopped images of the building to make it looks like it’s actually oceanfront.
While I did know it wasn’t quite oceanfront from my own research, I do take issue with
the hotel misrepresenting itself like this. This is the photo- or perhaps illustration
is a better word- that the hotel uses extensively.
This property was drawn up by an Atlanta based firm, Smallwood and Associates,
who also designed the ITC Grand Chola and the Park Hyatt in the city. The gardens at the Leela were
designed at least in part by Bill Bensley. Any of you that have watched the channel for a while know
I love the properties he designed, especially the ones that focus on story telling, but properties
I’ve visited that just have gardens designed by him always feel a bit bog standard to me.
The design of the hotel is meant to evoke a Chettinad Palace of Tamil Nadu.
With the reception area on the right here.
Chettiar Heritage said to possess fortress-like mansions and palaces
filled with riches that the merchant community brought home from lands far away.
The architecture is said to reflect the influence these world travelers
brought back from their adventures as well as the mingling of their own rich culture.
As rich as the culture may be though, it certainly didn’t fund this video. A friendly reminder that
this video is not sponsored by Leela in any way, shape or form and they had no knowledge that I’d
be filming a video, which I think is fundamental for an honest review. Because of this, your views,
likes, comments and subscriptions on Patreon really do allow the channel to grow and keep the
content flowing, so a big thank you in advance. The Lobby Lounge, where we are now, is the heart
of the hotel for the guests. With it’s all day dining venue on the far side,
the Lobby Lounge has plenty of seating arrangements available for everything from
Afternoon Tea to Contract Negotiations, both of which as just as likely to be seen here.
As in their Bengaluru property, fresh flowers play a major role
in the design and atmosphere in all of the public spaces here.
Alright, let’s head up to the pool deck. By the way, if you’re interested about the
history of Leela, I get into those details in my Leela Bengaluru review, linked above.
The pool area has two lounges leading to the pool itself,
the first indoors and the second being open air.
The pool which is even more beautiful at night is a very refreshing option especially in Chennai’s
sometimes oppressive heat, though I rarely saw more than 2 or three people using it at a time.
Let’s head up to the room, on the way there- we can check out the Business Center-
perhaps for a bit more discretion than the Lobby Lounge. It’s quiet and spacious.
Ok, now heading to my room. I had a seaview King room which was located on the 1st floor- 1st floor
is the 2nd floor for Americans watching- and it was plenty high enough to provide for sea views.
The room design is quite a big departure from what I was expecting. The design and
details are beautiful in their own right, but it didn’t feel particularly locally inspired.
As with all Leela properties, there is a heightened focus on textiles
and textures- and everything was in top condition.
When checking in, guests are offered a bindi and
a tuberose lei and there will be some cookies waiting in your room.
The mini bar was mostly well stocked, though only with instant coffee. I called to ask if
they had the same pour over coffee sachets that I previously had a Leela- and they said yes,
but then just delivered more instant sachets- although alongside this fruitbowl which had
to weigh an easy 15 pounds, the bowl was made of solid marble.
The bathroom was divided into five distinct areas. Near the entrance is a sit down vanity area,
the shower and toilet were in separate nooks and then there was the centerpiece
tub with a seaview which was flanked on either side by matching vanities.
It will come as no surprise that the best thing about the bathroom
were Leela’s signature Tishya products with their intoxicating Kumud & Nilgiri fragrance.
Around
the corner was the massive walk in closet, which while I’m writing this script brings
me to a point I haven’t talked about yet. Two of the most frequent questions I get are “Why
don’t you narrate reviews or trip reports in real time?” and also “why is there a delay of at least
a couple months between when you film and when you publish?”- both of these can be answered,
at least partially, by the fact that I don’t want to give you any knee jerk reactions.
I, like all of you, are influenced by daily life. Maybe I didn’t sleep well the night before,
or maybe I had a really long flight or a bad meal or anything, good or bad. My job is to present
properties and flights to you without any of that situational influence and thats why I wait at
least a month between when I film a location and when I score it. The lasting impression is more
balanced and more valuable. It’s still my true opinion, but it’s unfazed. In today’s case, I
distinctly remember feeling very underwhelmed with this room when I was here. But, I still document
in video and photo just as I always would, I take notes, just as I always would, because my reaction
in that moment doesn’t really matter. Looking at the room now, I can see how beautiful and well
laid out it is. When I was there, I just kept comparing it to where I slept the night before.
One thing I really really really love about Indian hotels. There will always be a desk.
Heading down stairs, one level below the lobby we have the other core of the hotel. Down here
we have the spa as well as all of the other restaurant and access to the remaining garden.
In advertising for the hotel they focus a lot of the photos on this area and it’s perfectly nice,
but it’s much more of an even space than it is an integrated lounge area.
Just inside is another lounge which at night transforms into the receiving
hall for the hotel’s two signature restaurants, Jamavar and China XO.
We’ll take a peak at China XO first. The design here is a bit much. Just a
few too many competing materials and colors for me. And it’s almost impossible to see on camera,
but under these clear tiles is actually a restaurant long moving water feature.
I’m heading to Jamavar though. Leela’s signature Indian restaurant again did not disappoint.
First up with the normal crisps and chutneys. I do need to complement
this papaya pickle though. It was incredibly sour, but in a very refreshing way and was
by far the best Indian style pickle I’ve had. For starters I went for a veg Broccoli dish. A
sort of fried version of Malai Broccoli served with a spiced coconut chutney.
For the main I went for the Chicken Chettinad which was packed with smokey tandoor chicken and
roasted spices, served alongside my trusty Naan. I skipped dessert
which was a good call considering one was waiting
for me in my turned down room- along with a beautiful little pillow menu.
The next morning the only reasonable thing to do was continue to eat- so I headed to
Spectra for their breakfast buffet. This is the restaurant located just off of the lobby lounge.
The restaurant itself is fine, a bit dated but in good shape. As for the buffet, it was
fairly comprehensive, but personally I just didn’t like that it was literally spread out everywhere.
There was also an egg station which offered up Masala Omelettes,
among others and was presented nicely, but quite bland.
Last up we have a very quick peek at the fitness center.
So overall, it’s a beautiful hotel and perhaps it’s a good choice, if you need
or want to be in this specific location. If you’re looking for a base to explore Chennai,
this probably isn’t it- but that’s also not who the hotel was designed for.
The only things I really take issue with are what I think is a misleading marketing effort
and some design choices that at times feel a bit generic. Service wise, it was very much
in the middle of the pack of luxury hotels. It was attentive, but nothing to write home about.
I really do hope you enjoyed this video today, if you did,
please make sure to subscribe and check out my next video from the
ITC Grand Chola Hotel, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, from here in Chennai.