Bangalore's latest hotel, Jayamahal Palace Hotel has been stylishly renovated and relaunched as a heritage property by the former royal family of the erstwhile Gondal princely state in Gujarat. Promising the pride of being one of the Heritage hotels in India, it is a big draw of foreigners for whom India is exotica. The hotels help them understand the exotica by offering not only the best in comfort but also by carrying historical legacies as well.

Located opposite the main palace of the Wadiyar rulers, it was founded in the late 1900s by a British resident of Bangalore and became the property of the Maharaja of Mysore before being purchased by Maharaja Bhojraji of Gondal who made it his summer retreat. His wife Maharani Kumud Kumari, a gifted interior designer, has worked very hard to get this ancestral home refurnished. It is much like the other award winning properties in Gujarath- the Orchard Palace and riverside palace, reckoned the countries' better heritage hotels.

The Orchard Palace has fetched the couple five awards for excellence in food, services and over all quality from the Spain based Business Initiative and Newyork-based Other Ways. Kumud Kumari has ensured the same quality and class to this palace too. "I personally looked into every detail of purchase and installation- from flooring to furnishings, lights and other fittings even if it meant going to small shops and trudging through galis something I've never done before," she says of the efforts to beautify the hotel.

The hotel currently has 11 rooms. Each room is designed differently revealing a confluence of Gujarati, Wadiyar and colonial legacies. The Gujarat Suite is beautifully done up with peacock and horse murals on the walls and a pretty swing and large black metal scale is all about elegance in blue. The Peacock Suite is all about elegance in blue. The highlight is really the Jayamahal Suite with original, stained-glass work. All the rooms, which open to private balconies, have rich furnishings. Antique paintings, framed artifacts and ethnic brassware besides the century-old wooden staircase make for fantastic period charm.

The other exotica of the hotel are the vintage pictures. The Black and white decade's old pictures of the royal family members, all motorcar racing aficionados dot another wall. The family incidentally has one of the biggest vintage and classic car collections in the country besides a museum housing everything that is a collector's delight.

The Autumn garden restaurant adjoins a coffee shop called Pit Stop. If you wonder at the name, walk into the adjoining bar and you'll know why. The bar's named Formula III. With glass-topped real tyres for tables, piston ashtrays, and menus of gasket covers, the hotel has its walls covered with disc-brake clocks, framed Formula I-car miniatures and car parts besides motorcar lights.

The hotel is planning to have 27 more in a month's time and 40 more regular rooms later this year, but for now the city can boast of a true heritage hotel.

This stylish hotel is located at:

JAYAMAHAL PALACE HOTEL
No. 1, Jaymahal Road, Bangalore – 560 001
Ph Nos : 0091-080-2333 1321, 0091-080-5153 5715 /16 /17 /18 /19
FAX NO : 0091-080-2354 2797
E-mail: bookings@jayamahalpalacehotel.com
Website: www.jayamahalpalacehotel.com