Aug 6, 2008
Homestays in India from site called Mahindra Homestays are a tremendous travel breakthrough
If there's one destination where a Westerner could use a secure home base and some guidance and education about what they're seeing, it's India. The country, currently enjoying a touristic upsurge because of its extremely low on-the-ground costs, is a fascinating hodgepodge of people, religions, classes, cuisine, and lifestyles, and without a trained eye, it's difficult to decipher the tumult. A homestay from www.mahindrahomestays.com, including daily breakfast, places you with (apparently) a well-heeled Indian family who are interested in helping you and who can introduce you to their home turf.
India also often presents worries about finding clean, cheap places to stay. The country suffers from a a huge price and quality gap between budget and moderate accommodation levels. Often, the hotels that best meet American expectations charge very high prices intended for expense-account travelers. Booking with a homestay catering to Western customers takes much of the uncertainty out of the equation. Because your stay is a business enterprise for your hosts and they are used to British travelers, you can expect certain quality standards. All of Mahindra's hosts give travelers their own private quarters, and almost all have air-conditioning (a real perk in sweltering India).
Most of Mahindra's 30 prospective homes range $40 to $120 per night (about the same as a moderate-level hotel) and are found in exceptionally well-groomed, spacious homes with English-speaking hosts (again, it's marketed mostly to the British). At the upper price level, the homes have the appearance of lush, sprawling plantation homes. The website has plenty of photos, which isn't very common yet for services in India, as well as descriptions and pictures of your potential hosts. Although breakfast is included, you can usually buy your other meals, too, if you want, and you can choose to eat alone or with your hosts. Customers can even search for homestays by nationwide options to help them decide what part of India to visit.
The company also has representatives in London, reachable by phone at +44-20-8140-8422.
Have any of our readers used Mahindra Homestays?
Write and read comments about this post.
India also often presents worries about finding clean, cheap places to stay. The country suffers from a a huge price and quality gap between budget and moderate accommodation levels. Often, the hotels that best meet American expectations charge very high prices intended for expense-account travelers. Booking with a homestay catering to Western customers takes much of the uncertainty out of the equation. Because your stay is a business enterprise for your hosts and they are used to British travelers, you can expect certain quality standards. All of Mahindra's hosts give travelers their own private quarters, and almost all have air-conditioning (a real perk in sweltering India).
Most of Mahindra's 30 prospective homes range $40 to $120 per night (about the same as a moderate-level hotel) and are found in exceptionally well-groomed, spacious homes with English-speaking hosts (again, it's marketed mostly to the British). At the upper price level, the homes have the appearance of lush, sprawling plantation homes. The website has plenty of photos, which isn't very common yet for services in India, as well as descriptions and pictures of your potential hosts. Although breakfast is included, you can usually buy your other meals, too, if you want, and you can choose to eat alone or with your hosts. Customers can even search for homestays by nationwide options to help them decide what part of India to visit.
The company also has representatives in London, reachable by phone at +44-20-8140-8422.
Have any of our readers used Mahindra Homestays?
Write and read comments about this post.
Aug 1, 2008
If you're looking for travel luxury at low cost, consider India
We've discussed the fact that Americans seem to be heavily gravitating to the destinations -- like Bali, like Argentina -- where the cost of living is unusually low. The ability to offset high airfares with cheap hotel and food costs is apparently the reason for heavy tourist traffic to those budget-priced destinations.
Which is why India should be considered by travelers looking for luxury, but at low cost. Its hotel, food, and touring costs are among the world's cheapest, and you'll gain an appreciation of that by requesting quotes from the chief Indian tour operators and travel agents.
Using luxurious hotels and supplying passengers with a car, driver and guide for their entire trip, starting with the very moment when U.S.-originating planes touch down in Delhi or Mumbai, companies like Indian Moments (www.indianmoments.com) have been quoting total prices of $3,000 for a 14-day stay in multiple destinations for two persons (not including airfare to India). And that outlay includes upscale hotel accommodations with daily breakfast for 14 nights, private car and driver/guide on every day of the trip, gas, at least one air trip within India, and numerous other features. You travel, in effect, like a Maharajah, and though I personally feel that a less pretentious approach results in a better travel experience, it's a level of comfort that some luxury-loving Americans demand. Arriving to the bustle and exoticism of India, they take great comfort in finding their driver awaiting their arrival, holding up a sign with their name on it.
And you can greatly reduce that $3,000 charge by insisting to Indian Moments that you want a less expensive level of hotel accommodations.
Cheaper prices for your trip to India? Go to the website of Culture Holidays (www.cultureholidays.com) and note that for their Golden Triangle Tour (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-and-Delhi, of 7 days and 6 nights, you can pay as little as $600 per person for “economy” hotels with daily breakfast, train transportation from place to place, private car sightseeing within cities, and more.
And note that GAP Adventures, and SmarTours, both operate inexpensive, small-group tours to India.
If you haven't been, you should go; India is fast developing into a super-power and yet its cost structure remains refreshingly low. Airfare there? Using Etihad Airways (flying via Abu Dhabi) or Air India, you'll generally pay $940 round-trip in off-season, $1,140 round-trip in high season, between New York and either Mumbai or Delhi.
Write and read comments about this post.
Which is why India should be considered by travelers looking for luxury, but at low cost. Its hotel, food, and touring costs are among the world's cheapest, and you'll gain an appreciation of that by requesting quotes from the chief Indian tour operators and travel agents.
Using luxurious hotels and supplying passengers with a car, driver and guide for their entire trip, starting with the very moment when U.S.-originating planes touch down in Delhi or Mumbai, companies like Indian Moments (www.indianmoments.com) have been quoting total prices of $3,000 for a 14-day stay in multiple destinations for two persons (not including airfare to India). And that outlay includes upscale hotel accommodations with daily breakfast for 14 nights, private car and driver/guide on every day of the trip, gas, at least one air trip within India, and numerous other features. You travel, in effect, like a Maharajah, and though I personally feel that a less pretentious approach results in a better travel experience, it's a level of comfort that some luxury-loving Americans demand. Arriving to the bustle and exoticism of India, they take great comfort in finding their driver awaiting their arrival, holding up a sign with their name on it.
And you can greatly reduce that $3,000 charge by insisting to Indian Moments that you want a less expensive level of hotel accommodations.
Cheaper prices for your trip to India? Go to the website of Culture Holidays (www.cultureholidays.com) and note that for their Golden Triangle Tour (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-and-Delhi, of 7 days and 6 nights, you can pay as little as $600 per person for “economy” hotels with daily breakfast, train transportation from place to place, private car sightseeing within cities, and more.
And note that GAP Adventures, and SmarTours, both operate inexpensive, small-group tours to India.
If you haven't been, you should go; India is fast developing into a super-power and yet its cost structure remains refreshingly low. Airfare there? Using Etihad Airways (flying via Abu Dhabi) or Air India, you'll generally pay $940 round-trip in off-season, $1,140 round-trip in high season, between New York and either Mumbai or Delhi.
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Labels: india
Jun 19, 2008
A sale offering an astonishing round-trip airfare to India for only $549 is currently being offered for purchase during the next two-and-a-half days
It sounds too good to be true (and may well be!), but at a time of year when round-trip fares to India are nearly $2,000, there's a way to go there at one-quarter the price -- if you act immediately (within somewhat less than 72 hours). Specifically, if you book autumn trips through a travel agent before Friday night of this week, you can buy a round-trip seat on Air India to Mumbai and other Indian cities for as little as $549 (leaving mid-August to mid-September) and $599 (mid-September to the end of October). While those dates are partially during the monsoon season, numerous old-hands at travel in India will confirm that the rains (a couple of hours a day) don't really interfere with your enjoyment of that exotic sub-continent.
Now what I've just reported is what the consumer press is announcing. They tell you to book the fare by going to www.airindia.com. Once there, you will find not a single word on the subject! It is only when you phone one of Air-India's toll-free numbers (tel. 800/223-7776, 888/359-2412, or 800/625-6424) that a reservationist located in India will advise you that the sale is called One Price India and that it can be purchased only through a travel agent.
I'm dubious about prices as incredible as these. But I would be remiss not to pass on the word. If you have ever hankered to visit India (one of the world's most fascinating countries to tour), and can make a firm decision in the next three days, you really should give One Price India a try.
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Now what I've just reported is what the consumer press is announcing. They tell you to book the fare by going to www.airindia.com. Once there, you will find not a single word on the subject! It is only when you phone one of Air-India's toll-free numbers (tel. 800/223-7776, 888/359-2412, or 800/625-6424) that a reservationist located in India will advise you that the sale is called One Price India and that it can be purchased only through a travel agent.
I'm dubious about prices as incredible as these. But I would be remiss not to pass on the word. If you have ever hankered to visit India (one of the world's most fascinating countries to tour), and can make a firm decision in the next three days, you really should give One Price India a try.
Write and read comments about this post.
Jul 20, 2007
We're alerting you to the low-cost U.S.-to-Brussels flights of India's Jet Airways
In the wake of recent aviation treaties, the North Atlantic is about to erupt with new low-cost airlines. The first to fly was the Canadian-owned Zoom Airlines between JFK and London Gatwick (for a stunning $199 each way, high season). The next to go (starting August 5) will be the India-owned Jet Airways flying round-trip between Newark and Brussels (on its way to Mumbai), charging yet-to-be-announced fares. You can bet that in its early weeks, Jet Airways will be offering spectacular rates to fill its seats to Brussels and back -- and avid bargain-seekers will want to start calling its number (tel. 877/835-9538) or accessing its website, www.jetairways.com, or calling such airfare discounters as 1-800/flyeurope which will undoubtedly be featuring its rock-bottom fares.Jet Airways is a large and profitable, privately-owned carrier of India, operating 340 flights a day to dozens of domestic (inside India) and international destinations. And where did I learn about its plans to connect Newark with Brussels? I attended a reception at the Belgian Consulate in New York, where insiders were breathlessly disclosing the news. Keep in mind that Brussels is happy to receive U.S. passengers, and does not slap ruinous fees and charges on departing passengers, like the surcharges of $200-or-so you now need to pay to depart from any of the London airports to the U.S.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
