Good location, great value for money
Mahuya Paul
I chose this Hotel Tokyo Palace purely based on online reviews and I could see why. For a December trip, I had booked it in August, and the first service touchpoint was an welcome email from the manager thanking us and letting us know of the various discounts and camel safari packages available. We finally did take their package - they customize it for us and gave us an excellent price, I thought. My recommendation would be to go with what these guys suggest and not to look for cheaper deals outside. It was safe, and very pampering. We wanted to see the sunrise at Gadisar lake on day 2, and they arranged a car for us at 5:15 am. Word of advice: Sunrise happens only at 7:15am - so don't go so early. We were misinformed and had to loiter around in the dark for a couple of hours before we could see the sun rising! The Hotel Tokyo Palace offered to pick us up from the railway station. When we realized that we were going to reach an hour later, I called up the Hotel Tokyo Palace desk and informed them about the delay, and also ordered for dinner. Since the kitchen closes as 10pm and we were arriving around 11 pm, they prepared it as the last order so that the food doesn't get cold. The 6 rotis and paneer butter masala was extremely tasty and the portion was huge. Later, we were to discover that all food portions are large in the Hotel Tokyo Palace, and in Jaisalmer in general. True to their promise, there was this overtly enthusiastic young man called Sakhi Khan who came to pick us up at the railway station. He went to become our personal valet for the 2 days we stayed there. Sakhi would always say, "Main aapko sab kuch spelling karke dunga" - I'll spell out everything for you. We figured out later that he meant that he would explain everything to us. When I say that the Hotel Tokyo Palace is in a good location, do not mistake it to mean that it's in a pristine locality, with 5 star amenities around. In fact, the Hotel Tokyo Palace is difficult to locate with small bye lanes, and pigs on the road. But, the first view is quite striking. Built on the Jharoka architecture, very common all over Jaisalmer, it looks very striking. Also, it's maintained very well on the outside at least. The location is very good because you can walk up to the fort, and to good restaurants, and to a line of good shops. The room was very spacious, with royal designs, but it was royally dusty around the sitting areas, and the cushions and curtains that were hardly used, or maintained. The beds were clean. There is a swimming pool but that is very small and unappealing, with no space around. I was not impressed. The Hotel Tokyo Palace is equipped with solar heater, we were told. The roof top restaurant was very nice, with sitting areas that overlook the fort. Again, the seats and bolsters were old and worn-out, and there was this one man who served us through breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout our stay. This man, however, showed the same attitude of service as did the manager, and the inimitable Sakhi Khan, who would turn up for room service, and for our pick ups and drops, as well as for guiding advice - he is a character that added more color to our stay. The food was amazing! I had the best poha of my life. I ordered for lahsun ki chutney and carried home the leftover, because it was very tasty and also because they packed it so nicely. It stayed fresh even after a week. The Ker Sangri is also a must try. The Wi-Fi was quite good. Lastly, the name is Tokyo Palace, because the owner is either Japanese, or lives in Japan - I did not quite understand what the manager meant when he said, "The owner is in Japan. " Naturally, there were a lot of Japanese guests.
