Draw the Presidential bath

The sexy bathroom might be its showstopper, but this suite doesn't stint on other luxuries.

I s it at all possible that the jaded world traveller, used to impossible luxuries, would find a showstopper in — of all things — a bathroom? Clearly, the good people at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi believe so, which is why when they knocked together ten rooms to create the 3,500 sq ft Grand Presidential Suite, they surrendered one of those rooms to kit out an entire bathroom in imported Satvario marble.

It makes you gasp all right, this vast, white space dominated by a Hoesch whirlpool bath — making you wonder whether Tony and Cherie Blair might have shared a glass of champagne in it when they checked in — but alas, heads of state, or those looking to companies whose worth is larger than that of several countries, are often short of that one luxury: time.

Still, it must feel good that, should they be so inclined, a giant jacuzzi awash with jasmine buds awaits their pleasure. That the butler could prepare for them their own, private steam room. That the Dornbracht rainshower they’re most likely to use is only an option, that other luxuries await them in possibly the most well-thought out grand suite in the city.

From the Asian Games in 1982 to the forthcoming Commonwealth Games next year has been a long journey for India, changing it in ways many would have thought inconceivable, and ongoing renovations at what was India’s first convention hotel reflect those changes. The convention centre was the first to experience this, with a more elegant entrance and banquet rooms that general manager Sarabjeet Singh claims as “daresay the best in the country today”.

The same scalpel has been wielded on the top floors of the hotel, so the rooms are contemporary, certainly plush, with a glass wall separating the room from the bathroom, a nod not so much at salaciousness as to make the space appear larger, edgier. “The idea,” says Singh, “was to ensure global comfort levels”, an attempt the Singapore-based designer David Edwards has carried off without sacrificing the local ethos.

Clearly, the piece de resistance of the renovations is the Presidential Suite, lavished with as much care as a personal retreat “that suits a traveller of this stature”, according to Singh. That the effort has paid off was clear when steel baron L N Mittal — who has a home in the city — wanted to know how the gadgets in the pantry worked should he feel the need, at some unearthly hour of the night, for a cup of tea, or perhaps a snack.

Already — and the suite has been barely operational — the Presidents of Palestine and Brazil and Sri Lanka have been guests here. “We cater to a large number of heads of state,” the general manager confirms, “a number of state banquets are routinely hosted here”, a reason that the makeover had to be not just contemporary, or chic, but also tasteful and “not over the top”.

The Presidential Suite manages to pull it off with not a little panache. Past a private entrance, it splits up evenly into the public and private spaces. The public areas consist of two seating zones and a dining table for 14, adequate for hosting small parties (the crockery and cutlery are platinum coated), that can also be used for formal meetings.

As elsewhere, “the entire walnut flooring is hand-fitted and wax polished”, and 50-inch Bang & Olufsen LCD screens provide entertainment, or news (in the master-bath, B&O has commissioned the first television unit for use in a bathroom ever), and subdued but rich fabrics and motifs make up the design components. The overhead chandeliers are of Swarovski crystal, and the view on both sides is of Delhi’s ridge, an impossible forest of green beyond which the city skyline can be barely glimpsed.

The private part of the suite is even more sensitively thought out, so the master-bath with its Duravit ceramic fittings opens into a dressing and wardrobe area (with organic Beltrami robes), across from which is a private spa. The king-sized bed has a 10” Pedic mattress, Frette linen, and silk furnishings, a personal seating area, and a study-cum-library (which also opens from the corridor outside, ensuring privacy) with not only a handsome selection of illustrated books and handbound classics, but also a large writing table with laptop, an extremely comfortable (but not, thankfully, swivel) chair, lamps, a small TV screen and, facing it, a private treadmill.

It’s a given that a vast body of staff is in attendance — though a butler is assigned to be the interface — to take care of the arrangements of flowers, to ensure that the cushions are plumped just right, that the throws are in place, that the sculptures and paintings are cared for. “We’ve tried to package as many facilities as possible,” says Singh, though it’s all discreet, so what shows is not the effort but the features that help soften into a luxurious home. (Think of the Bvlgari toiletries, the Bose music systems and Pod stations and fully-loaded mini-bars as extras.)

“It isn’t a thematic design,” as suites generally tend to be, “nor is it a complicated design,” says Singh. But at Rs 3 lakh plus taxes, not everybody can get a dekho, or experience the Grand Presidential Suite. But with more changes on the anvil, guests should be able to experience some of these: The Tea House of the August Moon, shut for a while now, will open by July-August in the shape of the group’s Vietnamese restaurant Blue Ginger, designed by Ed Poole & Associates. A new bar will be added beside the restaurant that will utilise the poolside greens for an inside-outside seating. Later, Café Fontana and the lobby will undergo renovation.

From one set of games to the next, if New Delhi has changed, so has the Taj Palace. “We offer global quality,” says Singh. Doubtless, you’ll agree — from the decadent splendour of your whirlpool bath.