'Small hotels' customer services at par with large chains'

Country's small standalone hotels are steadily catching up with large chains in providing customer services, according to a survey.

"In India, in a clear indication that marketing budgets and size of establishment are not imperative to delivering a great customer experience, smaller standalone hotels are steadily catching up with large chain properties especially in the Service category," said Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India, which conducted a survey recently.

Top choices from the survey, which was based on reviews and opinions of travellers, were felicitated with the 2013 Travellers' Choice Awards held recently, a company statement said.

Hotels from Rajasthan reclaimed the honour from Kerala as the state with maximum number of awards, while the national capital made it to top spot among metros.

A total of 104 Indian hotels, across six categories, were felicitated in the fourth edition of the awards.

In all, 150 awards were given in the categories: Top Hotels, Luxury Hotels, Bargain Hotels, Service Hotels, Small Hotels, Bread and Breakfast/Inns.

Top three states were Rajasthan, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, followed by Goa at the fourth spot.

This year, hotels in Srinagar and Andaman & Nicobar made their debut in the Traveller's Choice list in the Top Small & Bargain categories, respectively.

Srinagar has seen a revival in tourist arrivals in  2012 and this debut is a reflection of this welcome change as well as a growing interest in offbeat Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

"In light of the turbulent times that Kashmir has seen, it is heartening to see it back on the tourist map not just in terms of increasing number of holiday-makers heading there, but also of a hotel going on to win a Traveller's Choice Award; hopefully a sign of better times to come," Ganju said.