1. The hotel offers decent accommodations for the price point.

2. It is only worth it if you are fine with being constantly hounded and hassled about over-priced and dishonest travel arrangements.

3. Do NOT, under any circumstance, believe the travel agent/guy or use the hotel to book travel arrangements, trips or tours.

The hotel is in the seedy area of Pahar Ganj, which actually works out to be a pretty good location if you don't mind the area (It was just fine by us) It is close to the New Delhi train station and a 5 min walk from the Metro. It is also easy walking distance or a cheap tuk-tuk to Connaught Place. For the price, the room was decent. We had a large double bed and hot water. The problem with the hotel, however, is the dishonest guy who handles travel (he also claimed to be the owner of the hotel -- the veracity of this claim unverified, although his office is around the corner in a different building). He waxes poetic about how Delhi is filled with touts trying to rip you off and everyone, except himself of course, is dishonest and not to be trusted. The irony being that it is he who is the dishonest tout trying to rip you off. Indian friends recommended booking a car and driver through whichever hotel we stayed at, so we tried doing this through Lals Haveli. The travel guy gave us a decent price . . . until it came time to finalise details. Once we tried to finalise arrangements (now having been taken to his office for the first time, which was decidedly not in the hotel) the price jumped by close to 50% and a day was knocked off the duration. We decided to forgo his offer and look elsewhere for travel arrangements.

We scrapped the plan to hire a car and driver for the time being and just looked for travel to Agra. A number of options were available, including the train (albeit 3A and later in the day than we wanted to travel -- in hindsight, it would have been a better option than Lals Haveli provided), public buses, taxi drivers (2000 rupees) and tour buses (returning to Delhi but allowing us to disembark the tour in Agra). We found many tour operators offering buses, but decided (wrongly -- this was a huge naive mistake on our part) to offer Lals Haveli one last chance to match the best offer. Lals' travel did indeed agree to match and promised a deluxe tour bus leaving the hotel at 6:15 and taking 3 hours to arrive in Agra. We were taken by a random guy to the main road around the corner from the hotel after 6:30 (it was actually quite cold being mid-December in the midst of a cold-wave -- many people in UP actually died from the cold). The bus did not arrive for quite some time (well after 7:00).

Once on the bus the truth was revealed. To save costs and avoid the 1000 rupees in toll fees, the bus refrained from the expressway and instead took the old road to Agra (This explanation was provided by a fellow traveler who turned out to be an Indian living and working in Muscat, Oman for a travel agency home in India to secure another visa. He and his wife were also duped onto the bus under false pretenses, and like us, none to happy about it). Instead of the trip we were promised and sold, we arrived in Agra close to 3:00 in the afternoon.

The travel hassles were of our own making. After the fact we revisited TripAdvisor and Agoda and found much of this same advise -- the hotel is decent for the price point but it is not worth the hassle of constant hounding and a dishonest man. There are so many other, better hotel options in Delhi. In fact, upon our return to Delhi a week later we stayed at a place on the same road about a block South of Lals Haveli and were much, much happier. With all of this said, we should make a point of highlighting one bright spot -- the man who carried our luggage, summoned the elevator and brought us beer was a genuinely nice fellow, always with a smile on his face.

Great hotel in Delhi! Right in the middle of the chaotic capital of India, close to the main train station and subway. We were only supposed to stay five nights but ended up staying three more. The hospitality we experienced was uncontested and sincere. We had to get visa photos taken and a staff member literally took us by the hand, across the very intimidating traffic and led us to a little photography studio where we paid pennies and waited no more then 5 minutes for our photos. The location is within walking distance of a subway or if you feel like experiencing Delhi by rickshaw you will have no trouble at all waving someone down. The restaurant at the hotel is one that we ate at quite a few times. The restaurant is on the rooftop patio, and at night you can see a great deal of the city. There is also room service (convenient), constant hot water, and most importantly the hotel is clean and comfortable.The Lal's Haveli is a great place for a short or long stay and for those looking for mid-budget accommodations.

It was a lovely place to stay in Delhi. My brother and Bhabi stayed there earlier and they recommended this place. We were travelling in groups-a total of 8 people. And we loved this place. The hotel staffs are very friendly and cooperative, very unlike of the people of India. The hotel is located in Paharganj and the train station is just 10 minutes away by rickshaw. There are lots of street shops around which runs till late night. Rickshaws, bus and autos are easily available down the road. The only difficulty is the Metro. You have to take a rickshaw for a 15 minutes ride to get to the nearby metro station. You can also get good sweetmeat just across the road. Though the rooms are not that modern, but the friendly attitude and other things makes you feel at home. They have hot water facilities and also wi-fi service. Their price is also very competitive.

Its my second Home in New Delhi, i always book my stay in Delhi at lal's haveli close to Railway station Metro Station, everything. a very warm staff, would recommend to every one one who is visiting Delhi

Rohit Tiwary