Carmen's Chronicles: The Ibis Mumbai Airport - Mumbai, India

Thursday, November 27, 2014

The Ibis Mumbai Airport - Mumbai, India - November 27,2014

Ibis Mumbai Airport is termed a "budget" property.
I discovered it during my second stay in India during
my retirement years. To be truthful, prior to that,
during my nursing employment when I often traveled
with three or four of my esteemed forensic friends and
colleagues, we would never consider anything with
the term "budget" attached to it. Our Royal Caribbean
friends on board the Monarch of the Seas gave us the
title of "Queens" and that name stuck. We would
usually pick a posh property, book a suite which we
could afford if we shared, and travel like queens.

Well, reality hit when retirement came and I suddenly
had to live on a pension and social security. As a
traveler all my life, I would either have to make adjustments
or stop seeing the world. I immediately downsized,
giving up the rented four bedroom house I had occupied
for over twenty years and got rid of most of my belongings.
I put the things with which I couldn't part in a 10' by
20' storage unit and started coming to India.

Occasionally, I found I needed a hotel for the night in
Mumbai where hotel properties border on the expensive.
After a most horrific experience at one hotel, I decided I
needed to do some research. After all, I had been an
outside sales travel agent for years, I was fairly proficient
with the computer, and I was a long term Trip Adviser
member. I got to work and my research led me to the
Ibis Mumbai Airport. Good, it was near the domestic
airport and I wanted a place that was in that locale for
my trips here and there about India. Price-wise, it was
perfect and I liked everything else I read.

The Ibis Mumbai Airport is located 2 minutes from the
domestic airport in Mumbai and 1 km from the international
airport. It has 159 rooms, either consisting of one
double bed or two single beds, with an attached bathroom,
WiFi, and an excellent restaurant, Spice It, that offers
individual dining selections as well as sumptiuous buffets.

The Ibis Mumbai Airport is a member of the Accor Hotels
group.

Weekdays, it seems filled with business travelers, while
weekends, usually at a lower rate, attract families.

I have found hotel staff to be friendly and helpful and the
rooms are spotlessly clean. The beds, with incredible
mattresses, are some of the most comfortable I have
experienced. The rooms and baths are not very large but,
as this is a budget property, mainly used by business
travelers, I did not expect a suite! They are quite adequate
for my purposes.

For much more extensive information about the property,
refer to the Ibis Mumbai Airport website at:
http://www.ibis.com/gb/hotel-6367-ibis-mumbai-airport/index.shtml

Two of the wonderful Ibis Spice It staff. 24-hour room

service is available from the restaurant and buffets are

offered at breakfast and dinner. The special Thursday night

buffets, which feature various regions of India, are not to be

missed.

There are always multiple veg and non veg choices at every

meal and, of course, one can always order off the menu. If

I look at the buffet, though, I can never resist it.

The Kerala evening buffet was especially wonderful. I wish

I could remember the names of everything I ate because many of the selections I had never tried before.

I usually indulge in a vodka martini but there are assorted other cocktails ( nice cosmopolitan ), alcoholic, beverages, beer, wine and mocktails as well. Of course, water, soft drinks, coffee and chai are always available.

The main problem I have is that my eyes are bigger than my stomach. I've learned to take tiny tastes, planning to go back for more later. Trouble is, once I've finished all the "tastes,"

I am too full even for dessert.

I am also including a few other pictures from the Ibis Mumbai

Airport.