Hostel Traveler

The Golden Buddha - Sarnath
Vāranāsi, India
Sarangnath Colony

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Overall User Rating: 2.8

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Value for Money 2.3

Rooms 2.5

Cleanliness 2.7

Location 3.5

Security & Safety 2.9

Service & Staff 2.8

Food / Dining 2.5

Total 2.8

"Simple but extremely friendly and considering"

User Rating: 4.3

Reviewer: Ananda C. of New Delhi, India

Reviewed: February 28, 2010 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: February 2010 Type: Other

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Comments (English):
The Golden Buddha is a clean simple Hotel! The rooms are simple but tastefully decorated, the staff is extremely friendly. Enjoy the breakfast on the - very well kept - lawn.

"Reasonable Price according to location and service delivery"

User Rating: 4.3

Reviewer: Phalang C. of Nonthaburi, Thailand

Reviewed: January 11, 2010 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: December 2009 Type: Active/Adventure

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Comments (English):
I have travel with my friend (7 Persons) on Dec 09. Hotel is situated in quiet location. You have to walk around 20 Meters from main road. However, the place is very good. Clean room and there is proper facility in the room. And hotel close main door during night. Rooms on second floor is beautiful.

In my openion, It is a good place to stay with a reasonable and price. Although hotel does not situated in varanasi. However, You can rent Auto-rickshaw to travel in varanasi.

Owners have a good service mind. They can response to your requirement and deliver as your requested. I have order hotel for breakfast pack. Hotel can suggest me and propose menu with acceptable price.

Remark from my observation:
Sometime Hotel have a big group, so you might feel inconveniency with a lot people. I think it is not a big problem, if you stay in second floor.

Wish you happy with this hotel.

"Stay away from this place!!!"

User Rating: 2.0

Reviewer: Facchini O. of genova, Italy

Reviewed: March 14, 2009 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: March 2009 Type: Couple

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Comments (English):
Hi!! we've been to the THE GOLDEN BUDDHA in Varanasi after we've boooked for 3 nights,and when we arrived at the hoTel,WE HAVE PREFFERED LOOSING OUR PAYED FIRST NIGHT instead to be in that kind of place for other 2 nights!! It seemed like an abandoned place,nobody seemed interested in us and they didn't known about our reservtion,but anyway they have showed just one room,not clean of course, and really poor for the prize we've payed!!We went away,and following the driver's suggest we've found a PERFECT HOTEL in Varanasi at the same prize (around 1000 rs) at THE BUDDHA HOTEL, REALLY RECOMENDED!!

"Golden Buddha -- Sarnath"

User Rating: 3.1

Reviewer: William S. of Goshen NY, United States

Reviewed: February 12, 2009 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: February 2009 Type: Couple

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Comments (English):
Sarnath was a pleasant change after five days on a Varanasi ghat. The Golden Buddha was acceptable, but the included breakfast consisted of nothing but toast and one cup of tea.

"Peaceful Sarnath"

User Rating: 3.0

Reviewer: John U. of Varanasi, India

Reviewed: February 11, 2009 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: February 2009 Type: Other

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Comments (English):
Hi!
Although we are not allowed to make comments on this page...

We directly look forward to good and no-so good reviews and feed back from all our guests.

We strive to make ours a friendly and comfortable place to stay.
Most of the times our guests leave happily hoping to come again or to send their friends. Only leaving us with good comments and suggestions. Somtimes if a guests goes unsatisfied, it hits the fan!
We apologize to all of them. And thank the ones who have given us the oppertunity by way of their complaints and suggestions to make the Golden Buddha a better place for everyone!

We are always willing to answer any enquiries during the time of booking.

Everyone works hard to make money & find time to travel. Have a great time in India!

Cheers!!

John Upadhyaya

"Avoid the Golden Buddha at all price!"

User Rating: 1.7

Reviewer: Aloyse A. of London, United Kingdom

Reviewed: January 20, 2009 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: January 2009 Type: Single

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Comments (English):
I did not want to write a review about this horrible place but if you insist...

The Golden Buddha is not a place I would recommend to anyone.

I have been staying in their dormitory one night during the Dalai Lama teachings in January 2009: I had tried to book a room instead but they had all been booked during this high profile event.
I had planned to stay a week but the place was so unwelcoming and poorly managed that I left after one night.
I had made a reservation 3 months earlier but arrived a few days later than planned because I had been held in another city. Although the owner, John, had assured me on the phone that he had kept my bed free (since I had paid for it) he had double-booked it whilst I was away and it was still double booked when I arrived!
The other people in the dormitory where not happy to see me since there were more people in the room than beds available. They merely told me that there was no bed for me, despite my vehement claim that I had booked it long ago.
Far from being embarrassed for having given my bed to someone else (and for being so greedy!) John did not try to rectify the situation and let me face the humiliation to have to defend my right to use the bed I had paid for.
As if it was not enough, he did not bring me any linen, blanket or pillow until I requested it, not once but 3 times. When he finally did acknowledge that as guest I was entitled to these things, he gave me an old stinky mattress (???) instead of a blanket! He said nothing else was available and it was freezing cold so I had no choice but to cover myself with that smelly THING full of flees. It took me three days to get rid of them...

His wife who's helping him running the hotel was equally unpleasant: other people noticed that she could be very blunt and rude to tourists. She certainly was rude to me: she completely ignored me, never greeted me or said hello etc. Both of them were giving me 'the look' and dropping their smile when they were talking to me, maybe because I had caught them red-handed doing their dodgy and care-free business.
I got my bed back in the end but did not sleep at all because it was, to say the least, the most uncomfortable place I have never slept in: ridiculously hard beds full of bugs, no mosquito nets, smelly toilets which were never cleaned, etc. When I complained about it, John tried to make me book an expensive room... in the basement of the hotel which I was told later was not more comfortable, and just as dirty as the dormitory.
When I left on the following day, he obviously charged me for all the nights I had initially booked; a ridiculous amount considering the very poor quality of the service and the fact that the bed had been paid and used by someone else whilst I was not there.
He even mentioned that if I had not complained about the lack of comfort he would had charged me for the days ahead as well although I had no choice but to leave after the way they treated me. If I had not been assertive, I would have been even more ripped off by greedy John and his charming wife...
No, I’ll never go back to the Golden Buddha in Sarnath...

A bruised customer

"A Big Disappointment"

User Rating: 1.9

Reviewer: Nerissa W. of Melbourne, Australia

Reviewed: January 20, 2009 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: January 2009 Type: Single

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Comments (English):
My stay was a very negative experience in an otherwise incredible week during the Dalai Lama's teachings. It seemed evident that John, the manager, has some understanding of hospitality, and I did tell him I had so many complaints, but I didn't at that time want to make the situation worse during the teachings, and they were problems which seemed to be just the way they ran things, not things which they would fix. eg:

The room was dark, cold and not cozy at all, much overpriced at the Rs 700 I was charged. It was in the front side near the lobby and VERY noisy all the time.
The wife was very insulting towards me in regards to requesting foreign money exchange.
When advised that if I was returning after 10pm to prevent being locked out of the hote lthat I should inform her; I did so, but I was nevertheless locked out, with my knocking not heard for some minutes, making me feel in danger on the street.
Other staff were rude and unhelpful. When one evening I had no water in the taps (either hot or cold) I asked for assistance the staff got angry and said rudely "someone will come!" but no-one did. Luckily the water returned by morning. I had my door knocked on 3 days (out of the 7 stayed) - the first time 2 men barged in without my consent, apparently to 'see if the hot water light was on', the second time I was meditating and I did not respond the person kept knocking louder and louder and calling out more insistent the more I did not respond. I informed them after this, that I did not want such disturbances, but it happened again.

The couple's nightmare 4-year old child was very disturbing, left unsupervised much of the time. Each evening he would throw a tantrum which was heard throughout the building. One night the started banging on my door sounding like some police raid and this terrified me. When I went to the door he tried to force his way in to the room against my protests. A server eventually came to pull the child away but the child was very insistent. When I closed my door he started pounding on it again. It was very disturbing.
When I checked out I left my luggage until the afternoon. When I waited in the lobby to retrieve my bags, within a minute I was apprehended again by same nightmare child, who tried to run off with my shoulder bag, and would not stop trying to do so.
When settling my bill I was informed for the first time of an extra 10% charge of Rs 500 on top of the already over-priced rate, which after everything else added insult to injury.
I did not eat a tthe restaurant but I saw a group of patrons leave unhappily after waiting 90 minutes for their food which did not come.

"Golden Buddha"

User Rating: 3.8

Reviewer: Jordan V. of Seattle, United States

Reviewed: January 12, 2009 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: January 2009 Type: Other

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Comments (English):
Comfortable room at a reasonable price. Prompt room service for most requests. Friendly staff. The meal service was slow, so we usually ate out.

"Terrible place to stay!"

User Rating: 2.7

Reviewer: Cindy E. of JHB, South Africa

Reviewed: December 24, 2008 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)

Traveled: December 2008 Type: Couple

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Comments (English):
My husband and I were very dissapointed in the accomodation. The room was very damp all the time. The reception area had very old couches and a broken table. The room we booked was a dulux room, but there was very little hot water and the water pressure was the worst ever. No TV. Very uncomfortable bed.
The room was never serviced.
In all I would never go back to the place and not recommend the place to anyone.

"Never ever!"

User Rating: 1.3

Reviewer: SAURABH S. of SINGAPORE, Singapore

Reviewed: December 11, 2008 (see hostel reviews from Instantworldbooking.com)