Situated in the busy IT hub of ‘cyberabad’ (Hyderabad’s newest sibling), with headquarters of various corporate and tech giants as its neighbours, there is no doubt about Regenta One’s area of business. Its job is to offer temporary home and hearth to the weary out-of-town executives who slog in the high powered offices littering this area. And this job it does decently. Its tall lobby is a pleasing space, dominated by a large sculpture not unlike a perforated bowling pin.
My room I liked at once. Adorned in tones of brown, it plays safe; but, given the brief, wisely so. A comfy looking bed, a beige single chair with a footstool you could push away with ease, pools of light from the lamp stands. Nice. A large window overlooked some shrubbery and looked across to the tallish offices of the IT giant, Capgemini. A thick plane of glass made up a table to one side, looking frightfully efficient and business-like. I had no deskwork to execute as I sat there, but it was so perfect for role-play, I pulled the notepad and pencil towards me, wrote down an unnecessary to-do list and then swung about in the chair in a hammy interpretation of a bossy boss.
A generous proportion of the room is allotted to the bathroom, which further benefits from a full length mirror. So you have a gleaming wash basin, a gracious bathtub, a pokier shower cubicle, a wardrobe with all the niceties and the WC.
I zipped down for my dinner. I peeked in at Salsa, the swankily lit bar but settled in Lime Light, the all-day dining restaurant that offers a wide variety of cuisines: it boasts wood-fired oven pizzas and live stations. I asked for a selection of kebabs and tikkis, and their buffet — with Indian, continental and a smattering of Oriental dishes — looked very inviting as well. Across the excellent meals I had here, I must commend the soups specially — a mango basil suffused tomato broth one day, followed the next with a thyme-scented soup of champignon and then, pulped red pumpkin flavoured with almond — a concoction that inspired me enough to come home and try it for myself.
I sat up watching television late into the night, letting that enormous dinner digest, listening to the thrum of the business district slow down a trifle.
The information
Where: 115/1, ISB Road, Financial District, Nanakramguda, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500032
Accommodation: 154 Luxury Rooms, 4 Suites
Tariff Luxury Rooms: Rs 7,500 plus taxes; Suites: Rs 15,000 plus taxes. Rate includes breakfast
Contact: 040-49251111, royalorchidhotels.com