Courtyard & Fairfield Marriott – New Hotels @Bellandur, Bangalore
Advertisements
Marriott International is one of the premium brands in the lodging industry across the world. They offer nearly 19 brands globally with nine in Asia Pacific. This is the first time that they have setup a duel property in Bangalore. And another interesting thing is that they have brought in the Courtyard brand for the first time in Bangalore. The duel property it the same complex caters to different requirements of the customers. Fairfield happens to the budget hotel catering to travellers and business folks. And the other is the more luxurious hotel named ‘Courtyard’. Marriott already has a property in Bangalore, which is known for the well-designed rooms and great service.
Background
Bangalore, which is the IT capital of India, has become a very popular destination for many of the IT Company to setup up their office. And it is also a place where plenty of startup thrives. To cash on the same, there are waiting to bring their offering. Among the areas in Bangalore, Bellandur surely has become quite a popular IT hub with plenty of companies in and around the area. It is proximal to many of the shopping, eateries and other main areas in Bangalore.
I am sure some of the reason resulted in the decision for opening up the hotels in Bellandur Outer Ring Road.
The concept of dual hotels catering to different clienteles has become quite popular. People looking for premium experience would prefer the ‘Courtyard’ and the ones looking for a well-packaged budget hotel go for Fairfield.
Marriott International has nearly 4300 properties in nearly 85 countries and territories. They operate both in Franchise and ownership model.
Features of Courtyard & Fairfield
Each of the hotels in Bellandur has nearly ~170 rooms each, which also includes the ‘Deluxe’ room. There is a nice looking pool and some of the rooms are facing the poolside to get a better view.
Courtyard has its traditional ‘Momo Café’ and ‘Momo 2 Go (Bekery). Mom Café is a chic all day dining restaurant which is contemporary, warm, vibrant, welcoming and offers a gastronomic a la carte and buffet menu featuring fresh ingredients and intonation flavors. Momo 2 is more like the place where you can get pastries and savories. There is also Lobby Bar to enjoy and relax over a drink post work. There is a poolside Mediterranean poolside restaurant to relax & wind called BG’s. The BG’s is a Mediterranean restaurant with a facility to sit inside and outside.
Fairfield has its traditional ‘Kava’, which is the ‘All Day dine-in restaurant’. There is the ‘Kava The Bar’, which is a modern mood bar, and lounge that offers freshly brewed coffee in the day and interesting cocktails by evening. They also share the BG’s along with courtyard.
Entire setup is quite similar with few subtle differences that can be seen on closer look.
Event
This was an event where they called in Bloggers to be able to write about the place. There were a few things that they did as part of the events.
Press Meet
This happened between 2.30-3pm where they invited folks from Press & Media to write and create awareness. I was part of the event where in they shared the ‘Media’ note giving more info on the Marriott. It was held one of the lovely looking ballroom in Courtyard close to Momo Café.
After Party
This was another time to celebrate where many of the Bangalore socialites were invited to enjoy some of the cocktails and snacks at the BG’s.
Prasad Bidappa, one of the leading and iconic Fashion Design showcased show of the designs and spoke a few words.
Rock Band performance was also there before the Fashion shows which was wonderful.
There were live counter along side the pool where you could pick up some lovely cocktails.
On the other side of the pool was another open counter that was serving salads and cheese. There also some breads and olives in the same counter.
Special bar counter was setup inside where they were making some special-cocktails.
Dinner at the Momo Café was served with variety dishes including – Mediterranean, Continental, Indian, Briyanis, Chaat, Deserts and others.
Food
This is something I was quite impressed with and I enjoyed most of the meals that I had at the venue. Some of the varieties I had included.
Mediterranean
There were multiple varieties of salad and dishes to let our mouths water as we kept eating more.
There was something that I did not like here was the Paneer based item which was a bit too chewy for me.
Indian Section
They had most of the commonly loved dishes in Indian like the Paneer Butter Masala, Palak Subji, Mixed Veg subji. Rotis were being served freshly and the overall taste was really good.
Fried Vegetables
This was a separate counter where there were plenty of veg varieties, which were lightly fried like – Bitter gourd, Zucchini, Tomato, Yum, Potato, Capsicum, Small Chillies, and Ladies Finger. You need to choose the veg and then ask the chef to mix it. The taste of it came out to be very good and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Biryani Counter
There were 4 biryani options with 1 veg in that. But still glad to see that did not limit to only 1 variety but multiple varieties. There was a selection of chutneys also that could be tasted along with the briyanis.
Desert
There some superb desert that probably came from ‘Momo 2 Go’. Some of the ones that I can recollect like – Chocolate popcorn in small cute cones, variety of cakes, candies, and lollipops. There were the traditional Indian sweets as well.
Overall Experience
It was a wonderful afternoon/evening spent at the Marriott, Bellandur. They seem to be making a lot of inroad into the Bangalore market by setting up multiple hotels. I am sure they will have people pouring in. And for many of us who have travelled abroad, Courtyard happens to be one of the favored places to stay for of simple reason that they are located at the right places in the city, good facilities and excellent reward program.
It was also a wonderful opportunity to meet, laugh and talk about many good things in life with other socialites, bloggers and foodies.
I would like to wish, good luck to both Courtyard Marriott & Fairfield Marriott for success.