The grandeur of Grand by GRT, TNagar Chennai

Grand by GRT is a premium business class hotel in T Nagar, the heart of Chennai. This hotel is flagship property of GRT Group, who also run a chain of Jewelry stores by the same name as well as other hotels such as Radisson Blu Temple Bay Mahabalipuram, Regency in Kancheepuram, Madurai, Great Trails in Kodaikanal and Yercaud, Vibe in Coimbatore, Hyd and few more across South India. (We were told Bengaluru property is coming up soon near Ulsoor lake). GRT Group also has interests in retail, education and other sectors.

As part of GRT Hotels bloggers meet 2 weeks ago, we got to spend a night in Grand by GRT and got to experience its uniqueness and features first hand. This post aims to explain the salient features of Grand by GRT to you.

The history: The hotel was formerly known as GRT Grand. It was brainchild of G Rajendran, the founder of the group. T stands for Thangamaligai which roughly translates to shopping complex. The hotel was set up in 1999. During those days, a hotel with tall vertical atrium in the centre was a revolutionary idea. Many reportedly said it is a bad idea given the impact on Air conditioning and wastage of space which could have been used to add more rooms. But Mr Rajendran stuck to his concept and soon the hotel was talk of the town for its innovative interiors.

Rooms and Suites:

Grand by GRT has about 133 rooms including 6 suites, spread across 9 floors. 9th floor is smoking rooms, rest of the hotel is no smoking area.

The suites are spread across multiple floors. Suit rooms come with large living area with mini toilet, a full body massage chair, spacious bedroom and bathroom. Check the photos below. Suits are of two types- Deluxe suite and theme suite

Our stay was in the next category of rooms- Grand Club Rooms on 8th floor, which had leg massage units, nice view of the city and access to club lounge.

Serene and Business Class rooms are the other two categories.

The 2015 floods: GRT Grand was affected by the December 2015 floods like rest of Chennai. Water entered basement and many services including electricity supply were disrupted. However the hotel guests who were in the campus at the time of floods were well taken care of and the hotel also helped other civilians who wanted help. As a result of flood impact the hotel had to be shut down for 3 months, during which several innovative improvements were also commissioned, besides just restoring the damaged facilities/services.

The culture of Tamil Nadu depicted on each floor:

Each floor of GRT has something unique to show- right after you get out of the elevator. Grand by GRT is positioned as an art focused hotel, with each floor having a story to tell. Exclusive space is provided in each floor for this purpose. These creatives are managed under the brand, “The art bristo”.

The 9th floor has artwork depicting the Pamban bridge of Rameshwaram, LIC building, Kapaleeshwar temple and other places of significance.

8th floor is dedicated to Kollywood- the Tamil Cinema Industry,

8th floor also gets an exclusive club room, with red colour theme- a library, billiards table and sitting area.

7th floor is for textiles of Tamil Nadu

6th floor depicts folklore

5th floor is dedicated to Tamil Literature and so on.

4th floor is for dance and traditional jewelry

Note: Because each floor is access controlled by your keycard, you can’t explore other floors on your own. Take help from hotel staff, who will be happy to give you a quick walk through.

Banquet Halls- Second floor has multiple banquet halls

The designer washrooms in lobby level: Lobby gets a designer washroom, built keeping in mind various things women do in restrooms (identified after a brainstorming session with several women). I will stop with this, as I didn’t enter the same and not qualified to comment more. Mens room is also tastefully done. Though there’s Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor guarding the doors with their murals, many guests often get mixed up and enter the wrong restroom, so GRT deploys a staff here to ensure that men don’t enter women’s restroom or vice versa

The restaurants:

Bazaaris a 24 hour dining facility in Grand by GRT. Great food with grand colourful display- check my earlier post onthe same.

Hindis a specialty restaurant with very colourful interiors. The central chandelier is designed keeping in mind women’s earrings. The walls are adored with artefacts from various havelis and ancient buildings. The seats and curtains are specially designed. We had our dinner here which was a memorable experience. Chefs made live ice creams, served a great range of signature dishes one after another that kept us busy from 8 PM till 11 PM. Unfortunately by expertise with food is bit limited to describe all those we ate.

Gym and Pool: Gym and Swimming pool is located in the basement. Accessible via a separate lift from lobby level.
Bodhi Spaoffers rejuvenating ayurvadic massage and health treatments.

Grand by GRT is very close to US Consulate, shopping hub of T Nagar. Other attractions of Chennai such as Marina beach, Kapaleeshwar temple etc are within 5-10 km radius. Airport is about 25 kms away.

Very spacious lobby with an excellent view up (first picture in this post) is a great experience. With friendly staff at your service, your stay in Grand by GRT is sure to be a memorable one.

Rentals: Grand by GRT range from about INR 4000 for business class rooms (single occupancy) to INR 12000+ for the most expensive theme suite. Breakfast and WiFi complementary. You can refer to their official website to check availability and book. Alternatively you can use Booking.com widget below.

This post originally appeared on www.enidhi.net and can be read here.