One common problem with hotels in Bangalore is that, while the hotel may be grand and had the luxury of space, the ballroom size is disproportionately small.

The Oberoi Bangalore is a beautiful hotel with lush greenery and spacious guest rooms.  Yet its largest function room – The Orchid – can fit no more than 55 guests in classroom style.  Despite its small size, the relatively high ceiling and furnishing gives it a stately feel.  Three other smaller rooms can take in between 18-36 people classroom style.  The service at the Oberoi is impeccable and staff, from front desks to restaurants, makes the guests feel very welcome indeed.

The Leela Kempinski is a newer hotel with a grand palatial feel because of its high lobby ceiling and Roman columns.  The approach to the ballroom, via a ‘bridge’ on the second floor, is enchanting.  The ballroom has a sizable pre-function area for cocktails, tea and coffee breaks and tabletop exhibition.  Its Grand Ballroom, although one of the largest reviewed by MICEreveiw, is not that big by Southeast Asian hotel standard, with a capacity of about 250 in classroom style, but it does have a high ceiling.  There are three other smaller rooms for breakout sessions and board meetings.  The guest rooms in this hotel are luxurious with classical-styled furnishing but equipped with modern facilities.  It is quite a large hotel with many corridors, such that even the staff had trouble figuring the way when conducting the site visit.

The Taj West End, is a colonial styled hotel reminiscent of the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore.  But while Raffles Hotel is located in a compact downtown site, The Taj West End has a sprawling land area.  All the guestrooms are technically not rooms, but individual units in either terraced or townhouse buildings or even bungalows.  Its Ballroom is located in a building slightly away from the lobby.  It can accommodate 200 guests in classroom style and has a fairly good pre-function area.  The Conference Room takes in 90 guests classroom style, and another three smaller rooms for 15 to 40 guests.  All the function rooms suffer from having rather low ceiling height of 3-4 metres. There are also many gardens, open space, restaurants and lounges for outdoor functions and theme parties.  The trouble with running events in a sprawling compound is that the organizer or event manager may have a fair bit of running around to ensure smooth operations of the function.

Lalit Ashok Hotel has ample garden space, large swimming pool area, and clubhouse for fitness with spa facilities for outdoor functions and recreation.  At the Lalit Ashok Hotel, the location of its ballrooms and exhibition halls is rather odd.  The main entrance to the ballroom and the pre-function area is located at the back of the hotel.  Conference delegates who found themselves in the hotel lobby would be directed to walk outside around the hotel to enter the ballroom.  Although the hotel interior is directly connected to the ballroom via a backdoor, this exit is meant more for access to the restroom.  The ballroom can sit 160 guests classroom style.  However, the ceiling height is very low and hence a grand stage is not possible, and view of video projection is compromised.  The small pre-function area can be used for tea and coffee breaks at best, and any buffet lunch would have to flow out into the outdoor area.  The Convention Hall and the Chanakaya Hall on the second floor each takes in 80 guests classroom style.  The exhibition hall is a separate structure from the hotel main building.  The word ‘structure’ is used here because it is more a like a makeshift tin-roof warehouse than a proper building.  It can house about 50 standard 3m X 3m booths.  There is another smaller temporary structure for exhibition or banquet purposes. 

The good news is that the hotel would be tearing down these two temporary structures to build a larger convention centre soon.  Until then, the Lalit Ashok Hotel is probably more suitable for mid-size corporate meetings than conventions and exhibitions.