The Imperial New Delhi Review: Our Deco Suite & Taste of India Stay

Our stay, at a glance

What we can speak to	Our experience
Length of stay	Five days, four nights
Booking	Grand Heritage Room on the Taste of India package
Room received	Deco Suite 368, following an upgrade
Package highlights	Meals, spa inclusions, a day trip to Jaipur and Imperial Lounge access
Added separately	The hotel art tour
Standouts	The staff, restaurants, pool and space in the suite
Main niggle	Limited accessible plug sockets beside the bed

These are the details of our stay. Package inclusions depend on the room and offer you book, and our upgrade isn't something to assume when making your own reservation.

Is The Imperial New Delhi worth it? For us, absolutely. We spent four nights here and left wanting to come back. The food was phenomenal, the suite gave us plenty of room to settle in, and the staff made a grand hotel feel remarkably personal. Add corridors full of art and a pool we were very happy to spend time beside, and you can see why leaving wasn't easy.

This is the first hotel review in our India section. Here's what we loved, what we'd check before booking, and the small room detail we'd change.

Watch our Imperial New Delhi video

Watch our full Imperial New Delhi review on YouTube for the room tour, a look around the hotel and our thoughts before checking out.

If you want to jump to a particular part:

• Arrival and the Taste of India package — 0:00
• Deco Suite tour — 1:49
• Bedroom and charging setup — 4:46
• Dressing area and bathroom — 6:29
• Art, service and the pool — 9:43
• Restaurants and breakfast — 10:33

Arrival: a hotel you want to explore

The entrance gives you a good idea of what's to come. Trees line the approach, the gardens are beautifully kept, and there are birds and little animals going about their day around you. It's a lovely setting to arrive into.

The Imperial dates back to 1936, and that sense of history runs through the whole place. We loved that the building and grounds still had so much character. You find yourself looking around constantly, even when you're only supposed to be walking back to your room.

What surprised us was how peaceful it felt. There is plenty of grandeur, but we found it easy to relax here. That mattered over a stay of several nights: we wanted somewhere we could enjoy spending time, as well as somewhere to sleep between trips out.

The Taste of India package: check the details

We booked the Taste of India package with a Grand Heritage Room. Our stay included meals, spa inclusions, a day trip to Jaipur and access to the Imperial Lounge. We also added the art tour because there was so much around the hotel that we wanted to understand properly.

Having the meals included worked particularly well for us. The restaurants became a big part of the stay, and we enjoyed being able to spend our evenings in the hotel without feeling we'd missed out on good food.

There is one practical point we mention in the video: check the exact package and room combination you're booking. The inclusions aren't identical across every option. We noted that minibar inclusion was available with a suite package, but that doesn't mean every Taste of India reservation comes with a complimentary minibar.

The same care applies to lounge access. Get the inclusions confirmed for your booking rather than assuming that everything shown in our stay will automatically be part of yours.

We haven't included a nightly price here because we didn't give our booking total in the video. For a useful comparison, ask the hotel for a quote that lists the room category, meals, drinks, spa inclusions and excursions separately. That gives you something concrete to compare with a room-only stay.

Deco Suite 368: an upgrade we thoroughly enjoyed

We booked a Grand Heritage Room and were upgraded to a Deco Suite. We were delighted. The room we show in the video is therefore the suite we actually stayed in, rather than a tour of the category we originally booked.

The first thing you notice is the space. There's a guest bathroom near the entrance, followed by the minibar area and a large living room. On arrival, we had welcome tea, sandwiches and cakes waiting for us. Those didn't last long.

The living room was somewhere we actually used. We relaxed there and did some video editing, with views out towards the gardens, pool and city. Over four nights, having a comfortable place to sit away from the bed made a difference.

Tea, coffee and bottled water were well stocked, with the water replenished daily. It was one of those practical things we appreciated throughout the stay.

A comfortable bed, with one charging niggle

The bed was huge and comfortable, and we slept very well. Sliding doors let us close the bedroom off from the living area, which gave the suite a useful sense of separation. The hotel also describes this layout on its Deco Suite page.

The television could swivel between the living room and bedroom. It also offered access to streaming apps, which is handy if you fancy a quiet evening in.

Our main criticism was the lack of easily accessible sockets beside the bed. There was a socket behind each bedside table, but the lamps were plugged into those. Another socket was further away, which wasn't ideal for charging a phone or watch within reach.

There was a charging station for a phone, watch and AirPods, which we really liked. We'd simply have liked one on each side of the bed. When there are two of you travelling with devices, that would make the setup much more convenient.

The desk was better equipped than it first appeared. Open the charging compartment and there were UK and European sockets, plus USB-C and USB-A connections. Useful once you know where to look.

The dressing area: Joe was very happy

The separate dressing space had plenty of light, storage and room for our products. And we do travel with quite a few products.

There was also a Dyson hairdryer, which is always a welcome sight for Joe. Between that and the space to get ready, this part of the suite got plenty of use before dinner.

The safe was a particularly practical detail. We could fit our laptop, cameras and a games console inside, rather than having to choose which pieces of equipment to put away. There was plenty of clothes storage too, even beyond what we needed for four nights.

The bathroom: space, good showers and a bath we never used

The main bathroom had a separate shower with rainfall and handheld options, a separate toilet and a large bath. Shower pressure and water temperature were both good throughout our stay, and the toiletries were replenished daily.

We liked the scent of the amenities, and there was enough space around the basin for both of us to unpack properly. Bottled water was left here as well as in the living area.

The bath looked lovely, but we never actually used it. Between being out and spending time by the pool, we didn't get round to it. There's a glass panel through towards the bedroom, with a blind if you'd prefer privacy.

Even the dressing gowns suited the setting. They were soft and lightweight, which made much more sense in the heat than a thick, heavy robe.

The art: allow time to look around

We described The Imperial as being like a living museum, and that's probably the best way to explain it. The walls and corridors are full of art and history. You could spend hours exploring without leaving the property.

The hotel's art collection runs to thousands of pieces. For us, adding the art tour was a worthwhile part of the stay: there is a lot more to take in than you notice on a quick walk to breakfast.

Our tip: leave time for the hotel itself. If you fill every day with trips out and only return to sleep, you'll miss a large part of what we enjoyed here.

The pool: somewhere to slow down

The pool area was an absolute oasis. We were greeted with chilled bottled water, ice-cold towels and a smile when we sat down. In the heat, that was a very welcome combination.

There were dedicated poolside changing suites too, so we didn't have to go all the way back to the room to get changed. It's a small convenience, but one that makes a relaxed afternoon easier.

What stayed with us was the attention from the pool team. The setting was beautiful, but the people looking after us made it feel special. It was somewhere we wanted to linger.

Our package also had spa inclusions. The video doesn't go into individual treatments, so the pool and the service around it are the parts we can describe in detail here.

Dining: a highlight of the whole stay

All our meals were included during our stay, and we enjoyed the food enormously. This wasn't a package where we found ourselves wishing we'd booked dinner elsewhere.

Breakfast at 1911

Each morning started at 1911, with a generous spread of juices, familiar Western breakfast options and Indian dishes. We liked having that choice: you could keep things familiar or try something different without committing your whole breakfast to it.

It was a lovely way to start the day, and another reason we were pleased to have meals included in our booking.

The Spice Route and our other dinners

The Spice Route is worth making time for. The hand-painted artwork is extraordinary; the room gives you plenty to look at before the food even arrives.

We also loved the Indian food we had at the hotel, and the Italian restaurant was another highlight. In the video, we described it as some of the best Italian food we'd eaten anywhere. That's how much we enjoyed it.

One unexpected discovery over dinner was Indian wine. We thought it was fantastic and found it much more reasonably priced than the imported wines on the menu during our stay. We'd happily explore more of it on a return trip.

Our lounge access also gave us a place for happy-hour cocktails and nibbles. As with the minibar, check whether this is included with your chosen room and package; it isn't a benefit to assume for every booking.

Service: the reason we'd return

The suite was beautiful, the food was excellent, and there was plenty to do. But the staff are what we kept coming back to when we talked about the stay.

The general manager set a high standard, and we felt it across the hotel. The pool team, housekeeping and front desk all took time to say hello and ask how our day was going. We felt looked after throughout, and the team helping with our Taste of India booking made a real impression too.

For the two of us, the welcome was warm and personal. That's our experience of this hotel; we wouldn't turn one stay into a claim about every hotel or every traveller's experience across India.

By checkout, our thanks weren't just for a lovely room. They were for everyone who had made the four nights feel so memorable.

Would we book The Imperial again?

Absolutely. The Imperial gave us a hotel stay we enjoyed in its own right: a comfortable suite, food we looked forward to, fascinating art and time by the pool, all backed up by exceptional service.

The upgrade was a lovely bonus. We'd still look carefully at the room and package we were paying for next time, because that's the booking you need to be happy with. We'd also check the minibar, lounge and dining details before arrival.

The bedside sockets could be more convenient. That was a small frustration in a stay we otherwise loved, and it didn't change how we felt when it was time to leave.

Best for: couples who enjoy heritage hotels and want to spend some proper time enjoying the property between exploring Delhi.

Don't miss: the art tour, The Spice Route and an afternoon by the pool.

Before booking: confirm the exact Taste of India inclusions and choose a room category you'd be happy with even without an upgrade.

You can watch the full stay on YouTube, explore our India section, or browse our other hotel reviews. Our next stop takes us towards the Taj Mahal, so come along with us as the India trip continues.

Travel with us, always with love and a little luxe. 🌈✈️