These days, even more than the exterior aesthetic, visitors prefer staying at hotels with a comfortable and inviting interior. Keeping this in mind, hotels in Pokhara have started focusing on interior design.

POKHARA: Pokhara Batika Resort was built at the Lakeside by the Youth Entrepreneur Group in 2017. The resort has 43 rooms. While the hotel’s outer aesthetic is no different from any other hotel; once inside, the resort opens up to magnificent interior design that differs from the internal aesthetics of other hotels and resorts.

The difference at Batika Resort is reflected in the resort’s use of wooden carvings, rough stone walls, and extensive balconies that face Phewa lake. Traditionally carved doors and the arrangement of furniture at the restaurant showcase the country’s traditional art to its visitors.

Santosh Pokharel, manager of Batika Resort, said, “The difference is rooted in my taste for interior designing, not the types of furniture.”  Taking pride on the resort’s characteristic rough pillars and wooden floor, he added, “We wanted to give the resort a traditional look, which in a way, is brought to life by the wooden and stone carvings found across the resort.”

Adding further, Pokhrel said that the resort has provisions of 12 deluxe twin, 12 exclusive deluxe, 8 deluxe family, 2 semi suite and 1 family suite rooms. To make travel between various floors easier, the resort also houses elevators.

Dil Gautam, another manager at Batika Resort, said that the resort aims to attract both domestic and international tourists. These days, Gautam said, the resort has started providing discounts to Indian guests. He mentioned, “We haven’t officially opened the resort, yet have already started catering to visitors, which encourages us to keep working on our services.”

Visitors can choose from a few different price ranges according to the accommodation. Guests residing in Deluxe Twin are privy to air-conditioning  and water heating facilities for Rs 5000 (Local customers) and $60 (International customers). Similarly, Deluxe Family is worth Rs 5500/$65 while Semi Suite is worth Rs.8000/$120. The most expensive suite costs Rs.10000 for domestic tourists and $150 for international visitors. According to Gautam, the price they charge is in accordance to the quality of service they provide.

 Posing a competition to Batika Resort, another resort by the name of Tuki Resort has sprung up at Lakeside. Tuki Resort boasts a total of 58 rooms, 28 are standard and 30 deluxe. 3 of the rooms function as seminar halls. According to manager Dhurba Sharma, these seminar halls provide space for important meetings and workshops – both governmental and non-governmental.

According to Sharma, the rooms are painted in four different colors: red, sky-blue, green and orange. These colors, he claims, enhances visitor’s experience at the resort. To further the theme of color, these rooms house bed-sheets and furniture that contrast with the wall-colors. These color-themed rooms are valued by the corporate circle. As for the price range, standard rooms cost Rs.3500 or $60 while deluxe rooms cost Rs.4500 or $75.

Annually, around a dozen hotels are built across Pokhara. According to Bharat Raj Parajuli, former chairperson of Western Region Hotel Committee, interior designing of these hotels/resorts and their rooms cost a fortune. “Interior designing of a hotel room is challenging and costs as much as the construction of a building.” 

Building a simple hotel at Lakeside Pokhara costs more than 40 lakhs, says Parajuli who also claims that it costs around a crore to build a single five star hotel room. “Guests do not want to stay in undecorated rooms. That is why investors have to spend a lot on interior design.”