The ITC One concept aims at providing a residence within a residence, complete with all comforts

by PUNAM MOHANDAS

THE Welcomgroup has done it again. A few summers ago, when they launched the ITC Sheraton Towers, they were clearly the pioneers in catering to comfort care for the corporate traveler, Today, with the ITC One concept, the Welcomgroup has established yet again that. When it comes to sheer indulgence, they are still miles ahead with their thinking cap firmly on! The Sheraton Towers was touted as being the ultimate 'hotel within a hotel'. The ITC One concept, however, is to aim at providing a residence within a hotel.

Accordingly, your stressload starts getting lightened the moment you walk into the exclusive ITC One lobby, where you are met by the maitre'd, who escorts you to your room personally. Once there, and faced with a chocolate basket and a gooey chocolate cake, you're made to feel ultra special almost instantly!

Service amenities include airport transfers by a Mercedes, usage of the boardrooms, tea/coffee at the lounge throughout the day, hi-tea between 4-6 p.m. cocktails and hors d' oeuvres between 6.30 - 8 p.m. (all complimentary), breakfast can be had either in the room itself, or at the ITC One lounge, the Towers lounge, or the coffee shop. There is a tea-making facility within the room. For anything else, there is a personalised butler service.

Only residents of this particular block are permitted to use the open air rooftop spa, with giant-sized Jacuzzi and massage stations. Incidentally, each room comes equipped with a portable stepper as well.

The room itself has been segregated into three parts, without any visible partitions though. First is the highly equipped workplace, with dual line telephones, free Internet access, and a single unit for printer/scanner/photocopier that can be connected to your personal laptop if so desired.

To increase your comfort level is a state-of-the-art massage chair (a feature in all of the 70 ITC One rooms). And let go of that knotty problem as you unwind in the remote controlled chair while listening to CDs from a select collection on your personal player; the speakers have been cunningly placed behind the curtains and relay a wonderfully amplified sound. For more detailed services, such as secretarial assistance or video-conferencing, there is the 24-hour business centre located at the lobby level.

Sleep is always a welcome experience, made more pleasurable here by the king size beds with posturepedic mattresses imported from the US. Facing the bed is a 29' colour television console that is also web-interactive. So you can sit on your bed and surf the net with a remote keyboard.

The bathroom space is reasonably large, with shower cubicle, and a bathtub. The duplex rooms, of which there is one on each of the eight floors, have a TV in the bathroom as well, placed near the bathtub! The toiletries are all from Molton Brown, considered among the best in the world. What I particularly liked was the attention paid to female guests, and so there was a stock of cotton balls, makeup-remover, face freshener, and sanitary napkins, which was checked daily.

Indeed, the fairer sex has a highly pampered and cushioned stay at the ITC One. All telephone calls are monitored - unless you indicate otherwise - and all guests are screened and your permission sought before they are escorted up to your room. There is a special, sophisticate, button door lock, which, when clicked, activates an unseen chain. Further, if you switch on your privacy sign, even the door bell is muted - such a welcome, thoughtful, addition.

The rates are US $395-425 in Delhi and US $400-425 in Mumbai.