What we did at Aravali Resorts near Dharuhera

Dear Readers,

Below experience is not of much travelling but still a much memorable trip for me. Hence, I am sharing the same to you.

Team Building is an important process for any group. Different teams employ different ways & means for building strong relations & rapport amongst the team member. Now days, many corporate companies organize these activities for efficient team building. A very common practice is to keep an outbound meeting or training, away from monotonous atmosphere of office.

A similar trip was organized by our company recently. The responsibility was given to me for it. The venue had to be in our budget as well as not very far from Delhi. The venue had to be between 100 – 150 Kms from Delhi, so that we should not waste much time in travelling to it.

After short listing many options, we concluded to Aravali Resorts near Dharuhera. The resort had very good ratings in different web travelling portals. I could find out the contact of Mr. Manish (owner of the property) & initiated the discussions. They proposed for their many prefixed package options as well as shared their openness to design a package compatible to our requirement. After few calls, we could close the deal, which included 1 night stay on twin sharing basis, all 3 meals, am & pm Tea & snacks in evening. Conference room as well as all activities in the resorts was also made complimentary for us.

The day arrived & 10 of us started our journey of approx 80 Kms from Delhi in our cars. Being Friday, we could experience big jam starting from Dhaula Kuan till Gurgaon express way. Due to it we could not keep our schedule & got late by 2 hours, i.e. from planned time of 9 am, we could reach at 11 am. However, this delay was well utilized by us in having hot tandoori paranthas at Rao Dhaba, bit ahead of Manesar. Tasty Aloo & Gobhi Paranthas were well accompanied by piping hot tea.

We reached the Resort at approx 11 am. The first site of Resort gave me relief as it reflected a big & well maintained property. Well sufficient parking space & very big lush green ground beyond it was a great view indeed. We were welcomed with refreshing drink. Check in was very fast & all our rooms were next to each other. All of us took a full round of Resort & reached our rooms for a brisk period, as our conference room was also waiting for the meeting to start.

Rooms:

Nice clean rooms with very well working AC in it. Rooms are not very lavish but neat & clean with comfortable bed. Bathroom is bit small but OK. Otherwise also, who would like to spend time in the rooms during such a trip?

We started our meeting which lasted till 2 pm. The lunch was postponed for 1 hour as all of us had paranthas on the way.

Lunch was tasty with very good variety in it. All of us enjoyed the starters, main course & desserts a lot. Their service was very prompt with special attention to each guest, who was there in the restaurant that time.

After lunch, we took half an hour break. Some of roamed around the resort while rest tried their luck in Carom & Pool table.

This break helped us in overcoming the doziness after lunch & we again started our meeting at 3:30, which lasted till 6 pm, as we started late in the morning.

As soon as we concluded the day, they served tea with Pakoras, which helped us in gaining energy for all the activities in the evening. After it we left for our rooms, with a schedule to rejoin after 30 mins.

The evening started with Pool table, Carom & TT, where many of us tried our luck. After spending some time there, we decided to enter the swimming pool. The pool was very big with clear water in it. We competed with each other in swim as well as in water polo.

Meantime, the resorts people informed that our dinner table is ready at pool side. Upon reaching there, we found a very nice arrangement for us. All of us enjoyed the dinner very much. Best part was that resort staff never shared any time schedule to us. They were prompt & caring every time. Upon finishing our dinner, we could realize that it was already midnight. Although we were tired, but none us was in hurry to go to room & sleep.

Probably, resort people could identify our intentions of sitting there. They managed to arrange some comfortable chairs for us & also offered Hukka. Some of us enjoyed Hukka, sitting below the crystal clear sky with lot of stars visible. It is not possible for we Delhites to witness such a beauty of stars now in our city, as Delhi atmosphere is too polluted. Finally, we returned back to our rooms at around 2 & hit the bed.

The next day had a busy schedule as we had to finish our meeting as well as spend time in outdoor activities also. After getting up early in the morning, many of us again reached to swimming pool. After spending good time there, we got ready & reached for breakfast. This turned out to be best meal of the resort with Poori & Aloo ki bhaji stealing the show. All of us enjoyed the meal & joined for meeting, which was concluded by 12 noon. After it, we spend some time in playing Volleyball, Cricket & badminton.

Around 2, we checked out & started our return journey.

Overall, it was very nice experience & each one of us enjoyed a lot.

To rate the resort:

Pros:

1. Distance from Delhi & ease of reaching. It is just on the highway.
2. Attitude of staff. Really amazing. Each one of them was well trained for providing best hospitality.
3. Rooms: Not very lavish, but you will not miss anything as well. Comfortable bed. Clean room.
4. Activities – You name any promised activity & it is there. Cricket, Badminton, Volley ball, Carom, TT, Pool table, Dart Game, Swimming Pool.
5. Food – Many food items were OK but some them were really amazing. Poori Bhaji in breakfast stole the show.

Cons:

1. As mentioned, rooms are not very lavish. So few travelers might not find it up to expectation. However, in resorts like this, you love to spent time outside room.
2. Tea – Tea preparation was just OK. They should improve it.

Overall, a very good experience. And not very costly as well.

Special mention – While selecting the venue, I read a recent review on Tripadvisor about non availability of wheel chair / Wheel chair access. However, we could see both wheel chair as well ramps available there.

So, very fast action on it.