The Oberoi, Mumbai

Marine Drive curves for three kilometres along the Arabian Sea and ends at Nariman Point, the reclaimed business district of south Mumbai. The Oberoi, Mumbai stands at that end, a modern tower whose rooms all look west over the water. It shares the site with the Trident, Nariman Point, the hotel that opened in 1973 as the Oberoi Towers, and the two are joined, but The Oberoi is the smaller and quieter of the pair.

History

The Oberoi Group opened The Oberoi, Mumbai in 1986 as a flagship beside its earlier tower. The hotel was one of the targets of the attacks on Mumbai on 26 November 2008; gunmen entered through the Trident and the Oberoi, and more than thirty people died in the two buildings over three days. The Trident reopened within a month. The Oberoi closed for 18 months, was rebuilt and refurbished throughout, and reopened on 24 April 2010 with new restaurants, a new lobby and reinforced security. Ratan Tata's Taj across the city went through the same ordeal; the two reopenings marked the city's recovery.

Architecture and design

The building is a slab tower of the 1980s on a podium, and its interiors date from the 2010 rebuilding. The lobby is a tall atrium with a glass roof, marble floors and a double staircase; the restaurants and bar are arranged around it. Rooms were redesigned with floor-to-ceiling windows on the sea, pale woods and stone, and electronic controls at the bedside. The result is one of the more restrained hotel interiors in Mumbai, closer to a contemporary business hotel than to the colonial grandeur of the Taj Mahal Palace.

Rooms and suites

There are 287 rooms and suites, all facing the sea, rising from Luxury Rooms through Premier Rooms with larger bathrooms to a set of suites with separate sitting rooms. The Kohinoor Suite on an upper floor has a dining room, a study and a private spa room, with the whole of Marine Drive and Back Bay in its windows. Butlers serve the suites and the upper floors. The higher the floor, the better the view of the Queen's Necklace, the string of lights along Marine Drive at night.

Dining

Ziya, the Indian restaurant, was opened with the chef Vineet Bhatia, who had earned Michelin stars in London, and serves modern Indian cooking with sea views. Fenix is the all-day restaurant off the lobby. Vetro is the Italian restaurant with a wine library, and the Eau Bar is the cocktail bar on the mezzanine over the water, one of the better places in south Mumbai for a drink at sunset. The Champagne Lounge in the lobby serves afternoon tea.

Wellness

The Oberoi Spa has treatment rooms with Ayurvedic and Western treatments, a steam room and a 24-hour fitness centre. The outdoor swimming pool is on the podium, facing the sea.

Weddings and events

The Oberoi hosts weddings, receptions and conferences, and it is a frequent venue for corporate events given its place at the heart of Nariman Point. The Regal Room is the principal banquet hall, and a series of smaller rooms serves meetings, board lunches and press conferences; the larger convention facilities are in the adjoining Trident, which has a ballroom and exhibition halls that the two hotels share for big events. Weddings at the Oberoi tend to be the smaller, more formal kind.

Location

The address is Nariman Point, at the south end of Marine Drive, with the offices of the Air India building and the Maharashtra legislature nearby. The Gateway of India, the Taj Mahal Palace and the galleries of Colaba are ten minutes by car; Churchgate station, the terminus of the Western line, is a short walk, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus is 15 minutes. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is 25 kilometres north, an hour or more in traffic. Among the luxury hotels in Mumbai it is the one with the clearest view of the sea.