nikhilk21
TF Select
Hello everyone,
Recently I visited the ITC Storii property in Solan - The Kaba Retreat for 2 nights, June 25-27, 2025 and this is a brief review of my experience.
Context
For context, my daughter turned 3 months old in June and I wanted to go somewhere for a short staycation to celebrate this. It was obviously the first time that we were going out as a family after child birth and I wanted it to be special and relaxing for my wife. I started exploring properties 3-4 hours from Karnal as I did not want to do extensive travel with an infant. I also wanted to use my Atlas/Amex points and was looking for ITC/Accor/Taj properties in that radius. This is also our first 4 star/5 star hotel experience. After some search, I filtered in on Kasauli or Solan. Surprisingly, Kasauli does have a lot of ITC properties (specially WelcomHeritage ones) but none of them accepted booking through points. Finally locked in on ITC Storii, Solan seeing the great reviews.
Booking & Upgrade Experience
The basic room category is Forest Pod which are basically small isolated rooms with a view, giving the experience of Forest living. I initially booked this room using points. It costed 9,600 green points per night. So, total 19,200 points. After a few days, when seeing some videos from the reviews, I realized the Forest Pods are quite compact and are also a bit away from the restaurant making it not the best room for infants as you may want some space to move around in the room and closer access to the restaurant/reception. I immediately contacted ITC customer care to understand upgrade options and thankfully they said I can pay Rs. 3000 + tax per night and the room would be upgraded to Premium room. I also confirmed that I can pay through green points at the hotel as I had 3,200 points left in my ITC account. A few days later I got the email from ITC that they are upgrading their systems and the redemption will be down during this period. So, I once again called the ITC hotline and they connected me to the hotel and I was able to redeem the 3,200 points in my account then and there. This ensured that I only pay the balance through cash at the hotel. The entire experience was smooth.
Reaching the Hotel & Room Review
The reception staff messaged me the day of our arrival with point by point guide on reaching the place. Later I found out that this was very useful as the route shown by Google maps is kind of narrow and off road and I was glad I didn't have to endure all that. Check-in was 3pm and we reached around 5pm to a warm welcome. The Premium room was mind blowing! It was really large and had breathtaking views. There was a huge balcony with seating and the bathroom was supremely spacious. I was thanking myself for going for the upgrade. It was the best decision. See some pics below.
Stay Experience & Food
For the next 2 days, we enjoyed every minute of the view and every second with our baby. They did have some Jungle walk and other trekking options which we obviously did not do. The property had an activity room with TT, Air hockey, carrom, chess and an indoor swimming pool. They also had a small herb garden and a sitout place to chill. It was not a big property to roam around but that didn't bother us much as we were busy with our daughter. The food was great with good number of breakfast options and complimentary hi-tea. One of the days for lunch, we had the Non-Veg Himachali Dham which came in a tiffin carriage and had a lot of local varieties. It serves 2 people and is a must try! Overall, I would say it is great for a 2-night stay and the only thing they could improve is to have more activities to do inside and maybe have a buffet option.
Costs
I transferred 11,200 EMs, converting to 22,400 green points and paid about Rs. 12,000 at the hotel which included taxes for the 2 nights, Rs. 2800 balance room upgrade costs and the food costs were about 6,000 for lunch and dinner for 2 days. Fuel costs were around 3000, so net I spent Rs. 15,000 cash and 11,200 EMs. I got 138 green points back in my account (2% of dining bills)
Summary
It was a great first trip for us as a family and the hotel staff were really friendly and polite. It's a quiet place with stunning views and good for a relaxing stay.
View attachment VID-20250625-WA0042.mp4
Recently I visited the ITC Storii property in Solan - The Kaba Retreat for 2 nights, June 25-27, 2025 and this is a brief review of my experience.
Context
For context, my daughter turned 3 months old in June and I wanted to go somewhere for a short staycation to celebrate this. It was obviously the first time that we were going out as a family after child birth and I wanted it to be special and relaxing for my wife. I started exploring properties 3-4 hours from Karnal as I did not want to do extensive travel with an infant. I also wanted to use my Atlas/Amex points and was looking for ITC/Accor/Taj properties in that radius. This is also our first 4 star/5 star hotel experience. After some search, I filtered in on Kasauli or Solan. Surprisingly, Kasauli does have a lot of ITC properties (specially WelcomHeritage ones) but none of them accepted booking through points. Finally locked in on ITC Storii, Solan seeing the great reviews.
Booking & Upgrade Experience
The basic room category is Forest Pod which are basically small isolated rooms with a view, giving the experience of Forest living. I initially booked this room using points. It costed 9,600 green points per night. So, total 19,200 points. After a few days, when seeing some videos from the reviews, I realized the Forest Pods are quite compact and are also a bit away from the restaurant making it not the best room for infants as you may want some space to move around in the room and closer access to the restaurant/reception. I immediately contacted ITC customer care to understand upgrade options and thankfully they said I can pay Rs. 3000 + tax per night and the room would be upgraded to Premium room. I also confirmed that I can pay through green points at the hotel as I had 3,200 points left in my ITC account. A few days later I got the email from ITC that they are upgrading their systems and the redemption will be down during this period. So, I once again called the ITC hotline and they connected me to the hotel and I was able to redeem the 3,200 points in my account then and there. This ensured that I only pay the balance through cash at the hotel. The entire experience was smooth.
Reaching the Hotel & Room Review
The reception staff messaged me the day of our arrival with point by point guide on reaching the place. Later I found out that this was very useful as the route shown by Google maps is kind of narrow and off road and I was glad I didn't have to endure all that. Check-in was 3pm and we reached around 5pm to a warm welcome. The Premium room was mind blowing! It was really large and had breathtaking views. There was a huge balcony with seating and the bathroom was supremely spacious. I was thanking myself for going for the upgrade. It was the best decision. See some pics below.
Stay Experience & Food
For the next 2 days, we enjoyed every minute of the view and every second with our baby. They did have some Jungle walk and other trekking options which we obviously did not do. The property had an activity room with TT, Air hockey, carrom, chess and an indoor swimming pool. They also had a small herb garden and a sitout place to chill. It was not a big property to roam around but that didn't bother us much as we were busy with our daughter. The food was great with good number of breakfast options and complimentary hi-tea. One of the days for lunch, we had the Non-Veg Himachali Dham which came in a tiffin carriage and had a lot of local varieties. It serves 2 people and is a must try! Overall, I would say it is great for a 2-night stay and the only thing they could improve is to have more activities to do inside and maybe have a buffet option.
Costs
I transferred 11,200 EMs, converting to 22,400 green points and paid about Rs. 12,000 at the hotel which included taxes for the 2 nights, Rs. 2800 balance room upgrade costs and the food costs were about 6,000 for lunch and dinner for 2 days. Fuel costs were around 3000, so net I spent Rs. 15,000 cash and 11,200 EMs. I got 138 green points back in my account (2% of dining bills)
Summary
It was a great first trip for us as a family and the hotel staff were really friendly and polite. It's a quiet place with stunning views and good for a relaxing stay.
View attachment VID-20250625-WA0042.mp4
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