RESIDENCY TOWERS in Chennai - Hotel Review with Photos

India › Chennai Hotels › Residency Towers Review
Updated: March 20, 2022

Essentials
• Location: T. Nagar.
• Hotel website: theresidency.com
• Hotel phone: +91 (0)44 2815 6363
• Check prices for Residency Towers

Review of Residency Towers hotel in Chennai, India.

Residency Towers is a great hotel with a superb rooftop pool in T. Nagar.

Residency Towers – Classy, convenient, and top-end facilities at mid-range prices.

Towering above a shopping district within the inner city, this hotel exudes sophistication and polish rarely seen elsewhere. OK, the giant palms in the lobby are fake, but the rest of the hotel is genuine and pleasant. Despite the limited space, it houses several particularly inviting restaurants and bars, and a fairly large rooftop pool with a separate section for children. Rooms are spacious enough to include a lounge and chair each, and broad views are offered from windows that have shutters rather than curtains. As well as the attractive rates (which unusually, include breakfast), another advantage is the location: shops in all directions, walkable to a metro station, and several terrific places to eat and drink just up the side street.

Residency Towers – The Location

Not to be confused with its sister hotel, The Residency Chennai, about 1 km away.

Address: 115 Sir Theagaraya Road in the inner southern suburb known as T. Nagar. On a corner with a side street (North Boag Road), also lined with useful facilities.
Nearest Metro: Teynampet metro station is 500m away.
Area: Residential and business district, with plenty of shade, shops, and cafés.
How to Get There: There are efficient pre-paid taxi counters at the domestic and international airports; the trip takes about 40 minutes (12 km). (Uber and Ola seem to be off-limits there.) The hotel is linked by metro to the airport, Central and Egmore train terminals, and CMBT (Koyambedu) bus station. See Local Transport below for more information.

Residency Towers – The Basics

Guests: Mostly Indian business people during the week and Indian tourists on weekends. Foreigners are always welcome, of course.
Views: With few other high-rises nearby, views are better than from most hotels.
Private Pools/Jacuzzis: Not really expected (or provided) at this sort of inner-city business-oriented hotel in Chennai.
Extras: Extras, e.g. happy hours and airport transfers, for those in the Club Rooms and suites.
How to Book: Booking.com will have the best rates.
Phone: +91 (0)44 2815 6363
Email: restowers@theresidency.com
Website: theresidency.com

Residency Towers – Amenities

Pool: On the rooftop and sparkling-blue. More than large enough but lacks shade. The separate and sizable kid’s pool (rare among rival hotels) makes up for the unappealing plastic grass.
Spa: Also on the top floor, the Respa Wellness Spa offers heavenly treatments using traditional techniques.
Fitness Center: A bit small but should please most users.
Other Facilities: Souvenir shop. Laundry. Money exchange. Travel desk.

Residency Towers – Food and Drink

Restaurants: Main Street – Immensely charming setting, almost like a street side café in Paris. Open 24 hours for all sorts of food, including buffets at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Worth visiting if staying elsewhere. • Southern Aromas – Sophisticated decor, silver service, and authentic south Indian cuisine. • The Crown – Amazing rooftop setting, with tables inside and along the edge. Tasty food and live blues on most nights. Open from sunset. • Baker’s Corner – Patisserie and coffee shop for freshly-baked bread, cakes, and pastries, as well as chocolates.
Bar: Bike & Barrel – Dark but lively sports bar reminiscent of an English pub. Western meals and long list of imported spirits. DJ and snooker table add to the allure.
Breakfast: Included in all rates (unusual among rivals).
Room Service: Available 24/7.

Residency Towers – Rooms

Room Types: Deluxe Rooms • Residency Club Rooms • Suites • List of all Rooms
Smoking Rooms: No smoking on the premises.
Best Room: The suites offer 24-hour butler service and Club extras (e.g. airport transfers), but it’s the exquisite wooden furniture that is the standout feature.
For Families: Space for an extra single bed in the rooms, and some have connecting doors. The suites are huge and ideal for families of 4.

Residency Towers – Local Transport

Walking: Sidewalks are likely to be finished by 2020, so walking around the area will be far more pleasant. Shady backstreets and plenty of shops along the main road in front.
Public Transport: The metro offers services to both airport terminals, the major train and bus stations, and the city center. The nearest metro stations – Teynampet – is 500m from the hotel.
Taxis & Auto-rickshaws: The black-and-yellow taxis at the airport are nowhere to be seen in the city. Instead, they have been replaced by the app-based Uber and Ola. Plenty of auto-rickshaws around but the drivers won’t use meters, so they usually cost more than Uber or Ola.

Residency Towers – What’s Nearby?

Best Nearby Restaurants & Bars

Bowl’d +91 955 16 04056 – Hip vegetarian café offering make-it-yourself organic salads. (100m).
10 Downing Street – Almost as posh as it sounds, an English-style pub for grills, live music, and imported spirits. (300m).
The Grand Chennai hotel is impossible to miss, 1 block away. It offers: Bazaar (bright and funky décor and upmarket versions of Indian street food, salads, and pizzas; open 24/7), J. Hind (very striking traditional-style décor, contemporary Indian cuisine, and attached bar), and Steams & Whistles (very likable bar/lounge across 3 levels, 1920’s theme and pub-style meals, and DJs and/or live music until late). (300m).
Merlion Kitchen – In a modest hotel opposite the side entrance of the Grand Chennai. Unfussy service and hearty portions at excellent prices. (350m).

Nearby Shops

Quite a few interesting places along the main road. Some call themselves ‘malls’ but are really just a handful of shops in one building; certainly not malls in the conventional sense.

Residency Towers – The Hotel

The imposing hotel is located in a shopping district.

The Residency Towers hotel looms large on a corner within a shopping district of the inner city.

The hotel design is more appealing than nearby rivals.

It is certainly more appealing than many others of the same size and standard across the city.

The lobby is opulent, perhaps more so than necessary, and the palms are fake, but the hotel is still very likable.

Southern Aromas is popular for it south Indian menu.

Inside the hotel, Southern Aromas is a sophisticated restaurant specializing in south Indian cuisine.

The unique Main Street café seems to be located in a Parisian alley.

The Main Street café is unique and immensely inviting, seemingly transported from an alley in Paris.

Main Street café offers buffets round the clock.

Open 24/7, the adorable Main Street café at the hotel offers buffets at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Bike & Barrel lounge bar is more of a sports bar.

Upstairs, the Bike & Barrel lounge bar screens TV sports from across the globe.

Bike & Barrel lounge bar also has some intimate seating.

Although sports dominate the setting, there are some intimate tables in the Bike & Barrel lounge bar.

There is a lovely souvenir shop by the reception.

A lovely little boutique-cum-souvenir shop is beside the reception desk.

The rooftop pool is reasonably large but lacks shade.

Surprisingly, it even has a small children's pool.

Very rare, even at the most luxurious 5-star hotels in Chennai, is the separate children’s pool at the Residency Towers.

The sunbeds are pleasant but the artificial grass isn't.

A few sunbeds offer shade, but the plastic grass could be replaced.

The rooftop offers several options to enjoy the sun.

There are several areas on the rooftop where guests can work on their tan.

The Respa spa offers a decent range of treatments.

Alongside the pool, the Respa spa offers a better-than-average range of treatments.

The small gym is decent enough for the limited number of guests.

The gym is reasonably small but probably wouldn’t be used that much by guests anyway.

The spacious Standard Rooms feature interesting prints on the walls.

The standard rooms are quite spacious and feature some intriguing prints on the walls.

The windows feature shutters instead of curtains.

Unusually, rooms feature shutters rather than full curtains to block out the light.

All rooms are large enough to feature sizable seating areas.

The hotel views are unobstructed and interesting.

Unlike some hotels in the city center, views from the Residency Towers are unobstructed and fairly interesting.

The slightly larger Club Rooms feature extras like happy hours.

The Club Rooms are only marginally larger than the standard rooms but they do include extras such as happy hours.

Club Rooms have slightly better furniture than the Standard Rooms.

The Club Rooms also feature slightly nicer furniture than the Standard Rooms.

There are several shops and restaurants close by, including a Subway.

One attraction of staying at this hotel is the number of enticing shops, cafés, and bars along the side street, including a Subway outlet.

Next door to Subway is Bowl'd, a funky vegetarian cafe.

Just past Subway, Bowl’d is a funky vegetarian café.

The hotel side street also features a few health food stores and a supermarket.

Also along the side street just up from the hotel are a couple of health food stores and a supermarket selling fresh produce.

10 Downing Street is an English-style pub along the side street.

About 300m up the side street from the hotel is the English-style pub, 10 Downing Street.

Bazaar cafe at the Grand Chennai hotel nearby is a good dining option.

Another option is Bazaar, the café at the Grand Chennai hotel, only 1 block from the Residency Towers.

J. Hind restaurant is another good dining option at the Grand Chennai.

Also at the Grand Chennai hotel is the delightful J. Hind restaurant.

Merlion Kitchen serves hearty portions of Indian dishes at affordable prices.

Opposite the side entrance to the Grand Chennai hotel, Merlion Kitchen provides large servings of Indian food at low prices.

The neighborhood has plenty of interesting shops.

The road in front of the Residency Towers is lined with shops of interest to tourists.

There are plenty of small 'malls' or collection of shops around.

While some places near the hotel call themselves a ‘mall’, they are really just a collection of a few shops in an office block.

There are plenty of auto-rickshaws around.

Auto-rickshaws wait forlornly as most people now use Uber and Ola. (One reason is that auto-rickshaw drivers won’t use meters and are usually more expensive.)

The Chennai metro is one of the best in India.

Chennai boasts one of the best metro systems in India for tourists. Check rates and availability: Residency Towers

Residency Towers Hotel in Chennai, India

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