Gogia Residence, Delhi (three-bed apartment with pool) – Airbnb review

With a requirement to home quarantine after arriving in Delhi from the UK on my first trip to India for a year, I was looking for a place with plenty of space and, ideally, a pool. Airbnb seemed a better option than a hotel so Saadaan and I went ahead with a reservation at Gogia Residence…

About Gogia Residence in South Delhi

If, like us, you are looking for an “entire property” Airbnb listing with a pool, you’ll find your options are somewhat limited. 

Gogia Residence fits the bill and is located in the upmarket South Delhi suburb of Malviya Nagar – so upmarket in fact that the immigration officer commented approvingly on my address when I entered the country!

The 2,600 sq ft property is situated in a posh private colony with barrier gates at the entrances to the complex. As a result, there’s only limited traffic and this has to be about as quiet as it gets in Delhi.

If you’re coming from the airport, expect to pay Uber about INR 350 (USD 4.5) for the 20-minute journey (when traffic is good). The house is walking distance from Malviya Nagar metro station (on the yellow line), which is just one stop from the Qutub Minar – one of the tallest minarets in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (not to be missed!).

Malviya Nagar is just a ten minute drive (or one stop on the metro) to Haus Khas village – where you’ll find restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes.

Set entirely on the ground floor, Gogia Residence itself has three bedrooms (each with a double bed), three ensuite bathrooms, a small plunge pool in the back garden, a kitchen, a utility room and two living rooms. The owners describe the decor as “Mughal-inspired”, with pastel tones used throughout.

The property has achieved Superhost status four times in a row, meaning guests can expect an “extraordinary experience”, according to Airbnb.

Booking Gogia Residence 

As we often prefer to do, we reserved our first night’s stay on Airbnb at a cost of £128 (INR 12,900/ USD 176), including cleaning fee.

I was soon in direct contact with the owners, Abhinav and Mehak, who were prompt, courteous and professional. They were also happy to block the property in the expectation that we would extend our stay.

Before check in, I asked Abhinav and Mehak whether they happened to have a cocktail shaker in the house. The next day, I woke up to see a message from Abhinav to say they don’t have one, but they had ordered one online and that it would be waiting for us in the house. Great service!

After checking in, we decided to extend our stay and booked a further six nights directly with the owners at a rate of INR 9,000 (£89/ USD 123) per night.

Checking in at Gogia Residence 

Initially, there was nobody to greet us, but this wasn’t a problem as we let ourselves in. Walking through the gates we were now standing in the sunny terrace area shared with the adjoining property.

Entering the house, our first glimpse of Gogia was the entrance hall, which has been nicely decorated with pictures (for sale) of some of Delhi’s main attractions.

Our initial impression was that the property didn’t quite meet our expectations, based on the photos we had seen online. As is often the case with Airbnb, the house definitely looked more luxurious on the online listing than it did in real life.

Unfortunately, we then started to find hair in the property. A lot of hair.

As we looked around, we saw there were stains on the bedsheets (I’m sure they were washed, but there were still residual stains), plus stray hairs on the beds. There was more hair in the bathroom (on the toilet flush and in the toilet basin), and we were pretty irritated at this point.

I contacted Abhinav’s wife, Mehak, to say I was unhappy with the cleaning and she arranged for the cleaner to come. Mehak was apologetic and acknowledged the shortcomings with the hygiene, which we appreciated. 

Even so, it wasn’t the best start to our stay…

Gogia Residence review

Fortunately things got better as our stay went on, though there were a few hiccups along the way.

As I was in home quarantine, Saadaan and I generally spent the days working in the large sitting room at the front of the house, which was equipped with a dining table and chairs, as well as some sofas and some additional chairs.

This was good, but it was a little annoying that there was just a single plug socket in the room.

Later in the day, we’d move to the sitting room at the back of the house, which was a smaller and cosier space to relax in the evening. As well as a couple of sofas, there was a large TV with an Amazon Fire Stick and access to Netflix, Amazon Prime and You Tube etc.

There were a few issues with the bedrooms and bathrooms. I took one of the bedrooms at the rear of the house which opened out the pool. This room (like all three bedrooms) featured an en suite bathroom, but there was no shower head fitted, meaning I would have to shower in the third bathroom every day, which became a pain.

The shower in bedroom 3 was pretty annoying as the shower head would spray water around the bathroom, leaving you with a puddle on the floor after you step out. In Saadaan’s ensuite bathroom, the shower would clog, meaning water wouldn’t drain away.

A couple of days in, the hot water stopped working and we were without warm water for about 24 hours. Cold showers weren’t fun!

A note for non-Indian guests: hot water to the showers isn’t on demand – so be aware that you’ll need to turn the “geyser” switch on for a while before you take a shower.

Another issue was that the beds were VERY hard, so if you didn’t have a bad back going in, you might have one when you leave ????. There were also no bedside lamps in the bedrooms, meaning those who don’t like to sleep in complete darkness will need to leave a bathroom light on.

We didn’t do a lot of cooking in the property, but Saadaan did show off his culinary skills one morning, and we had a good breakfast of home-made bhurji (scrambled eggs cooked with onions, tomatoes and spices). Yum.

The kitchen was fairly well-equipped, though there was a serious shortage of cutlery so we asked Mehak to send some more over. Despite there being about 15 plates in the kitchen, there was just a single spoon to be found.

It sounds as though we are listing a lot of problems, but in truth we were pretty comfortable once we’d settled in.

Be aware that, when they have a booking for Gogia Residence, the hosts live next door (with their extended family, we think). This wasn’t at all a problem for us, though I know some people prefer it when the hosts aren’t on site.

While the wifi worked well, the phone signal in the house was non-existent, and we had to go outside to make our calls.

Gogia Residence facilities

One of the main selling points of the property is the small swimming pool – or so we thought. Unfortunately, the rear of the house (where the pool is located) gets no sun, meaning the pool is cold. Super cold!

We had some fun jumping in a couple of times, just to see how long we could tolerate being in the water, but in truth it wasn’t much fun using the pool. There were no garden style chairs out the back either, meaning the space wasn’t really set up as a place that you would use to relax in. 

Aside from the pool, we tried to make use of the laundry facilities, though the washing machine door got stuck the first time we used it and our clothes were trapped in the machine for 24 hours until an engineer came to fix it.

Gogia Residence service

This is one area where the property shined. Abhinav and Mehak have a wonderful team working for them, including Babloo and the cleaner, whose name we missed.

Babloo was super kind and respectful and was happy to help with any problems in the house, while the cleaner helped us with the dishes and made sure the place was cleaned up well each day. Please give them a pay rise, Abhinav and Mehak – they are a credit to you!

The only bad service we had was on the Thursday, when the regular cleaner has an off. That day, another boy came to do it but didn’t seem enthusiastic. We had to ask him to clear the dishes and do the beds as well, though he didn’t do a very good job – he didn’t clear out the waste, and left the kitchen surfaces dirty. 

Mehak would text every morning to ask if we wanted housekeeping, which I think should be a given. To be fair, I suppose I could have just messaged to say we’d like it every day, and then she wouldn’t have needed to ask…

Summing up

After a shaky start, our stay definitely got better as the trip went on. Gogia Residence is situated in a very quiet, upmarket location and the property worked well as I completed home quarantine at the start of my recent trip to Delhi.

I would definitely like Abhinav and Mehak to take a closer look at the hygiene situation before guests arrive, and it’s a shame the pool is just so cold. On the plus side, there was plenty of space, and the staff were really warm.

I think I would return to Gogia, if I needed an Airbnb in Delhi, but with so many great hotel and other accommodation options in the city, I’m not sure I’d spent so long here (unless, of course, I need to quarantine again!).

What do you make of Gogia Residence? What’s been your experience of using Airbnb in Delhi?