I went to Athidhi guesthouse and stayed for three nights, although I hope I could have stayed longer. Before going I was very scared because of the two reviews here, especially since I was a foreign girl traveling alone. But as soon as I arrived, Rajiv, Padma's son made me feel at ease and was incredibly friendly. Nothing has been pressured on me regarding the prices and everything was transparent. I had the dinners there too and they were delicious! There's really a home feeling here and I was sharing the meals with very interesting and friendly guests and the boys taking care of the house are efficient (they arranged autos for me) and everything was always spotless clean. The only downside is the area which tends to be a bit noisy at nigh ... View Moret, but at the same time it is conveniently placed in the middle of Banjara Hills. Stay there if you are looking for a safe home away from home in that part of the city!View Less
Yes, we had a terrible experience at Athidhi during our 2 month stay. Padma is rude and underhanded, and will make sure to extract the absolute most money she can from you. More importantly, DO NOT STAY HERE IF YOU ARE A WOMAN, especially a woman travelling alone or without a man. I would come back to our suite to find the house boys just hanging out and watching TV, which is not a huge problem in itself, except that the more comfortable they felt, the more they would push the boundaries. My roommate woke up to find one of the boys in her room late at night and when she confronted Padma about it, Padma simply said it was her fault for sleeping with her room door unlocked (of course, the main door to the suite WAS locked, but they had th ... View Moree key). Ugh...I get goosebumps thinking about staying there, and I fear it's only a matter of time before something really really bad happens to a guest there. STAY AWAY.View Less
The landlady is extremely rude and practices underhand ways to charge more of her guests.
For example: breakfast is complementary, but they serve you fruit and juice without informing you that it's extra, only to charge you later on for them
She charges 700 Rs for gas when the government sets a fee of 300 Rs
One of her house boys was in a room of a tenant when she woke up at 4:30am in the morning and forgot to lock her door.
She charges extra for water, soap, toilet paper, even though she claims these are included in your initial conversations with her.
She refused to put anything in writing/clearly so that she can charge whatever she likes to whoever.
She turns off the electricity at the house during the day, causing stuf ... View Moref left in the fridge to spoil.
Lastly, she yells at her guests and is extremely rude.View Less