The grandeur of Grand by GRT, TNagar Chennai

Grand by GRT is a premium business class hotel in T Nagar, the heart of Chennai. This hotel is flagship property of GRT Group, who also run a chain of Jewelry stores by the same name as well as other hotels such as Radisson Blu Temple Bay Mahabalipuram, Regency in Kancheepuram, Madurai, Great Trails in Kodaikanal and Yercaud, Vibe in Coimbatore, Hyd and few more across South India. (We were told Bengaluru property is coming up soon near Ulsoor lake). GRT Group also has interests in retail, education and other sectors.

As part of GRT Hotels bloggers meet 2 weeks ago, we got to spend a night in Grand by GRT and got to experience its uniqueness and features first hand. This post aims to explain the salient features of Grand by GRT to you.

The history: The hotel was formerly known as GRT Grand. It was brainchild of G Rajendran, the founder of the group. T stands for Thangamaligai which roughly translates to shopping complex. The hotel was set up in 1999. During those days, a hotel with tall vertical atrium in the centre was a revolutionary idea. Many reportedly said it is a bad idea given the impact on Air conditioning and wastage of space which could have been used to add more rooms. But Mr Rajendran stuck to his concept and soon the hotel was talk of the town for its innovative interiors.

Rooms and Suites:

Grand by GRT has about 133 rooms including 6 suites, spread across 9 floors. 9th floor is smoking rooms, rest of the hotel is no smoking area.

The suites are spread across multiple floors. Suit rooms come with large living area with mini toilet, a full body massage chair, spacious bedroom and bathroom. Check the photos below. Suits are of two types- Deluxe suite and theme suite

Our stay was in the next category of rooms- Grand Club Rooms on 8th floor, which had leg massage units, nice view of the city and access to club lounge.

Serene and Business Class rooms are the other two categories.

The 2015 floods: GRT Grand was affected by the December 2015 floods like rest of Chennai. Water entered basement and many services including electricity supply were disrupted. However the hotel guests who were in the campus at the time of floods were well taken care of and the hotel also helped other civilians who wanted help. As a result of flood impact the hotel had to be shut down for 3 months, during which several innovative improvements were also commissioned, besides just restoring the damaged facilities/services.

The culture of Tamil Nadu depicted on each floor:

Each floor of GRT has something unique to show- right after you get out of the elevator. Grand by GRT is positioned as an art focused hotel, with each floor having a story to tell. Exclusive space is provided in each floor for this purpose. These creatives are managed under the brand, “The art bristo”.

The 9th floor has artwork depicting the Pamban bridge of Rameshwaram, LIC building, Kapaleeshwar temple and other places of significance.

8th floor is dedicated to Kollywood- the Tamil Cinema Industry,

8th floor also gets an exclusive club room, with red colour theme- a library, billiards table and sitting area.

7th floor is for textiles of Tamil Nadu

6th floor depicts folklore