Keeping up with the city's hi-tech halo and the juggernaut local economy, various neighborhoods, especially the Paradise-Patny area, are smoothly mutating into flashy business and entertainment districts. Lending further credence to this trend is the 3-star Minerva Grand.

Minerva impresses with its grandeur and classy decor. The lobby that doubles as a lounge is lush with glossily tiled flooring, cream-colored walls slickly matched by chocolate leather sofas and cream settees. The hotel has 6 floors in all, the first of which is home to banquet halls Quorum and Summit, which can accommodate around 500 people each.

Reaching out further to the bibulous and the brazen, is the mysterious lounge bar Enigmaa, where night happens with the young and the old, the dudes and the gals, all mixing in toxic gusto.

There are 105 lavish rooms, all telling the same story - of eclectic elegance, of grandeur and magnificence. All are tastefully decored with the same subtle hues and peachy colors that graced the lobby, supple and stunning Italian oakwood flooring, kingsize beds with snuggly, soft pillows and alluring Duvets. The bathrooms comprise a rain shower and a luxuriantly large bathtub besides the other normal amenities. These apart, there are the typical upscale conveniences like a minibar, a coffeemaker and so on.

If you want a sip of martini or hang about with your laptop or try to chat up with that comely lady or gentleman, then there's no better way or place or ambience than the lounge on the 4th floor, consummate with sexy sofas and chic cocktail tables.

Adorning the top floor is the fitness center, which is a small room with sparsely populated equipment like one treadmill, one elliptical trainer and one exercise bike. Rather absurd. I was told the hotel runs a full-house everyday, so wonder where the rest of the world's going to flex muscles? You'd have to admit, this is a tiny letdown on Minerva's part.

Minerva's no slouch however with the in-house eats and treats, as you'd expect (this belongs to the same people who run all the popular Minerva Coffee Shops around town). There's Fiesta, a coffee shop where you can chill around with a dose of latte, frittering away a lot of good time. And temptingly resting on the ground floor, adjacent to the lobby, is the fine dining phenom, the Blue Fox multi-cuisine restaurant, that offers its patrons first-rate food and wines in an elegant yet easygoing atmosphere. Easily the classiest one in the neighbourhood.

Minerva Grand, true to its name, is a luxurious, spaciously built, upscale hotel that flaunts its class all the way from the accommodation, to banquets, to fine dining, never skipping a beat. And being conveniently located in the core of Secunderabad, it's an instant choice for anyone who can afford it.


Also visit: Minerva Coffee Shop (Somajiguda), Minerva Coffee Shop (Himayathnagar), Minerva Coffee Shop (Ameerpet)