Conversion of palaces to hotels

Not where we stayed. These are hotels in Chandni Chowk, old Delhi

Conservation of attractive old mansions is a problem, where there are many attractive old buildings: too many to be renovated by even a wealthy community, so in some Rajasthan towns beautiful "Haveli"s had simply been colonised by local people

Residents have supplemented their income from the trickle of tourist visitors.

O.K., we were just visiting. However, renovating old mansions, such as this at Bikaner, to attract tourists as hotel guests may not be a straightforward way to get rich, for the setting of these buildings does not match the interiors. The photo below was taken DIRECTLY outside this magnificent room.

It was not unusual to see people feeding their unwanted food scraps to the street cattle.

Forts, such as this at Mandawa, are perhaps better candidates for conversion to hotels, and can create a very theatrical setting.

The economics of conversion may be somewhat daunting. Conversion work on the hotel below took 10 years, and could only really have been undertaken as a hobby of a wealthy industrialist.

The results are a stunning hotel at Devigarh. The assistant manager took us on a guided tour. It took probably 45 minutes to admire the refurbished palatial rooms. Warning. If you stay there the drinks are expensive.

Next: Life outside the tourist sites