Arrived in middle of night by taxi, very expensive rider, operator did not have reservation, put us up in room, dirtY, smelly, slept on top of bed as someone had already slept on sheets. Had help with luggage, but would not leave until tipped and tipped well!

Bathroom was very small, you could, sh_t, shave, shower all in one position as you could not do anything else! Supplies were limited to a little toilet paper, no soap, one wet towel.

Checked out early, they do not take credit cards...what we were told, only cash...I paid $60 and friend paid $100 only bills we had on hand.

In very bad area.....STAY AWAY!

The staying was nice; it was a clean place. But especially, Naresh, the owner, is a greatly wonderfull friend that made our days in Delhi a safe, really nice trip.

The Madonna hotel was reserved for us by a travel agent, reputedly a 3* hotel. We arrived late at night (2am) and there were thankfully people awake.

Two guys brought our bags up, and stayed in the room until they were tipped. I had only INR 100, but as the porter said, "that is a small tip, 500 is a large tip".. Well, indeed, 100 is the most i ever tipped in India, and definitely way to much.

The rooms were a bit grungy, the bathroom definitely a mess, although the shower was allright (warm water wise). The beds very very hard, and the rooms incredibly noisy. I must say i feel bad for those people trying to sleep when we arrived.

Breakfast was included, but they first tried to get us to pay for the breakfast, when i pointed to the fact that it was included, they withdrew the bill. The breakfast we got was not that well, plain toast, en egg, with a lot of water it seemed.

Definitely not something i would every recommend to anyone arriving in Delhi.

Especially bad marks for the rude, and very tip minded staf.

We had left our passports at the reception to copy, the next morning at 7:00 i was woken by the reception on the phone, that they needed our passports (we had arrived at 3 am)..... After reminder that they already had the passports, nothing more was heard.

no no no. boo.
true: this hotel is adequate, kind of...
but at 100$ a night, you're paying 3-4x what you would for similar quality in Paharganj. (!)
staying here means you burn cash for a decent hotel in a pretty rotten neighborhood.
Delhi is tricky -- i've stayed in 8 hotels here at the budget level, and TripAdvisor (which was invaluable in Kyoto and saved my life in Beijing) was useless. LonelyPlanet came a lot closer to helping.

You can get a decent room, with some work for 30$ a night in Paharganj, which is more central than the madonna. The madonna staff wasn't particularly friendly -- and when they gave travel advice, you couldn't help feeling like they were scamming you (a pretty constant feeling in delhi, where everything is barter -- it gets old). (The madonna staff was always trying to discourage you from talking to others about your travel needs)

Delhi on a budget is tricky -- but it can be done -- and location is pretty important (you won't be spending much time in your hotel room, anyway...) Noise and smell are the two things to be wary of in a delhi hotel room -- the madonna had both. a sweage smell (not as bad as some others i've stayed in) - and the constant din from the street.
i've stayed in worse (though for a fifth of the cost! 20$ a night) -- and i've stayed in places where the doors are thin and you can hear the staff talking all night (oddly common experience in Delhi)
But buyer beware -- just because TripAd has no reasonable options for delhi (isn't india supposed to be cheap?) doesn't mean they don't exist. Look elsewhere for the deal and the inside info. LonelyPlanet's a good bet.