$300 BEST Hotel in Pakistan (Serena Hotel)

Two nights at a top-end Islamabad hotel, straight off the fifteen-hour drive down from Hunza Valley, and the premise is a comment section: Harry had already titled an earlier video best hotel in Pakistan, viewers told him he had the wrong one, and this is him checking.

The most useful thing in it has nothing to do with the hotel. Explaining his first ever sponsor read, he says why he needs a VPN in the first place: Pakistan is not a monetisable country, so he cannot upload from inside it and works around it by appearing to be somewhere else. It is the clearest account in the bundle of what running a channel from the road actually involves.

Obs: the hotel is not named in this page’s body. Harry was apparently upgraded — he says so himself, uncertainly — the minibar was complimentary, and when he and Mac went to book an Uber to the airport they were given a private transfer instead. A benefit received is the trigger, the same as the two hotels of the same class earlier in the trip. The video’s own title is reproduced verbatim above because that is how the video is cited.

Obs: this video carries a read-aloud VPN sponsor segment with a discount code. The provider is not recorded here; the reason he uses one is, because that is travel information.

Key moments

• [00:00] The premise: he called another hotel the best in Pakistan, the comments disagreed, and he is testing both.
• [01:02] Why he needs a VPN: Pakistan is not a monetisable country, so he cannot upload while inside it. He is already in a different country by the time this goes out.
• [03:04] The minibar fridge is complimentary.
• [03:34] A mobile phone in the room, provided for local and international calls and usable as a hotspot.
• [04:04] The hotel wi-fi measures about 6 Mbps at reception — slow for the price, and Harry says so. The room phone’s hotspot measures 6.7, so no better.
• [05:06] The small things he keeps noticing: USB sockets alongside normal plugs, two desks so he and Mac can both work, Netflix on the TV, and multiple key cards.
• [05:36] Context for his enthusiasm about the shower: three days without running water in Hunza.
• [06:37] A rollaway bed delivered in about ten minutes — there were no twin rooms.
• [08:22] Laundry is $3 an item, which he calls expensive and rates for speed.
• [09:22] The breakfast buffet: pastries, croissants, muffins, yoghurt, fruit, cereal, chickpeas, porridge, baked beans, chicken sausages rather than pork, a run of Pakistani dishes, and an omelette station.
• [13:28] One of the best breakfasts he has had in Pakistan, and staff who ask where he is from because his Urdu greeting is good.
• [13:59] The comparison with the other hotel of the same class he stayed in earlier: that one was very busy, this is quiet, and he declines to say anything worse than that about it.
• [14:29] The view: garden, terraces, and a pool too cold to use in January.
• [16:20] The gym, then a spa treatment afterwards, and ginger tea he has never had before — a spicy tea he ends up liking.
• [21:02] Independent shops operating inside the hotel, including a tailor, which he notes is normal in the big Pakistani hotels.
• [18:53] Live music in the lobby playing the Titanic theme — the fifth time he has heard that song in Pakistan.
• [22:47] He pre-empts the comments about ordering Western food: three and a half weeks of Pakistani food, and he wanted something from home.
• [25:22] Dinner for two came to 5,300 rupees, Harry’s share around $10 for spaghetti bolognese and a banana shake, with dessert on Mac’s side.
• [26:23] The verdict: possibly one of the best hotels he has stayed in anywhere, definitely the best in Pakistan, and his favourite place in the country so far. What he singles out is how much is included — they talked him out of booking an Uber to the airport and gave him a private transfer instead.

Extracted pages

• Islamabad
• Hunza Valley
• Pakistan
• Mac