Hotel berhampiran Abarana Ella, Hambantota

Pantai di hotel terlalu bergelombang untuk berenang dan hanya dapat berjemur di bawah sinar matahari. Tetapi tidak jauh, ada pantai awam lain yang berjarak lebih dari 100 meter, di mana anda boleh berenang. Terdapat banyak pilihan untuk sarapan dan makan malam bufet, dan rasanya enak. Sudah tentu, ada kesilapan yang berlaku, seperti bahu daging lembu yang terlalu mentah. Terdapat sedikit perkara untuk kanak-kanak berhibur. Terdapat bilik permainan di mana anda boleh menggambar, menonton TV, bermain permainan, dan lain-lain, tetapi penyelenggaraannya tidak begitu baik. Perkhidmatannya umumnya baik, diantar. Walau bagaimanapun, terdapat lebih banyak bahan untuk pertunjukan, dan beberapa butiran perlu diberi perhatian. Secara keseluruhan, nisbah harga / prestasi rata-rata, dan ia harus dilakukan.

The hotel is located in a great location, close to Yalla Park. Our room had a beautiful view of the lake. Many thanks to the manager who helped us organize our safari. I want to point out the strange behavior of the ladies at the reception. Not customer-oriented.

Great ambience and staff were amazing, we liked the way how they treated us and they were very friendly. I would suggest everyone to visit this amazing place if you are planning to Yala. The only drawback is, it is but far from the park. You need to travel for 30minutes. But, the accommodation is extraordinary.

This is a nice hotel, the rooms are very good, there is a lovely pool and the staff were lovely but for a 4* hotel we did feel let down on several occasions. We are reasonably seasoned travellers and know about the things that can happen in Sri Lanka which we are visiting for the third time. One of the main things that went wrong was the transport that the hotel arranged for us from Ella, I had clearly specified in writing that we wanted a vehicle big enough for 4 adults + 4 suitcases + 4 hang baggage when booking several months before. I followed this up, again in writing, a couple of days before our journey with the same information and was assured all was OK. The car that did turn up was way too small, resulting in a wasted journey for the poor guy that had driven for 2.5 hrs to get to us. The manager put the blame on another company for messing up but I think that he should have made sure that the vehicle we were getting was adequate. To his credit the situation was put right but this shouldn’t have happened in the first place. As I’ve said, the hotel itself is very nice indeed. The staff are really lovely but many didn’t speak any English so communication was very difficult when ordering, eg we just avoided having kottu (a Sri Lankan meal) bought to us when all we wanted was a coke. I can understand this is in a one or two star place but for somewhere that portends to be a cut above then I think that the customer can expect to be able to communicate. It was the same with most of the reception staff, some basic training would I think go a long way. Food was ok but I had to send a meal back because the fish I’d ordered was overcooked to the point that it was charred and brittle. The internet was lamentably slow and was frequently non existent. This should not be a problem even in Sri Lanka as we had good connections for the other 6 or so places we stayed of lesser rating. We only had hot water for 1 out of the three nights we stayed, when we mentioned it, it was fixed so probably just someone didn’t turn the water heaters on. Again, we’ve travelled around a bit and stayed in basic hotels and know that things may not materialise as you wish, but when one does decide to splurge a certain standard is expected. We were asked at checkout if our stay was up to standard and we told the person on reception about what had happened, he was obviously senior and spoke reasonable English. To his credit he was very apologetic and we were given some money off our food and drinks bill however we would have much preferred that the hotel lived up to its star rating. With a few tweaks this could be an excellent hotel, so up to the management really to do their bit!

The hotel is not that simple to get to. Once you leave a nice hard top road, you have to drive down a long dirt road for about 10 mins to get to the hotel itself. That road can become a bit flooded if it rains hard - as it did on one day we were there - and that can prevent some guests getting in and out of the hotel. We’d had a lovely quiet evening meal one night and only found out afterwards that there had been a large group due in but couldn’t get down the road. Generally, it’s ‘normal’ vehicles and buses that bring people but, on occasion, a 4x4 would be better. On the days we arrived and left the roads were passable but you could see how they become easily impassable with rivulets running across it. The hotel though is lovely. The old one was washed away in the tsunami but the replacement looks strongly built, with its exposed concrete and stone construction there for all to see. That doesn’t make it cold and like a factory though. Far from it. It feels like it belongs where it is and its appropriate for a climate that varied between sun, wind and heavy rain whilst we were there. Whilst there are bedrooms on the ground floor (plus the gym and spa), most of the hotel’s common spaces are on the top floor, where reception, the bar and a la carte restaurant are. The main restaurant is one floor down, which has a nice view from the verandas around the outside. We had drinks in the bar on a couple of evenings, choosing to sit on the covered balcony as the indoor space - complete with pool table - whilst lovely was rather cold. The cocktails we had were really well made and come with our recommendation. We didn’t try the a la carte restaurant. Frankly, there was no need to from a food perspective. It was excellent all the time in the main one. The hotel tends to get large groups stay, who like to sit together (and create quite a noise), so the main restaurant can get quite noisy. The a la carte would offer a break from that as it’s in its own, quiet space. We genuinely couldn’t fault the food at the hotel. Breakfast always had a large choice ranging from cold offerings, cereal and salad, through to traditional Sri Lankan and hot western options. Tea and coffee was to order whilst you helped yourself to juice. The story was similar for evening meals too. If anything, evening meals catered less for western palettes and more for the Chinese guests that frequent the hotel. There were always lots of local Sri Lankan dishes too, which were simply delicious. All the hot food was outside the main restaurant space, under cover, with much of it being cooked in front of you. The cold starters and desserts were indoors. I have to say, one odd highlight was the soups. Every night there were 2 soups on offer and they were really good. I did have a tiny bug bear sometimes, which correlated with the busiest nights. That was the staff were a little too keen to clear plates. On occasion, you’d literally be chewing still and hadn’t quite put your cutlery dow

Amazing location. In the middle of a forest and just beside the sea. Booked Jungle Chalet and the room was big and good. Found a spider in the room which was scary but I think OK for a place situated in the middle of jungle. Saw wild boars running around our room, crocodiles in the lake near hotel entrance and small animals and peacocks. Other than Yala Safari there is nothing much to do in the hotel other than swimming in the pool. Had full board and the dining experience was good. Bar service is also good.