Like its location and history. Stayed many times before when I lived there. Staff very helpful at the desk and room service good. Excellent Spa facility please try for yourself. I had my 1st body herbal scrub and massage , it was amazing. Went back a second time before leaving. STAFF BALINESE GIRLS WHO ARE WELL TRAINED IN THEIR ART. Hopefully will return. Lovely room on ground floor because of my needs, with nice view onto gardens and public beach Mount Lavinia has its own private beach with an amazing fish restaurant newly refurbished and about to open. Nice for a sundowner. Great place to have a Wedding.

This place is superb value for money and I don't know how they can make money with such great value for money considering the facilities and services provided! Location directly looking the ocean and metres from it makes it ideal along with being yards away from Mount Lavinia station. Even the check out experience was superb with Tashani (the Guest Service Manager) listening so well to me and being very attentive to my whole stay and really taking care for me - outstandingly superb service there too from Tashani alongside the breakfast staff who work hard to please! There are so many plus points...but the exotic location and total value for money are the most breathtaking for me ....hence why I returned once again to this near 220 year old hotel that's also an icon for old Ceylon!

I gave ample time (afternoon and day before checkout day) for laundry services to do their usual job..... but my laundry (only a few pieces) still was not done by the time I checked out! This was the ONLY disappointment for my whole stay. What a shame as everything else was so great.

The hotel was very well staffed so more than enough people to look after your every need. The meals were all very good with plenty of choice. The food and drink was good value. We walked to a shack along the beach which although very basic was more expensive than the hotel!

The property has definitely seen better days. What you might politely call 'faded glory' it's very much in need of some urgent TLC. It is a very large property so no doubt hugely expensive to maintain. Not that I dodn't like it but I can imagine it would put off a lot of fussier customers.

I stayed here as a child with my parents when we visited family and now I stay here with my own children. It is a wonderful place to stay with everything you need to relax. The staff are friendly and very obliging. The rooms are very comfortable and clean with good facilities and excellent air conditioning. The food is excellent and plentiful. The buffets at breakfast and in the evening are incredible with an enormous selection from around the world. But the local dishes are the best. We will definitely be back.

There is nothing i didn't like.

Beautiful location, with access to private beach and a balcony view of the ocean that felt very secluded. Staff kindly arranged early check in at no extra cost. Meals were varied and enjoyed in a wonderful terrace space.

Some staff on front desk were not approachable. No information provided in a written format about where services e.g. beach, spa, breakfast, restaurants were. I found out by wandering around. Sometimes food was served cold.

We booked a Direct Ocean View King Room for 2 nights and loved it so much we booked another 2 nights and we were upgraded to a junior suite. Beautiful old colonial style hotel, very grand. Fantastic swimming pool and very attentive staff. We ate there every evening, often a themed buffet with entertainment. The breakfast was amazing.

Its a grand hotel with lot of history, and u will see that exploring the hotel. Which also means some items may not be modern, but we'll maintained old items. Room was next to beach and one of the best views you will get. Staff are top notch helpful always.

As it is very old hotel you do see the ageing, so some of the modern facilities might be missing, but all important ones are there. Depends what ur taste is.

It is wery old hotel. Have museum inside. It was residental of the first England guverner. Everything is at this stile. Room are big, rare and in old manier. They are clining all the time but need complete renovier and thay start to do it. You can here ocean.

The railway is next to the hotel and trains pass frequently (one per hour), although they can only be heard on the beach.

Location was good but you need to get transport into Colombo, but worth it for a quiet hotel,

After staying here in 2016 and 2018 we were disappointed with the hotel, every day we had to ask for something that wasn’t let in our room, e.g. towels, toilet paper, teabags etc

The dinner was excellent. Staff was friendly and Dinendra at the buffet did a good service.

On the evening of our arrival we noticed that the private beach of the hôtel was not well maintained. There were lot of empty bottles, plastics and logs on the shore.