Guest User
November 13, 2024
We stayed here for 1 night as part of an 11 night tour of Sri Lanka. Our view of this hotel may be a bit tainted as the travel company had messed us around and changed the bookings as part of a scam to save money. They assured us this was much nicer than where we were supposed to stay (the Jetwing St. Andrews) as the Araliya Red is much newer. However, the price differential would argue otherwise. The reception is incredibly blingy with lots of gold statues and marble that makes it feel like a lot of money has been thrown around. However, the rest of the hotel is incredibly basic. The rooms are big but echoey and not very clean. Our shower was clogged with hair from previous occupants and flooded over the doorsill. The toiletries provided were very basic and anything else (slippers, dental kit, etc) came at a cost. Because of all of the hard floors, plain walls and thin wooden doors, the hotel is incredibly loud and I was woken up multiple times with noise in the corridor and room above. Despite the hotel advertising panoramic views of the city and hills, it seems that this view is only actually visible from the roof terrace (literally just a flat roof you can go and stand on). We had a view of the car park and the hotel is a soulless tower block with only one small garden court in the centre. The buffet food was awful and the service in the buffet was appalling, despite there being a lot of staff present. The good thing about this hotel is the heated indoor pool.