Your rating of this hotel:
6.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
6.0
Service:
7.0
Cleanliness:
7.0
Food:
3.0
Amenities:
8.0
FLIGHT - flew from Kyiv fludubai, the flight was delayed by 3 hours (back by the way the same picture) waiting for the flight is annoying and annoying... due to the slurred explanations of the airport staff about the reasons for the delay, I realized one-board later flew out of Colombo when the same picture flew back, 3 hours of delay in departure - the board took off late from Dubai... according to the "experienced" airlines, the airline cannot "catch up" with these very 3 hours of a delay that once happened....although it is not clear what prevents adjusting the schedule if this 3 -x hour delay in another way to get rid of? "But we are not looking for easy ways in life" - and therefore we continue to toil in expectations....
ARRIVAL - I was pleased with the speed of issuing visas upon arrival (those who have been to Egypt and Thailand remember these long and long lines when crossing the border) they took their luggage almost immediately, bought visas ($ 35 from the "nose") exchanged $ for rupees (the exchange rate at the airport on 01/21/2013 it was 123.79 for 1 US dollar) then already on the spot in Bentota they changed both 125 and 126 for $ 1, so the information I read on this resource that it is necessary to change only at the airport was not confirmed: ), when making a trip ordered from the tour. individual transfer operator ($ 160) having read right there about all the "horrors" of a 4-5 hour collective bus trip to the hotel....as it turned out later, completely in vain. Firstly, a local taxi (at the exit from the airport building - parking lot on the left) to our hotel "The Palms" costs $ 55-60, if you are too lazy to bargain... secondly, the trip time does not change depending on the type of transfer - everything the same 4-5 hours to overcome about 105 km separating the airport from "The Palms", I will not describe HOW they drive here, because I myself "saw the light" : )
HOTEL - upon arrival they were well received, they didn’t touch things until the very room, they unloaded them, took them to the reception desk and then to the room (naturally thanked -200 rupees) the design of the room was almost instantaneous, apparently helped by free communication in English (who was in Egypt will be surprised -no red tape and extortion of money for a "good room" on the part of the hotel staff) drank fresh and wished a good rest. . .
ROOM - we got number 124 on the ground floor, a standard, fairly spacious room with everything you need, as I later found out from almost any room, a view of the ocean... by furniture, bedding, etc. etc. I’ll say one thing, it’s normal... there are, of course, small questions, but this is not critical... my family and I have been regularly traveling around Asia for 10 years now and we came across much more "problematic" hotels...
HOTEL STAFF - polite, friendly, always positive and ready to help, read reviews about rude, noisy and negative employees of "The Palms" on the tour. , I called the reception desk literally in 5-7 minutes a team of repairmen arrived (2 young men in blue overalls) untwisted the conder block and dismantled it... I sadly watched this, thinking that now it would not be cool in the room soon... however I was wrong - literally in 10-12 minutes these guys cleaned something there, soldered the radiator and refueled the unit with freon and it became good and comfortable for us : ) then I realized where such professionalism came from - hotel equipment (air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs, sun loungers, etc. ) not new for a long time, but it still works, mainly thanks to these guys and their skill. ANOTHER example - on the second day my daughter got sick, apparently after the Kiev winter the scorching sun of Lanka did not work for the future (the first days sunbathe only in the shade), the situation is 4 she has a temperature of 39.5, chills and in general she feels disgusting... I call the reception desk, explain the situation, I think to myself - "What should I do? " "Medic" for an hour or even more and I imagine with horror HOW it will all look here (parents will understand)... however, after 30-35 minutes there was a polite knock on the door (I remind you of the time between 4 and 5 in the morning) a local doctor arrived , about 50 years old, small, chubby, somehow all such a thorough one in general, with an assistant - an uncle, also aged, carried a "disturbing suitcase" with medicines behind her... the doctor looked and listened to the little one, reassured everyone, told that this happens from a sharp change in climate, asked to see a medical insurance policy, gave out a bunch of powders in paper envelopes, wrote in detail on them how and when to take it, chatted a little more with the little one, left more pills just in case, wrote a conclusion for the insurance company, wished a good rest and bowed out... for this she paid only $ 50, somehow embarrassingly explaining that upon her return the insurance company would reimburse the expenses (she spoke decent English, there were absolutely no problems in mutual understanding, although most speak pidgin English, a wild mixture of Sinhala with anything is not easy to understand)...... God bless her health and prosperity.
THE TERRITORY "The Palms" is beautiful, the efforts of the gardener are respected, the buildings are solid and tasteful, one can feel the influence of the colonial style at its best, tall palm trees, green lawns are in perfect harmony with man-made ponds and channels, where flocks of colorful fish frolic merrily. The hotel is fenced on all sides and is under the watchful guard of security guards in uniform, which is especially pleasing - local outcasts are not allowed inside - all sorts of annoying beach merchants and beach-boys.
FOOD - well, everything can't be fine : ) here, of course, I really want to look at the owner of "The Palms" and ask him one simple question - why is he deliberately ruining the rating and reputation of one of the best hotels in Beruwala, and apparently Bentotta. We have there were breakfasts, according to the experience of staying in Asia, this is the best option - it does not tie you to the hotel for the whole day and gives you the opportunity to get acquainted with the local cuisine outside the hotel. The breakfast menu for all 14 days (there are reasonable suspicions that for many years) has not changed one iota .
So, scrambled eggs or scrambled eggs (now I hate them), vegetables, sliced cucumbers, tomato and lettuce, some kind of fruit (2-3 types), for "hot" - grilled tomatoes, a variant of baked / boiled / pounded potatoes, again hard-boiled eggs, indistinct bean mash and "table decoration" - fried soy sausages, there is also juice from the cooler and butter / marmalade / pastries for tea - and that's EVERYTHING (as for the European table, there is also an Asian table, but I I don’t consider it because it’s impossible to eat from it by default - very spicy)... and SO every day... I repeat for 10 years now, my family and I have been riding around Asia, we are absolutely calm and sympathetic to various, sometimes arising "troubles ", never gourmets about" hamster "but I have never seen SUCH squalor on the breakfast menu anywhere and never....I do not urge the administration of" The Palms "to serve lobsters and foie gras for breakfast, but where is a reasonable approach to organization catering for hotel guests - on the means of which your entire business is supported? Around "The Palms" there are a lot of cafes in the menu of which there is the most budget dish of the coast - rice with vegetables / chicken / seafood / meat, it costs mere pennies and beats all the "culinary delights" of the hotel chefs in taste.
To the owner of "The Palms" - expel the manager responsible for food, review the menu towards at least some variety, include rice and at least some meat in the breakfast layout... and you will be happy.
The OCEAN is difficult to formulate right away... it is not as transparent and beautiful with a variety of living creatures as the Red Sea, it is not as calm as off the coast of Thailand, Vietnam, Burma... but it is impressive - even constant surf, the mighty breath of the OCEAN does not stop for a minute, many kilometers of sandy beaches, warm water and the same warm breeze create almost ideal conditions for a beach holiday, if you get tired of swinging on the waves, you can go to the lagoon and swim in calm water. In this regard, "The Palms" is wonderfully located - to the right of access to the beach 30-40 steps-lagoon.
LOCAL - Sri Lankans are friendly, cheerful, somewhat naive, cunning in their own way, communication with tourists spoiled their karma in the direction of a constant search for earnings and benefits. On the beach you will find the tedious harassment of merchants of various trifles and the so-called beach-boys. For these characters, separately. As far as I understood the aspirations of these types, their main goal is to "snuggle up" to one of the tourists during their vacation. Something like a gigolo, they sincerely want to make friends with you... but for a fee : )... they are priority but women resting alone, many times I saw such "couples" in the evenings in a cafe for dinner or a glass of wine... who pays for dinner and everything else is understandable... then vacationing couples fall under the gun... then beach-fights, like practitioners psychologists are looking for an approach-options- "cheap shopping" / not an expensive excursion, etc. , etc. - "let's go to the city, my will show the master cheap goods, the lord / madam will be satisfied... the essence of their" sales business "- percentage / rollback / fixed remuneration from the drive / import, in short, the delivery of the client to the owner of the goods / services... in the end, you will buy something in the store where the beach-boy brought you a little more expensive than you would buy yourself... it will be tedious, long and daily, the best way "fighting scourge fighting" : ) - smile, happily nod and say - "okay", everything is fine, everything is fine , we'll go wherever you say....but then... tomorrow... someday... "that morra" in short and naturally, don't go anywhere with the pester... in a couple of days he will get rid of himself... although we got caught some kind of "stubborn" jamshud... all 14 days, as it seemed to me, he guarded me on the beach and, as soon as he saw me, ran away with the next "tempting offers", it's annoying, but try not to pay attention to this "exotic"
Leaving the hotel for shopping is elementary... you need to go to the gate - there are a bunch of "taxi drivers" on duty - say Bentotta shopping and the tuk-tuk on duty will take you back and forth for 200 rupees (they will ask for 300 - bargain and disagree....we ourselves are to blame for the increase in prices for services) if the tuk-tuker behaved normally with you (didn’t pester you during the shopping process and didn’t soar, don’t go to court, it’s expensive, go there to my friends), then you can communicate with him and then during the rest... take his phone number and he will always be at your service... he will bring you where you need to go, including on an excursion... in the mornings in Beruwala I bought fresh fish, shrimp, buffalo fermented baked milk from fishermen in clay bowls, fruits, etc. , etc.... our tuk-tuker helped a lot in this - he would fry the fish and bring it to the hotel, he would deliver some order from the store, etc. and etc. , probably a decent one got caught : )
RESULT - we are satisfied with the trip, we liked it, we will definitely go to Sri Lanka again.
ARRIVAL - I was pleased with the speed of issuing visas upon arrival (those who have been to Egypt and Thailand remember these long and long lines when crossing the border) they took their luggage almost immediately, bought visas ($ 35 from the "nose") exchanged $ for rupees (the exchange rate at the airport on 01/21/2013 it was 123.79 for 1 US dollar) then already on the spot in Bentota they changed both 125 and 126 for $ 1, so the information I read on this resource that it is necessary to change only at the airport was not confirmed: ), when making a trip ordered from the tour. individual transfer operator ($ 160) having read right there about all the "horrors" of a 4-5 hour collective bus trip to the hotel....as it turned out later, completely in vain. Firstly, a local taxi (at the exit from the airport building - parking lot on the left) to our hotel "The Palms" costs $ 55-60, if you are too lazy to bargain... secondly, the trip time does not change depending on the type of transfer - everything the same 4-5 hours to overcome about 105 km separating the airport from "The Palms", I will not describe HOW they drive here, because I myself "saw the light" : )
HOTEL - upon arrival they were well received, they didn’t touch things until the very room, they unloaded them, took them to the reception desk and then to the room (naturally thanked -200 rupees) the design of the room was almost instantaneous, apparently helped by free communication in English (who was in Egypt will be surprised -no red tape and extortion of money for a "good room" on the part of the hotel staff) drank fresh and wished a good rest. . .
ROOM - we got number 124 on the ground floor, a standard, fairly spacious room with everything you need, as I later found out from almost any room, a view of the ocean... by furniture, bedding, etc. etc. I’ll say one thing, it’s normal... there are, of course, small questions, but this is not critical... my family and I have been regularly traveling around Asia for 10 years now and we came across much more "problematic" hotels...
HOTEL STAFF - polite, friendly, always positive and ready to help, read reviews about rude, noisy and negative employees of "The Palms" on the tour. , I called the reception desk literally in 5-7 minutes a team of repairmen arrived (2 young men in blue overalls) untwisted the conder block and dismantled it... I sadly watched this, thinking that now it would not be cool in the room soon... however I was wrong - literally in 10-12 minutes these guys cleaned something there, soldered the radiator and refueled the unit with freon and it became good and comfortable for us : ) then I realized where such professionalism came from - hotel equipment (air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs, sun loungers, etc. ) not new for a long time, but it still works, mainly thanks to these guys and their skill. ANOTHER example - on the second day my daughter got sick, apparently after the Kiev winter the scorching sun of Lanka did not work for the future (the first days sunbathe only in the shade), the situation is 4 she has a temperature of 39.5, chills and in general she feels disgusting... I call the reception desk, explain the situation, I think to myself - "What should I do? " "Medic" for an hour or even more and I imagine with horror HOW it will all look here (parents will understand)... however, after 30-35 minutes there was a polite knock on the door (I remind you of the time between 4 and 5 in the morning) a local doctor arrived , about 50 years old, small, chubby, somehow all such a thorough one in general, with an assistant - an uncle, also aged, carried a "disturbing suitcase" with medicines behind her... the doctor looked and listened to the little one, reassured everyone, told that this happens from a sharp change in climate, asked to see a medical insurance policy, gave out a bunch of powders in paper envelopes, wrote in detail on them how and when to take it, chatted a little more with the little one, left more pills just in case, wrote a conclusion for the insurance company, wished a good rest and bowed out... for this she paid only $ 50, somehow embarrassingly explaining that upon her return the insurance company would reimburse the expenses (she spoke decent English, there were absolutely no problems in mutual understanding, although most speak pidgin English, a wild mixture of Sinhala with anything is not easy to understand)...... God bless her health and prosperity.
THE TERRITORY "The Palms" is beautiful, the efforts of the gardener are respected, the buildings are solid and tasteful, one can feel the influence of the colonial style at its best, tall palm trees, green lawns are in perfect harmony with man-made ponds and channels, where flocks of colorful fish frolic merrily. The hotel is fenced on all sides and is under the watchful guard of security guards in uniform, which is especially pleasing - local outcasts are not allowed inside - all sorts of annoying beach merchants and beach-boys.
FOOD - well, everything can't be fine : ) here, of course, I really want to look at the owner of "The Palms" and ask him one simple question - why is he deliberately ruining the rating and reputation of one of the best hotels in Beruwala, and apparently Bentotta. We have there were breakfasts, according to the experience of staying in Asia, this is the best option - it does not tie you to the hotel for the whole day and gives you the opportunity to get acquainted with the local cuisine outside the hotel. The breakfast menu for all 14 days (there are reasonable suspicions that for many years) has not changed one iota .
So, scrambled eggs or scrambled eggs (now I hate them), vegetables, sliced cucumbers, tomato and lettuce, some kind of fruit (2-3 types), for "hot" - grilled tomatoes, a variant of baked / boiled / pounded potatoes, again hard-boiled eggs, indistinct bean mash and "table decoration" - fried soy sausages, there is also juice from the cooler and butter / marmalade / pastries for tea - and that's EVERYTHING (as for the European table, there is also an Asian table, but I I don’t consider it because it’s impossible to eat from it by default - very spicy)... and SO every day... I repeat for 10 years now, my family and I have been riding around Asia, we are absolutely calm and sympathetic to various, sometimes arising "troubles ", never gourmets about" hamster "but I have never seen SUCH squalor on the breakfast menu anywhere and never....I do not urge the administration of" The Palms "to serve lobsters and foie gras for breakfast, but where is a reasonable approach to organization catering for hotel guests - on the means of which your entire business is supported? Around "The Palms" there are a lot of cafes in the menu of which there is the most budget dish of the coast - rice with vegetables / chicken / seafood / meat, it costs mere pennies and beats all the "culinary delights" of the hotel chefs in taste.
To the owner of "The Palms" - expel the manager responsible for food, review the menu towards at least some variety, include rice and at least some meat in the breakfast layout... and you will be happy.
The OCEAN is difficult to formulate right away... it is not as transparent and beautiful with a variety of living creatures as the Red Sea, it is not as calm as off the coast of Thailand, Vietnam, Burma... but it is impressive - even constant surf, the mighty breath of the OCEAN does not stop for a minute, many kilometers of sandy beaches, warm water and the same warm breeze create almost ideal conditions for a beach holiday, if you get tired of swinging on the waves, you can go to the lagoon and swim in calm water. In this regard, "The Palms" is wonderfully located - to the right of access to the beach 30-40 steps-lagoon.
LOCAL - Sri Lankans are friendly, cheerful, somewhat naive, cunning in their own way, communication with tourists spoiled their karma in the direction of a constant search for earnings and benefits. On the beach you will find the tedious harassment of merchants of various trifles and the so-called beach-boys. For these characters, separately. As far as I understood the aspirations of these types, their main goal is to "snuggle up" to one of the tourists during their vacation. Something like a gigolo, they sincerely want to make friends with you... but for a fee : )... they are priority but women resting alone, many times I saw such "couples" in the evenings in a cafe for dinner or a glass of wine... who pays for dinner and everything else is understandable... then vacationing couples fall under the gun... then beach-fights, like practitioners psychologists are looking for an approach-options- "cheap shopping" / not an expensive excursion, etc. , etc. - "let's go to the city, my will show the master cheap goods, the lord / madam will be satisfied... the essence of their" sales business "- percentage / rollback / fixed remuneration from the drive / import, in short, the delivery of the client to the owner of the goods / services... in the end, you will buy something in the store where the beach-boy brought you a little more expensive than you would buy yourself... it will be tedious, long and daily, the best way "fighting scourge fighting" : ) - smile, happily nod and say - "okay", everything is fine, everything is fine , we'll go wherever you say....but then... tomorrow... someday... "that morra" in short and naturally, don't go anywhere with the pester... in a couple of days he will get rid of himself... although we got caught some kind of "stubborn" jamshud... all 14 days, as it seemed to me, he guarded me on the beach and, as soon as he saw me, ran away with the next "tempting offers", it's annoying, but try not to pay attention to this "exotic"
Leaving the hotel for shopping is elementary... you need to go to the gate - there are a bunch of "taxi drivers" on duty - say Bentotta shopping and the tuk-tuk on duty will take you back and forth for 200 rupees (they will ask for 300 - bargain and disagree....we ourselves are to blame for the increase in prices for services) if the tuk-tuker behaved normally with you (didn’t pester you during the shopping process and didn’t soar, don’t go to court, it’s expensive, go there to my friends), then you can communicate with him and then during the rest... take his phone number and he will always be at your service... he will bring you where you need to go, including on an excursion... in the mornings in Beruwala I bought fresh fish, shrimp, buffalo fermented baked milk from fishermen in clay bowls, fruits, etc. , etc.... our tuk-tuker helped a lot in this - he would fry the fish and bring it to the hotel, he would deliver some order from the store, etc. and etc. , probably a decent one got caught : )
RESULT - we are satisfied with the trip, we liked it, we will definitely go to Sri Lanka again.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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