Yoho Royal Mount Hotel

I left right away because there was no light or security, and the place felt dangerous. Earlier, when I found the balcony door had no lock, I went to reception and the rude woman told me some rooms had no locks, then disappeared. I had already paid before seeing the room, which was dirty, with a terrible washroom that looked nothing like the pictures. I arrived around 10:20 pm, and the person who answered the phone sent this woman to deal with me. When I tried to find the manager, he also vanished. I called him about ten times and knocked more than ten times, but nobody responsible came out. He was deliberately hiding, in my view. The next day I called again; he was rude, talked nonsense, and hung up without returning the money that he and the woman had deliberately cheated me out of. I have a video of what happened. I hope to inform the relevant authorities so they can take appropriate action for what the two of them jointly did. We don't have time to deal with low-life culprits, and they will face serious consequences.

Ann is always welcoming and really friendly. The rooms are comfortable, clean, and kept in good shape, and the rates are reasonable. I've had a great experience at Royal Mount Hotel, and it's a dependable, pleasant option for a short stay.

We paid LKR 10,000, the same as we had paid at Mount Breeze Hotel before, where we got a clean room and access to a pool. Here, the room wasn't worth that price at all. It had just one small bar of soap, hadn't been cleaned properly, and the balcony view was unhygienic and unpleasant enough to make us uncomfortable and feel unsafe. We didn't sleep on the bed or use the towels. There was no direct beach access either. With Mount Lavinia railway station and Mount Lavinia hotel in the way, the only route was a small path by the Mount Lavinia Hotel main gate, so getting to the beach meant walking nearly 2 km. Check-in was uncomfortable too, since the front office woman seemed afraid to speak and couldn't communicate properly. We'd already paid on arrival, so we stayed the night, but it wasn't relaxing or pleasant. I wouldn't recommend it.

What upset me most was how a simple payment issue turned our peaceful time with friends into a bad day. We hadn't planned to extend our stay, but decided suddenly to do so. A staff woman insisted we come to the counter to pay, even though we'd offered our card. She refused it because the hotel didn't have a POS machine, which wasn't our fault. Her grunting, barking tone made an already irritating situation worse, and it got a bit ugly between both sides before things calmed down. We weren't trying to run off. We had come to relax, and my friend's ID was being held at the front office as security. This was my second stay there. The first was for my birthday, and another friend had also held a birthday celebration at the hotel. I'm a travel agency owner in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, and usually spend my limited free time there with two friends to get away from work and city life. I know what I expect from a hotel. In my opinion, that staff member should have been patient, spoken compassionately, and tried to solve the problem. Customer satisfaction matters for repeat business, including at my own agency, but we didn't get the peaceful, harmonious getaway we'd come for. The woman, probably in her late 40s or 50s, looked worn out and shabby and had a very bad mouth. I think her tone triggered the problem, and she seemed to lack the education or hospitality experience to understand that clients and situations differ. I don't know her job title, and nobody wore a uniform or name badge to make staff easy to identify. I believe the government should require hotel staff to dress decently and wear name and designation badges. It would help clients identify them and, in my view, could improve tourism by reducing negative reviews like this. I rarely write negative reviews, but I felt I had to this time. I sincerely hope it reaches the hotel's senior management directly or through the right channels, so they can prevent similar incidents and avoid losing future customers.