Ballarat Luxury Villa

My family’s stay was ruined by how the management handled things. My wife and our two children, both under three, had been moved here from the Ambalandogoda property. At that first place there were ants in the beds, little snakes right beside the sleeping area, and spiders everywhere. Management knew about it the night before but did nothing until 4pm the next day. By then my family had packed to leave. They eventually moved us, but packing took an afternoon and unpacking took the next morning. With two toddlers, we lost the chance to enjoy the pool and the stay was completely spoiled. Then, despite the owner confirming a later checkout, my wife was told at 8am the next morning that they had to leave by 10am. There was no apology or flexibility. The manager was rude and unhelpful, and tried to avoid giving us a refund. We got no compassion or basic customer service. At the previous property, Thanuja and the gardener were the only ones who treated my family decently. They were genuinely kind and tried to make a bad situation better. I’ve booked hotels and properties all over the world, and I’ve never encountered worse management. I strongly recommend avoiding any villa run by Ballarat or Aviense Realty. If this is how they treat a family with two small children, I dread to think how they treat other guests. Don’t be fooled by the positive reviews.

The garden steps at Ballarat Villa in Hikkaduwa are highly polished concrete, and when wet they’re like ice. I slipped on them after arriving and broke both bones in my arm. There’s no rubber matting, carpet, handrail, signage, or anything else to help prevent an accident. The place is also overrun with mosquitoes, and there are holes in the mosquito nets. After I got hurt, the owner said he would refund our trip money, but it never came back. The company has refused to communicate with me since. Thameera, the manager, doesn’t reply to messages and seems to care only about money, not the guests’ safety and well-being. While I was stuck in hospital with my broken arm, I missed my baby son’s first steps. Thanks, Ballarat Villa, for taking those once-in-a-lifetime moments away from me. I strongly recommend people avoid this villa. The company behind it are liars and clearly don’t care one bit about their customers’ well-being. Ballarat villas, you should be ashamed of yourselves!

The city is close, just 3-5 minutes by scooter or tuk-tuk. We spent a week here, and the villa was well looked after, with everything shown in the pictures actually there. Big thanks to Eshan, the caretaker, who knows the place inside out. Food delivery is handy if you want to stay in. The food is average, but it’s comfortable and normally priced. I’d recommend this place to everyone.

Eshan took great care of us and was very accommodating. We had a peaceful, relaxing weekend at Ballarat. The rooms and grounds were clean and well maintained, it was easy to find, and the food was great. We’ll definitely come back.