Sapphire Seas Beachfront Villas

We appreciated the staff’s kindness and help at Sapphire Seas Beachfront. They upgraded us to a better room and let us check out late. The hotel is in a very quiet area with little going on nearby, which may suit you if you want peace. There were some inconveniences too: the water stopped at night and didn’t come back until around 4 a.m. The AC and fridge were very old and felt rustic and poorly maintained. The hotel has potential, but maintenance needs improvement.

The pool and beachfront location earned the two stars. The pool was quite nice in the evening, when the dark hid what daylight showed. The included breakfast was uninspiring, with little flavor or effort. We tried it on the first day but didn’t want to repeat it on the second, even though it was still included. The property was worn enough to make us wonder if “vintage charm” meant it hadn’t been maintained for years. Our room smelled like a humid basement mixed with tired air-conditioning. We stayed two days, partly curious and partly stubborn, but won’t return. We’ve stayed in plenty of hotels around the world and are usually easygoing, but this was easily our biggest disappointment.

It’s a budget friendly hotel and good value for money, with easy access to the beach. We appreciated the free room upgrade. The food didn’t seem very fresh, though, and we skipped the pool because it looked a bit unclean.

This was the worst hotel experience we had in our two weeks in Sri Lanka, and by far the most expensive. When we checked in, the bed sheets had yellow stains all over them (see the picture), and the beach towels were badly stained and probably 2/3 years old. Our room faced the swimming pool, where kids were playing and making loud noises, so we asked to move because it was dirty and in a bad spot. They said changing rooms would take 10 minutes and cost an extra 5000 per night, which we agreed to, but it actually took about 1 hour. They could have avoided all this by offering a room change themselves and not lying to us. The hotel is dirty, the elevator was under maintenance, and mattresses were lying around. Outdated, dirty, and only profits oriented. Don’t go to this hotel.