Guest Ryan

The room itself was okay and the AC worked, but the universal controller only let me turn it on or off. The bigger problem was the bathroom: the sink and plug, towel rail, and shower head were broken or worked poorly, and the hot and cold water kept changing. I was the only guest in the whole guest house, yet the room hadn't been checked before I arrived. The manager and assistant, whose English was poor, didn't seem to understand why that mattered. A few days earlier, when I came to look at the rooms, they had claimed the bathrooms were 5 star hotel standard, lol. I tried to talk it through calmly before leaving, but they got angry and just wanted the 3,800LKR per night, not including food. When I agreed to settle the bill, the assistant said he had no change, like the trick 3 wheeler drivers use on tourists. He threatened to call the police after I pointed that out. A pretty sad ending, and a great way to make sure customers never come back. Their idea of service seemed to be waiting until a guest reports something broken before fixing it. There are several OTHER guest houses on the same road. I'd try one of those.

We had booked this house for two days for my friend visiting from Spain. The room was okay, though small for what we paid. The owner was pleasant with us at first. He let us leave our bags in the lobby, which is really a living area, and use the WiFi after we checked out at noon. Our flight wasn't until 21.10, and he'd even turned on the fan. I told him we were going out, and after he left a woman came in, switched off the fan, then turned off the WiFi. We came back at 16.00 and were still waiting several hours for our flight. Another woman turned off the WiFi and fan again and told me there were hotel standards, so we couldn't use anything after checkout. She said she'd travelled around the world, but couldn't answer what I asked her. As a Sri Lankan, I feel ashamed of people running places like this and of people who book them just because they're cheap. If you want bad service and to waste your money, choose this place. It's just a house, not a hotel.

The manager was also poor at dealing with guests, and the gate was shut before 9.30, so we couldn't go out at night without calling to ask them to open it. Getting transport was difficult too: taxis and PickMe drivers didn't know how to find the place, and we had to walk 10 minutes to the main road. We booked a room for 27 USD but were charged 31 USD on arrival. The WiFi was very weak, only really usable for WhatsApp, and it cut out after an hour. Laundry was quoted at 250 lkr per kg, then they charged us 600 lkr after washing our clothes. It felt like very money-minded management. I wouldn't recommend staying here, unless you're prepared to spend twice what you expected.

Guest Ryan is in Seeduwa, about 3 km from Bandaranaike International Airport and 20 m from Liyanagemulla Railway Station. It has nearby free parking and offers basic, comfortable rooms with tiled floors, air conditioning, a clothes rack, wardrobe, minibar, flat-screen TV and seating area. Each room has a private bathroom with a shower and free toiletries. The property has a 24-hour front desk and free WiFi throughout. Car rental is available, and airport transfers can be arranged for an additional charge. Staff can help with laundry, ironing, faxing and photocopying, and packed lunches are available too.