The Panorama Hotel

It's handy for the start or end of a Sri Lanka trip, especially after landing at Colombo airport. The owners are friendly, there's a pool and the food is decent. The beach, fishing boats, shops and souvenir stalls are all nearby. Just watch out for tiger mosquitoes and keep the windows shut.

The pool water was cloudy and the area around it looked dated, so regular upkeep seems lacking. We also found hairs on the bathroom floor and stains on the bed linen when we arrived. The location is convenient for the beach, restaurants and shops. But the condition in the photos didn't match what we saw, and we were told the current state was due to a typhoon. On arrival, we were sent to different accommodation because our reserved room supposedly had plumbing problems. The replacement was basic and well below the standard of the room we had booked.

I don't like leaving a low rating for a family business when it's their livelihood, but the service here fell well below what a business should provide. We arrived around 3-4pm as two couples, and our rooms still weren't ready. After we showed we were frustrated, they put us in two rooms that had been readied earlier. One had lots of mosquitoes and geckos; the other was boiling because the AC hadn't been switched on and was very weak. That room was on the third floor, up a narrow staircase with no lift. We asked someone to carry our large suitcase, but nobody did. After we complained, we were moved to another building and had to shift our own luggage. One room there had no working TV, and the AC in the other room had completely stopped working. At 1am the building fuse tripped, so I went out and found the fuse box and reset it myself. My mum booked through Agoda and accidentally chose the wrong date. She noticed straight away and called Agoda, who told her to contact the hotel. The hotel then said they couldn't do anything. I wouldn't recommend staying here.

For the price, this hotel wasn't worth it. Our room had no wifi, the towels were stained, and ants were in the bathroom. The bed was okay, but the pool wasn't cleaned daily and leaves collected in it.