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Reviews of Bentota Beach by Cinnamon

3 out of 5
Bentota Beach by Cinnamon
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS RESORT, BENTOTA,, Bentota, Southern Province

Reviews

7.6

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 22 out of 83 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 38 out of 83 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 11 out of 83 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 7 out of 83 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 5 out of 83 reviews" "

7.2/10

Cleanliness

7.2/10

Staff & service

7.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

Reviews

2/10 Terrible

shishanee

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Do not stay here !!! It is a awful hotel!
The hotel is one of the worst hotels we have stayed in. I have been to this hotel as a child and it was a fantastic hotel back then but now its gone down so much! The room was dirty and had a terrible smell.The room looked like it wasn't clean for years. We complained to the manager and he move us to another room and it was also very dirty and my partner showed the manager the dirty parts of the room and the manager agreed that the room is not clean. The manager said that he could upgrade us to a better room but they are fully booked and we will need to stay in the room that was dirty for one night. since it was only one night we said that its ok. The manager got housekeeping to clean the room but they didnt do a great job. The following day we were very sick ( we are still recovering ) because the aircon was full of dirt and dust and possibly bacteria. This ruined our holiday!!! We didnt get the room change till 5pm the next day even though we were promised first thing in the morning after breakfast. The food was tasteless and the breakfast was not good. We will never stay in this hotel again. It is a shame because the pool and beach areas are wonderful.

4/10 Poor

Steve, Canada

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not worth the money
Older building and basic rooms. My reservation was for a king bed room, but only a room with three singles was offered on arrival. WiFi did not work in our wing of the hotel. Would not recommend.

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Dated and grubby hotel
Hotel dated and grubby, could be great but showing its age

10/10 Excellent

stephen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Lives up to its standards
Very nice hotel A1the grounds were imaculat unfortunately our stay wasn't long enough would come back.

8/10 Good

omar, london

Liked: Room comfort
Nice Hotel close to the beach.
House keeping was not good. reception staff were cooperative

10/10 Excellent

Christopher

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

8/10 Good

Famidha

Disliked: Cleanliness
The food and service was great. Need to improve on room facility and practicality especially cleanliness. Beds were old and linen was discolored.we asked for 2 double rooms one of the rooms had a third bed which unrestricted the space. One bathroom did not have a shower cubicle or shower curtain. Floors got wet after a shower.

8/10 Good

Nalin, Colombo

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not upto a 4 Star hotel service. Long delays
Check-in was delayed even though we arrived after 6.00p.m. The Staff does not pay attention to detail. The Hotel does NOT provide Tooth Brush/ Toiletry items as standard issue with room booked. One has to request and then wait 20 minutes until someone brings it, especially when the rooms are away from reception area. Also, the Restaurant capacities and service was very poor. Long delays at the MEZZ restaurant & Fire was having a private function. The in-house guests do not have convenient dining as few seats.

8/10 Good

Zbigniew, Irvine , CA

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Nice place
Nice place with nice location ( not directly on the beach ), generally staff are very nice with the exception of main dark where for some reason all guys we deal with where not pleasant at all lily some would expected .

4/10 Poor

Michael, Malmö

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Poor behavior in the reception
Our stay at Bentota Beach started with the staff in the reception being really unfriendly and stating that we don't have a room booked, not until we get them to call Hotels.com do they admit that they have one, however, they don't have a room for us. All in all the wasted more than an hour for us before they told us to come back later in the afternoon. When we got back the service was still poor and they started lying and stating that we are upgrading you to a premium room for the inconvenience, however, that was just bs because we got exactly the room we were suppose to have the whole time, just poorly handled. The hotel it self is fresh and close to the beach with a nice pool. The guys done by the parking were friendly and provided good service. I would not recommend this place, it is not worth the cost with the poor service you get.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveler

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Overrated overpriced
Sad and tired is the only way to describe this mould infested tip.Pleade save your money as there are a lot nicer places to spend your money . The bathroom was an absolute disgrace , the vanity basin leaked out onto the floor and light fittings hung out of the ceiling!Complete joke and a very miserable girl at reception . Never again Peter

4/10 Poor

Anthony, Beirut

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Good hotel but not so good experience
The stay was okay. The hotel is well maintained and fun to stay at but staff are not that welcoming. During check in, bookings.com made a mistake and did not send our confirmation to the hotel which caused us to stay about 3 hours at the reception waiting for the confirmation and the receptionist was not that friendly and proactive.

8/10 Good

Parmeeta, Pune

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good place to chill!
We were in room 801...it was one of the oldest rooms in the hotel and it showed. The room needs a makeover and especially the bathroom. I have put this down as a comment at the hotel as well and hope that it will be looked into. The hotel on the whole is a really nice place and the staff is really helpful. I would definitely go back...but maybe stay in a different room :-)

8/10 Good

Chamara, Melbourne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent Location, Very Nice Beach
Excellent Location, Very nice calm beach, Very pleasant helpful staff. Pool with a character. Views from the room amazing. Very quiet and relaxing.

2/10 Terrible

Steve, Toronto, Canada

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very Poor Experience at Bentota Beach Hotel
Very disappointing, run down hotel. Certainly not 4-star. Room had cockroaches, leaky shower - into the bathroom and bedroom! Beds were good. Hotel reception and buffet staff were unhelpful and uninterested. The only place we got good food and service was in the a-la-carte restaurant. Buffet restaurant had poor food and was dirty. Most waiters could not speak or understand English. The grounds are very well maintained and the beach location is lovely.

4/10 Poor

sharad, Delhi

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Big name nothing to say pathetic is better
Nothing great pathetic service in restaurants ordered for French fries for kids came absolutely cold ask for replacement waiter mr priyanthil started eating from our plate and told it's warm not cold and we should eat the fries why to replace he was like giving us orders never to go back to this hotel

10/10 Excellent

Emily

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Loved it
Great hotel! We loved it :)

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Disliked: Staff & service, room comfort
Nice simple hotel with great beach & nice buffet - rooms r ok not bad but not great - very nice overall experience

2/10 Terrible

Alex, Copenhagen

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Only good thing is the price
Nice hotel at a reasonable price, but I rate it bad due to three things: 1) We got bad food. Twice, the bacon was to old (dinner and breakfast buffet). In the former case, the restaurant did not do anything about it. In the later, I did not give them the chance 2) We forgot our swimming glasses on our last day due to a very fast bad rain. The reception had called pool attendant several times and talked to hum, but he had not seem them. I chose to walk their and verify this. He had not been called and he knew exactly where they were in the lost-and-found 3) Everything seems to be close to falling part. The power went 3 - 4 times a day

10/10 Excellent

Paul, Melbourne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Brilliant
Excellent in every aspect. This was my fifth stay.

8/10 Good

CG, G

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Amazing location
Excellent location, spread over a wide area...though service is a little tardy...took over an hour to check in despite being well later than the designated time. Food is decent with a good breakfast spread.

6/10 Okay

claire, Ohio

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Big resort- clean but not a lot of charm
It is a big hotel, with nice access to the beach and a swimming pool. Rooms are clean. It's a big resort, and has little charm. Swimming pool and restaurant are mobbed.

6/10 Okay

Pouyan, Sri Lanka

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service
I am sure it was a perfect hotel 20 years before!
everything is nice except rooms, it is old and bath room is not clean

4/10 Poor

Ed

Disliked: Staff & service
Staff are only there to rip you off... It's a hotel where 75% are rich Russians who don't seen to know that they are overpaying everything for Sri Lanka. and the rest are wealthy Arabs, who actually do not care what they pay... Hotel location is great, on the beach, but I didnt like the beach over there....

6/10 Okay

gerarrd, melbourne, Aust

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great hotel designed within a big rock
Hotel is now out dated, location is nice, needs major refurbishment. When we made the booking they said van driver gets meal and accommodation FOC. At the end driver had to pay for meals, and accommodation atrocious.

10/10 Excellent

Paul

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stunning Hotel with Fabulous Staff
A glorious and classic hotel in a great ocean and river setting with brilliant staff

8/10 Good

solo traveler, MD, USA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Sir Lanka vacation
Lovely hotel for relaxation, and a great way to end my Sri Lanka trip. staff were friendly, my room was spacious and clean, the view and grounds were breath taking.

10/10 Excellent

Norma, Dubai

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Located on the beach and on the Bentota River
Most enjoyable. Was given an upgrade at no extra charge as hotel was very quiet. Standard rooms view the garden. Go for a deluxe with super sea and pool view. Very pleasant.

8/10 Good

PP, London

Great location and nice grounds
Lovely beach and nice lounge. However the hotel is in need of a refurbishment. When we checked out we were told they are soon to close down for two years of refurbishment so that makes sense.

10/10 Excellent

mary&anis, london

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
beautiful beach & garden- great place to chill
On our 1st night (Sat), we couldnt sleep due to loud music until well after 3am. As the noise was coming from a property adjacent to the hotel (the end next to the bridge going into Bentota), nothing could be done that night. However, next morning, the hotel management moved us to a suite (no additonal charge) at the other end of the hotel ! Fantastic response to a customer complaint. The suite was spacious, kept meticulously clean & had views to die for. Somebody already posted photos of the Frangipani suite- ours was similar. We were lucky to witness a local wedding on the beach-complete with elephant with a 'just married'sign! also, hotel staff organised a trip to a local (annual) fiesta & we were treated as honoured guests with reserved seating & stewards keeping the crowd at bay, so we could see the parade. The hotel is very old, and some parts could do with a revamp, but the staff are excellent and ever willing to do anything in their power to help - which more than makes up for the odd slip up.

10/10 Excellent

Himanshu, Mumbai

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent facilities with ideal location

8/10 Good

varun, chennai

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
bentota beach hotel
The hotel is located with approach both to beach and river. It has all thr possible amenities and a great garden. In all a great place to stay.

8/10 Good

TLM, Chennai

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Location, Slow but Friendly Service
The wide green lawn, the beautiful pool, the clean beach and the extensive grounds offer an easy, relaxing venue for tanning, sports, eating or relaxing. Location on the river offers more options for water sports. Staff is very friendly, though not efficient or fast. Buffet food quality ranges from very good to mediocre. Also, hotel did not honor the "free breakfast" that was advertised when we booked. Confirm before going.

2/10 Terrible

rajeevan, uk

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent service
it was really good and we enjoyed it well

10/10 Excellent

Helen/Nur, London

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Idyllic
Wonderful - beautiful room, perfect honeymoon suite although we were not on honeymoon (!) with gorgeous fragrance around hotel, beautiful view from balcony of pool and sea, unfortunately not adam's peak due to weather, attentive staff - although slow with umbrellas when we had to rush from the pool to reception for our taxi in the rain! Well-stocked room with food/drink/toiletries - everything you could wish for! Unbelievable tasty breakfast with excellent range of choices - definitely recommended and would stay here again!

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

Emma, UK

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great for chilling out
Bentota Beach Hotel pretty much sums itself up in the title. The hotel is fairly close to the airport (about 2hrs drive) and has lots of great facilities - pool, entertainment team, volley ball, spa, health club, gym. The setting is stunning postioned on a spit of land with huge grounds and access directly to a beautiful stretch of the Sri Lankan coast line on one side and the river on the other. If you want to just chill out this hotel is ideal and there seemed to be a lot of European couples and families here on half board/all inclusive 2 week holidays. The buffet is fine and the a la carte menu is delicious although somewhat overpriced and the staff seem to want to push you into ordering the most expensive sharing platters and wines. The rooms themselves are brilliant, ours having a great view out on the river and across to the sea. They're very clean and tidy and the evening turn down service is a special touch as they bedeck your bed with flowers and petals. Robes and slippers in the room as well as in room wifi is also a bonus. All in all we loved our time here.

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great family retreat
I came here with two other friends for a relaxing end to a fairly strenuous tour around Sri Lanka, and it served it's purpose well. The beaches were very well maintained, the pool was great, the rooms comfortable, and the overall atmosphere was pleasant. There were many families here, and I'd recommend it for any family looking for an easy/relaxing stay in Bentota. When you need a tuk tuk to go exploring, go out in front to the tuk tuk stand and ask for Rathu. He was a legend.

8/10 Good

Sara, Dubai, UAE

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Nice hotel in Bentota
The hotel is at a nice location in Bentota, with very nice and clean rooms. The hotel facilities are also good with a nice pool; however, washroom facilities by the pool are a mess. The restaurants are good. The reception staff are a bit slow; I had requested a non-ground level room. They had me wait a couple of hours to check into my room and then ended up giving me a ground level room. The security guards are rude; one of them caused a major issue after midnight and would not allow a girl friend of mine to access my room for her stuff, even though I had booked a double room anyway! But overall, it's a nice hotel.

10/10 Excellent

Meryl, London

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good for families, couples, groups
Loved this hotel, even though it is quite old it has an individual style, and did not just feel like a chain hotel. Staff helpful and very friendly - feeling more genuine than other hotels. We were upgraded for several days of our stay to an amazing suite. The food was really good - fresh and with good variety in the main restaurant and fabulous food in the Araliya restaurant. The hotel sports complex was an added benefit - with squash, tennis and table tennis.

10/10 Excellent

Tony, Uk

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Absolutely fabulous
Absolutely fantastic stay. The room was fantastic, the food, especially breakfast, was superb. Staff were very helpful from reception to security. Nothing was too much trouble and all keen to go the extra mile. Thank you.

8/10 Good

Jacek, Poland

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Great accompanying infrastructure
6 night staty in July 2013. The hotel is old but is maintained to 4-star Asian standard. Rooms in square meters sound small, but in practice are sufficient and practical. Rooms are clean, so is the whole site. Buffet breakfast was much more than we expected and was excellent. We paid only slightly more than in guesthouses in Sri Lanka (mountain-area), whereas difference in standard was uncomparable. If you want to leave some last days for rest in comfortable conditions - this is the place. This hotel beats all nearby comparable hotels with infrastructure, which is not obvious when reading general info. Wonderfull, large swimming pool, plenty of beautiful park grounds with just seaview before you, trees around/above you, well-maintained grass, where you can rest on your beachchair. On one side you have the beach, on the other the riverside. We compared the hotel with other surrounding ones, including Taj, they all did not compare well to this one (on the outside and pool/surroundig area), maybe Taj could compete with this one. Train runs near the hotel (as well as next to all hotels on the beachside), but there were no rooms with windows facing the train. Food in the vicinity is limited (either local cheap places with cheap food or greatly overpriced fancy fish restaurant). Dinner buffer is worth the price in the hotel and the food was very good). If you can choose All Inclusive - it will be worth it.

8/10 Good

chaitanya

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

KJ, Uk

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
If you want place to stay for R&R this is it.
We first went over 30 years ago for our honeymoon & had an excellent time then. it was just as good now. Food excellent, helpful staff excellent service could not ask for more.

8/10 Good

Fernando

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

10/10 Excellent

Shikha

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A stay that will keep you smiling
We had a wonderful 3 nights stay at the hotel. We got a river facing room with a breathtaking view of the Bentota River. The swimming pool, garden and the attached beach are amazing. The place is perfect for a lazy vacation. The food is very good and the breakfast buffet has a great spread. The staff is friendly. The pool side bar and open air snacks place are good. And to top it all there is free Wi-Fi in the hotel and rooms :D. The only major let down was the spa. Not a great experience for the price. Thats one thins you can skip at this hotel. Rest dont miss this one.

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
6 day stay
Hotel was clean and the staff were kind and friendly. The area and grounds were absolutely beautiful and well kept. Pool was clean. Great yoga classes and a good gym. The restaurant downstairs from the buffet was superb and the prices were reasonable. Generally we had to call down for our free water replacement bottles, which was annoying, but they were always brought up promptly. On our departure date we had planned to leave at 6:30 AM as we had an excursion planned. For some reason the driver did not pick us up so we had to return to our room till regular check out time. The hotel staff seemed very annoyed and from then on were not friendly at all. We actually asked to pay for an additional day as our flight was not till 2AM [that is why we had planned an all day excursion], and they quoted us a price way higher then what we had payed for the other days. In any case, I found the management unaccommodating. The shower pressure varied from moderate to none. Not sure why and we never asked. It just went off at times and then came back on. Maybe just over demand at times. Overall a good place and has everything so you really don't have to explore if just needing a rest and that had been the plan for us.

6/10 Okay

venu

Check in problem
It was good. Even though, we did the reservation at least 10 days prior , the hotel reservation staff was not aware of it. It caused totall inconvenince to us at least for 45 minutes.

8/10 Good

Jen, Sydney NSW, Australia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Beach
Nice hotel on the beach.The room little noisy staff talking outside. Required a lift as child in wheelchair, not working so had to be carried up and down the stairs into dining area and pool. Bathroom was very nice but dark anad nearly ran the wheelchair through the glass shower screen

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Bentota Beach Hotel
Well run hotel, lovely gardens and swimming pool, easy access to the beach for those that want to enjoy the sea. Also access to a river, boat trips and diving available from the hotel. Very good food in the Araliya restaurant, am not keen on buffet food so did not try the other restaurants. Decent wine and beer also available.