Good property for a holiday with kids. The activities like trapeze, zipline etc were good for teens and pre teens. Akash, Pushpita and others do a great job with managing the activities. The kids club is good for the little ones. The staff at the front office, pool and restaurants is excellent. The beach access is good. The property has 3 pools ( kids, family and adults). There are multiple restaurants and bars within the property serving pan asian, continental , local and indian cuisine. The food we tried was good, specially local cuisine like kottu and even the asian food. You can book excursions like a trip to the national park or the bird park which are not very far from the property. The icing on the cake were the peacocks which you can spot throughout the property. I do not play golf but the golf course looked good as well. Overall a nice property with something for all age groups.

The facilities and staff are very good. The food is below par. Food that is to be served hot were served lukewarm. By the time, I walked back to my table from the buffet line, the items were cold. Imagine cold "kirihodi" on String Hoppers or cold scrambled eggs on toast :-) The food that was to be served cold were at room temperature. Not what you expected from a 5-star. The selections were poor. Not much grilled meats/fish. Crab the size of a large shrimp. Remember seeing larger crabs in the paddyfields :-) Thai green curry that had absolutely no vegetables - just small shrimp floating in a green food colored gravy. The so-called Papaya Juice was nothing more than watered down iced washing of a papaya slice! Worst, no coffee after dinner. On top of all this the food is highly over priced. A terrible value! One afternoon at the pool side bar, they wanted a Rs. 1400 for a cup of "kade" tea. What are they making this stuff of - gold? Some of the staff seems clueless of what they are selling. Example, by the pool side on a hot afternoon, we asked for the price a ice-cream bar. The guy had no idea but guessed it was Rs. 4000. The actual price after another guy checked on his POS, was Rs. 600. The first guy should not be a server! We will not be back! They are missing the mark big time! Hope the management take the feedback and improve their offerings. What a shame, afterall they have fantastic facilities and most staff are very good!

There are positives and negatives about this hotel. First, the positives: the staff are friendly and helpful, and some of the amenities are good. For example, there is a good games room, and the pools are quite good (the water is a little dirty though). The buffet in the evening is a good option, the other restaurants not so much. There is a welcome happy hour for cocktails.. There is quite a lot of wildlife around the hotel (monkey’s , various birds, lizards), which is interesting. The negatives: the service in some of the catering facilities is almost ridiculously slow. There is no orange juice at breakfast, and the other available juices are poor. The breakfast in general is not quite up to the standards of some other Shangri-La hotels (although it is not bad). The property overall is slightly run down and the rooms could do with some refurbishment. A coffee machine in the rooms, with fresh milk in the fridge, would be desirable. If you are to visit Hambantota and are travelling from Colombo airport, choose a good and reliable car service, although not the one offered by the hotel, which is priced multiple times higher than other available options. I would recommend a visit to Hambantota and Shangri-La overall, though, if only for the chance of seeing wild elephants walking down the road.

Overall, a great experience, staff were very helpful and accommodating for every need. The main returns and al la carte restaurants were very good quality. The only recommendation that prevented 5 star rating was the quality/strength of wifi available

Great staff vibe: very attentive to needs and welcoming.

The resort looks a bit outdated, and some things we were interested in which were offered like for example henna painting for kids or mango sticky rice on the menu were not available.. which was disappointing. The staff was kind and rooms clean.

Lovely resort with beautiful beach. The rooms were nice and spacious and clean. The staff on the whole were friendly though more staff needed at breakfast to clear used plates, refill glasses and show you to a table and explain the layout of foods.

- Initial impressions were good. We were nicely attended by “Mr. Insaf” and given our choice of rooms. He volunteered to offer his number WhatsApp for any requests. Unfortunately, he never picked our calls and never answered our messages (until now). - Rooms are well built, but old and tired. Insects everywhere. Even the table lamps are filled with dead ones that seem to have never been cleaned/removed. TV variety is not bad. Size is good (even with our extra bed). - Golf range is great with good value. - They have two spa options; the Balinese one we tried was super good and relaxing. Highly recommended. - Breakfast buffet was a nightmare. Very cheap variety and presentation (glad we didn’t book the full board!). - Ulpatha Restaurant: Highly recommended. Thank you “Vihanga”. - Duty Manager “Lekmal” was terrible. Very limited space here. Details of incident in another review platform. ** My overall assessment of the hotel: if you find it at the prices of 3-star hotels, go for it. If not, avoid.

Check-in took very long Room was great Staff was nice but ineffective with service Buffet was chaotic Hotel was dirty Drinks were watered-down

resort facilities

Excellent place and amazing food . Most importantly the service provided by the staff was top notch

This should not be 5* property. The welcome was awful, and not at all welcoming for a Shangri-la. We were not even walked to our room! The outside of the property is dated too. The reservation/lobby staff overall were awful, not welcoming at all despite it being a 5* accomodation. The sauna/spa was at an extra cost and the pool staff would only provide towels when asked. The WiFi throughout the hotel is very poor. Around the property, there is nothing and a tuk/car is required. It feels if you are a local, you are well looked after, which is a shame. Ultimately, a very disappointing stay in what we thought was supposed to be an amazing hotel. The food however was very good as were all the restaurant staff, and up to the standard of 5* hotel. Wouldn't come back.

The staff were amazing, esp the waiters at breakfast and dinner service. Attention to detail, service was impressive

Yes

The room was full of insects; very old fittings; the doors and safety deposit box were not working; this property need upgrades. No plugs in the washroom. The staff were excellent and the location is excellent

Everything was excellent

The food and the staff was amazing

After paying premium price if you need to use the SPA or Jacuzzi you need to book 15-30 minutes early and they charge Rs 7000/ per session 15 minutes. Didn’t think it was worth.

One room wasn’t ready on check-in and it was an extremely busy weekend, but the hotel gave us a free buffet dinner and late checkout as compensation. Lovely hotel, pools, and staff always friendly and attentive!

Overall good experience. Customer service was excellent though check in was bit delayed in one of the rooms we booked. Good spread of delicious food. Just need to mention Chathurya works at the main restaurant was excellent in customer service. This young girl is doing a great job.