Reception staff were extreemely helpful and friendly

Despite being told we had “the best room”, the blinds were broken, the walls were peeling, the shower was broken, the bathroom was mouldy, and the fridge was broken. For dinner, we ordered lamb and mash potato as we had seen an image online that looked great. When it arrived, there were chips on the plate and the lamb was full of bones and fat which made it inedible. The next day, we had to meet our safari driver at 5am. However, when we tried to go through to reception, all of the doors were locked and the lights turned off. This is different to the 24/7 reception advertised. We had to walk around the building in the pitch black. The welcome letter said to watch out for poisonous snakes and elephants. This was an extremely stressful moment, particularly as two young women in the middle of nowhere. We spoke to the general manager who was originally apologetic and agreed that renovations were necessary. However, when we requested a partial refund to reflect the quality of service, he started interrupting us and lying that someone was on reception at 5am. What is worse is they refused to get it up on CCTV. Upon our departure, the general manager decided to go outside and speak to our driver. He complained about us which again made us feel unsafe. It’s a shame because some staff were lovely, and the swimming pool and beach front are nice – but the only thing 4-star about this hotel are the prices. They have still refused our refund request and Hotels.com have been useless.

Avoid. Derelict, ghost hotel, with crumbling infrastructure. Although staff are nice and helpful. Stayed March 2025.

DO NOT STAY HERE. This is not a four star hotel. However they charge that way. Our room was filthy when we checked in. It did not looked like it had been cleaned in over a month. No hot water in main shower head. Electricity went out in middle of the night. Blinds broke and fell from wall leaving dust and dead bugs everywhere. The pictures told a story of a beautiful resort. It is no longer that. I have never written a bad review before. When we complained to the GM on departure (after telling staff of issues throughout stay) he was rude and told us we should have complained earlier. The Sri Lankan people are beautiful, this man was not. There is an advertised spa service that does not exist. The staff also did not honor the Expedia Gold Status deal we signed up for. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

Worst hotel I have stayed in my life. The shower was barely working, the place was dirty and smelled bad. If it wasn’t for the fact that my boyfriend and I arrived super late, we would have never stayed even one night there! I don’t recommend at all

Hotellet fremstår slidt, bruserne virkede ikke, vi måtte bede om rengøring og rene håndklæder. Sengene var gode, udsigten fra værelset fantastisk og poole var også super fin.

Great location to Yala park for safaris and as soon as we arrived they booked this for us and arranged that we had a breakfast to take due to the early start. Nice pool. It is a really nice hotel but looks like it hasn’t been updated in many years, such as a snooker table with many tares on it. Room could have been cleaner. At checkout the staff member asked us to review for them when we were still there which I didn’t like so didn’t do.

Didnleave the hotel after 1 day because of hot water issue

I'll start by saying we would definitely stay here again! The property manager was a very friendly and interesting man and very helpful along with the other staff members and the rooms were incredibly spacious with a great view of the ocean! My only recommendations to the owners would be to really play up the view of the rooms and make sure the blinds are up and windows facing the ocean are freshly cleaned. Having chose this hotel over others mainly because of the amazing windows it was a little disappointing to find out that a lot of the blinds no longer worked and couldn't be opened all the way. We were there during slow season so it was very quiet and not all the facilities were open but I can imagine it's a lot of fun when it's more full. We enjoyed the quiet though. The hotel has lots going on as well, atv dune rides, swing bar, infinity pool, and very soon horses for beach and jungle rides! And the proximity to Yala is perfect. They even have a resident elephant that might wander through while you're there! I would definitely recommend this hotel!

When we arrived at Laya Safari, the property was virtually empty - and we could hardly believe it, as it was one of my top hotel experiences…and I have spent hundreds of nights in hotels. While the road to get to this little beachside oasis is very bumpy, it is well worth the ride. The rooms have an amazing view of the pool area and the coastline and while the current is too strong to swim in the sea, the roar of the ocean is the perfect sound to fall asleep to. The new manager has taken a lot of pride in the property and put up some very insta-worthy amenities like swings, a tree with lampoons and a small wooden boat. You also get a visit from a wild elephant each night (I‘m guessing semi-wild - they do feed it with fruits which I am not totally in favor of but the bull looked very healthy). We would really like to highlight the friendliness of every single employee from the receptionists to the waiters and poolboys - everyone went out of their way to make us comfortable. Meals were delicious and well-priced. We particularly loved the pineapple fritters for desert. As the hotel is very close to the park, you get picked up a bit later by the jeeps which allows you to sleep a bit longer. The pool itself comes with very comfortable sun loungers and the wonderful water is impressively clean (considering it was stormy each night we were there). The only suggestion we would have would be to open a small souvenir shop. Overall, we loved this place and will recommend highly. Thanks!

Das Hotel liegt an einer traumhaften Lage. Leider ist überall, wo man hinschaut, alles defekt oder verrostet. Der Garten ist ungepflegt und gleicht einer Wüste. Der "neu renovierte" eigentlich sehr schöne Pool ist weder fertiggestellt noch in einem akzeptablen Zustand. Leider auch ungepflegt. Das Essen war nicht überragend (Dessert, Panna Cotta) war ein steinharter Mehlklumpen. Das erste mal auf der ganzen Welt haben wir in diesem Hotel erlebt, dass sie kein Cola haben. "Wichtige" Leute, die zuletzt kamen, wurden vor allen zahlenden Kunden bedient. Wartezeit für Wein und Wasser ca 40 Minuten.

Utsikten och läget är bra men rummet var inte värt 200 dollar alls! Frukosten var bara ok! Hela byggnaden har mycket potential men det märks att efter pandemin behöver en ordentlig uppfräschning!

We stayed here for four nights to visit Yala. The hotel is less than 10 minutes drive to the park. The service, and friendliness of the staff is superb. The view from the rooms, pool, and restaurant was beautiful. We could hear the waves crashing from our room. The wooden decks are definitely in need of replacement due to exposure to the salty ocean air, but the interior of our room was nice and comfortable. A lot of the rooms look like they were being upgraded during our stay as well.

Et helt okay hotel til på indgangen til nationalparken... Det var en smule slidt og trænger til at blive renoveret! Personalet var super søde (næsten for søde) og hjælpsomme.

Amazing views, great food, friendly staff. The only downside is the hotel is a little tired but I would still recommend.

Entire place is old and run down. Repairs are desperately needed. Restaurant staff were standoff-ish and certainly not inclined to move faster than a snail. Really very disappointed in this place.

Wildly overpriced with terrible food and relatively unclean premises.

Bon rapport qualité prix, très belle chambre mais un peu défraîchie. On voit des animaux se promener la nuit.

The view is amazing. We met an elephant inside the hotel!!

Die Lage war top der einsame Strand grandios. Leider konnten man nicht schwimmen wegen der starken Strömung. Der fleißigste Mitarbeiter war upul.