Ramada Resort Reviews

We stayed at the Ramada for two weeks in June 2007 and although it was monsoon season meaning a rough sea and some cloudy days, we had a fantastic time at this hotel.
We cannot thank the staff enough, they were all so friendly and can't do enough for you. Damith and Nishan who are part of the animation team were excellent and along with all the waiters, barmen and cleaners made our holiday something special. Please remember that they get paid very little and many have families to look after so are very greatful of any tips.

The hotel itself was very clean and although perhaps a bit tired in places it did not spoil our holiday at all.
For those who want to get out and see the surrounding villages the hotel staff run a 12 mile bike ride which is well worth going on, i did it three times i enjoyed it that much. You get to see how real people live and give sweets to the children, whilst seeing some of the wildlife, but don't forget your smile, everybody smiles and your face will be aching when you get back!!

We also went with one of the beach boys called 'city boy' to the elephant orphanage, spice and fruit gardens. Him and Ghee (the driver) were great, it cost us a fraction of the price but we gained much more than those who had done the trip with the tour operator.

Across the road from the hotel is a tailors and a jewellery shop, we had some clothes made which were cheap and excellent quality and Mikes jewellers has some great stuff. Many of these people are just trying to get on their feet following the tsunami, so please give them a chance but remember to haggle!

Overall, we had a fantastic holiday which was made really special by the people of Sri Lanka. We are so sad to be home and hope to return soon.

My wife and I stayed at the Ramada for two weeks in March/April, 2007, on a 'pay for one week, get a second week free' offer from Mercury Direct. Judging from the conversations in the bars during our holiday, most of the Brits were taking advantage of this or similar offers, so the tourists are certainly being attracted back to Sri Lanka by the low prices.

The Ramada - formerly the Golden Sun - is a four-star 100-room hotel, 60km south of Colombo Airport, and 6km from the town of Kalutara. The rooms at the resort are large - ours was in excess of 40 square metres (25-30 sq m is generally reckoned to be a comfortable size), with a queen-size double bed, a sofa (convertible into a single bed), two easy chairs and a coffee table. There was ample drawer, shelf and hanging space for clothes, and a medium-size TV, although no British channels. The rooms contain an electronic safe free of charge, individually controlled air conditioning which worked very efficiently, and a minibar which is charged extra to the AI package. There was a hairdryer and toiletries in the bathroom, and pool towels were delivered to the room every couple of days. The room was smartly decorated and kept spotless by the room boys, although the wardrobe doors and shelves and bathrooms are coming up for refurbishment. There's a balcony with a built-in bench at each end, but no other furniture. The hotel also has a number of 'beach cabin' rooms available at extra cost, with balcony/patio furniture, and these have rooms on the ground and first floors. There are different types of power points in the rooms, including several UK-style 3-pin type, but continental visitors need an adapter.

One plea to hotel management - many of the bath and pool towels provided are of very poor quality - often threadbare and stained - and should have been retired some time ago. These give an unnecessarily negative impression of the hotel. Note: I understand from the hotel management that new towels will be available from May!

Most of the hotel clientele are British or German - in roughly equal numbers - with small numbers from other European and Asian countries. The German guests seem to be younger than the Brits, although the average age of the Brits dropped in our second week when families with kids started arriving for the Easter holidays.

Guests on the all-inclusive package (as most were) have a reasonable choice of food, all buffet style. Breakfast is served in the Waves Restaurant. There are some exotic juices, porridge, bread (and toaster) and croissants, cereals, a good hot buffet choice, and eggs and omelettes cooked to order. There are also several curry dishes available(!) Lunch could be taken in the Waves, or from a good snack menu in the Fisherman's Tavern, which was used as the al a carte restaurant in the evening (food charged). In the Waves, there was a selection of a soup, usually about six salad dishes, eight hot buffet and four curry-style dishes. There was an amazing display of desserts - usually about a dozen - and plenty of fresh fruit. Dinner followed the same pattern. It was true that the food was sometimes not very hot, but with a buffet there is always the problem that if you keep food too hot, it dries out. The dishes were always replenished frequently, and there was never a problem with anything running out. The only theme night was on Saturdays, when a barbecue was provided. There was a self-service tea and coffee facility from 10am to 10pm, free of charge, with cakes provided at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Two bottles of water were left in the room each day, and these could be refilled if necessary using one of the water dispensers dotted about the hotel.

In the restaurants and bars there was a range of local alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks - good enough for most people, but if you are a Scotch aficionado or something similar, take your own as the choice is limited. The waiters will tell you if you ask for something that's not in the AI package, but, for example, Bailey's and Malibu were available at £1.50 a shot - hardly expensive. It seemed strange that you could get normal Coke on the IA package but not Diet Coke, as the diet version is not locally produced. As a beer drinker, the annoying thing I found was that in the pool bar and Bluesz bar (on the ground floor) there was draught beer available, but in the restaurant and Green bar (first floor) only bottled beer was available. These bottles were so big that the beer was warm before you were halfway through it. Can draught beer not be made available in all the bars?

The entertainment in the evenings is not a strong point of the hotel. For a start, take no notice of what's advertised on the notice board in Reception - you will often find something different actually turns up. There is often music in the restaurant, either from a pianist who is a cross between Les Dawson and Uncle Albert (and equally enjoyable), or from the Calypso band, who would be more acceptable if they stayed in one place rather than moving from table to table trying to sell their CD. Later, by the pool, you could get karaoke (usually only on Fridays, and low-key, so acceptable to most people), local dance groups, a snake charmer, or a selection of local musicians/singers. Or, as on one evening, nothing, as the act didn't turn up. With the relaxed atmosphere in Sri Lanka, you learn to take it as it comes.

There were attractive gardens at the back of the hotel, with sunbeds scattered around, giving everyone space and shade. This made a change from the usual regimented rows of sunbeds found around many hotel pools. There is pressure on sunbeds at weekends, when apparently non-residents are allowed to use the pool facilities. It's obvious why hotels do this (money), but they should be in no doubt how much it annoys guests who have already paid in advance for these facilities. The sea looked quite rough for us, but there were people out there enjoying themselves. Although the beach is quite nice to look at, there are no sunbeds on it, nor are there any watersports available, although there's windsurfing available locally.

The pool is free-form and spacious, with a large children's pool. However, there is little else for children, and if your kids need to be kept amused, here it's a do-it-yourself job. For adults, there is an animation team which run water aerobics, water polo, volleyball and other activities. The prominent member of this team is Damith, who is surely destined for better things in the hotel, given his excellent rapport with the guests.

The hotel has a well-equipped medium sized gym, with Sudath and Agith looking after it and advising users very well. There's also a glass-backed squash court, and either of these guys will give you a game if you're keen. There's a games room at the back of the squash court, but I didn't see any equipment, and a table tennis table near the hotel's shops, which consisted of a jewelers, a hairdresser and a gift shop. There's also a pool table in one of the bars which tends to be dominated by kids if you're there during school holidays.

Generally, the hotel staff are friendly and attentive, without being 'in your face'. The service in the Waves restaurant was excellent, while in the Fisherman's Lantern at lunchtimes it was leisurely. My main criticism would be the number of waiters on duty in the Bluesz bar - two were clearly not enough at busy times. The Reception staff were always cheerful and helpful, even though some of them were trainees, and a special mention for Dayana (in the blue sari), who was always so helpful with changing money and advising on trips, etc.

One odd thing about this hotel - there was no manager's cocktail party, or a meet the staff evening. The management were invisible, and even on the evening the general manager was called to present a competition prize, he did so without saying a word.

There are lots of trips you can take, from half-day durations to two days. When arranging your trips, compare the costs and what you are getting between the people offering the trips. For example, the price I heard for the Mercury Direct two day trip to Kandy and the elephant orphanage seemed to be very reasonable.

We wanted a one day trip to Galle, including the turtle hatchery, spice gardens and moonstone mine, and were quoted £90 by one of the beach boys, Bob, but £30 by the hotel reception, so there is some variation in prices. Our visit to the elephant orphanage cost £40 with the same taxi driver from the hotel, and we liked the idea that the car was ours for the day and we were free to stop where we wanted, and for how long we wanted. Remember, though, that the driver gets very little of this money, so tip generously. We can recommend our driver - Tenny - who looked after us very well on both our trips.

If you do nothing else, go out in a tuk-tuk, the three-wheel death traps that serve as local taxis. Don't bother to go to Kalutara unless you want jewellery, but on the way to town there's a 'bazaar' which the tuk-tuk drivers seem to know, and it's a good place to do last minute present shopping. The river safari is interesting, although the local 'Black' river is less so than the further 'Green' river (about 1 hour from the hotel). Whatever you do, get out of the hotel for a couple of days and meet some of the local people- the Sri Lankans have an amazingly contented outlook on life, even though most of them have nothing in the way of wealth or possessions, and you feel quite humbled by their attitude.

On the subject of tips, it seems the practice generally in Sri Lanka to pay wages below the survival line, with the assumption that tips will make it up to a living wage. One of the staff at the hotel told us he took home about £30 a month, so he relies heavily on tips to feed his family. At the prices you pay to go to Sri Lanka, you should accept that you have to tip generously, and we found 'little and often' to be a good method. 50p or a pound to the waiter serving you in the restaurant at each mealtime will get you a warm welcome and guaranteed good service next time you go for a meal. The same amount to the pool boy who gets your sunbed and mattress will have him looking out for you the next morning. Unfortunately, it was difficult to reward good service in the bars in the evening as the service was often slow due to the number of waiters on duty, many people choosing to get their own drinks rather than wait for a waiter.

Overall, the Ramada is not five-star pampered luxury - more four-star comfort. We have been to better all inclusives, but they cost two or three times the price. At the current prices, it's excellent value for money.

Other aspects of our holiday:

Cleanliness and hygiene: I overheard a conversation in the bar one evening comparing a previous holiday in Goa with this one in Sri Lanka, and saying how much cleaner it is in Sri Lanka. We had no problems with stomach upsets, nor did anyone else as far as we know. The hotel and its grounds were generally kept very clean, particularly the public toilets. I thought the pool could have been cleaned in the afternoons as well as the mornings, as a lot of grass seemed to be trodden into it from the surrounding areas. My only real reservation about hygiene was in the Waves restaurant, where the table place mats were made of material, and could not be wiped after each meal. On one or two occasions, I found scraps of food or stains from the previous meal, which was off-putting.

Flights with Sri Lankan Airlines: check-in at both airports efficient and quick (about ten minutes total), but I heard of one couple who took two hours to check in at Heathrow. Meals better coming back to the UK than going out. Seats fairly comfortable and service pleasant if not quick. Flight times 11 hours going out, 11 ½ return. Check whether your flight is truly direct, or stops off in the Maldives on the way, an unnecessary distraction.

Mosquitoes and malaria: the general advice we got was that malaria tablets are not necessary for the coastal area around Colombo, but are advised if you plan to go on the overnight trip to Kandy, or an island tour. Normally the local insect life are waiting for me wherever I go on holiday, so we took a plug-in repellent for the room, and used repellent spray on our arms and legs in the evenings. I was bitten less on this holiday than almost anywhere else I've been.

Security at Airports: fine at Colombo, but abysmal at Heathrow Terminal 4. How an incompetent company like BAA is allowed to run an airport is beyond me. We checked in on a normal Thursday evening, then joined the queue for security. After a period of time, and getting nowhere near the exit from the check-in area, we were directed outside the building (yes, outside), and then queued to get back in, and then into the security queue. Luckily for us, the snow flurries we had had earlier in the day had stopped, but it was still cold. At one stage, we were wondering whether the BAA staff on duty had any idea of what they were doing - there were queues crossing queues, and general chaos. I have seen more organization ability from a headless chicken than BAA security staff showed on that evening. They seem to have no idea how many passengers they are supposed to handle on any particular day, nor any clue about how to organise them.

Colombo Airport: very modern, and an oasis of calm compared with Heathrow. Many people tell you that you cannot use your rupees at the Airport at the end of your holiday, but this is not true. There are several shops airside that will accept rupees - one with a limit of 1,000 (GBP5) - but you can certainly use your few remaining rupees to buy drinks and food, clothes and cashew nuts. Or better still, put them in the charity box on your way through.

The transfers from airport to hotel to airport: interesting is probably the best way to describe these. Our transfer to the hotel took about 3 hours, with stops to buy water and also a comfort break; the return took only 2 hours, mainly because it was on a public holiday. Travelling on the roads of Sri Lanka could never be called boring, so just take the long transfers in your stride - they're not as bad as they appear.

The tour company: Mercury Direct did all that could be expected of an efficient travel company. They greeted us efficiently, got us to the hotel in an air-conditioned minibus as quickly as possible, collected us on time at the end of our holiday, and even gave us a mini tour of Colombo on the way back to the airport. We missed the rep's welcome meeting (our fault) and didn't actually meet him, but we didn't need to. Full marks.

Conclusion: Sri Lanka is a wonderful place with amazing people. At the prices that are currently on offer, don't hesitate - just book, go, and have a great time.