Lanka Eco Village in Unawatuna

Our small quartet arrived on February 20, 2019. A 3.5-hour transfer from Colombo Airport to Villa Thawthisa, provided by Ceylon My Dream, took us there. However, the access to the hotel itself was inconvenient, so we were transferred to the hotel minivan. The lovely receptionists greeted us warmly and quickly checked us in. Lanka Eco Village is a collection of small eco-style houses nestled away from the other buildings, nestled in a cluster, toward the spa. After viewing everything, I couldn't find a better villa than Villa #006. Its highlight is the balcony with a panoramic view of the jungle (others have a view of a construction site). The advantages of this room: hot water all the time, beautiful scenery, oneness with nature (peacocks fly from palm tree to palm tree, a family of crows lives in the rocks at the entrance to the house - we didn't bother them and they didn't bother us); monkeys visited our balcony at different times - two different flocks. One "gang" was quite sociable, we fed them by hand, took videos, but the second - the complete opposite of the first (they are dark-colored with a white muzzle) sat in neighboring trees and chewed only their fruit. We also fed the fish that live in the "aquarium" between the first and second floors with buns. The staff is polite, except for the beach boy (more on that separately). If you need a transfer somewhere - they will order what you need at reception, they will bring you boarding passes, they will prepare breakfast for the trip (I asked for it), waiters are always present in the restaurant They hang around the vacationers. We took BB breakfasts, but, with varying success, ordered dinners separately. Breakfasts are monotonous: scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, vegetables, stewed vegetables, fruits, drinks, a few pastries, pancakes with topping, meat in pots - spicy. For dinner, we ordered fried fish on a vegetable pillow (mashed potatoes), fried pork and chicken, a traditional Sri Lankan dish (it's the only one on the menu), ice cream with topping, caramel dessert and cheesecake with fruit puree (sour) - to be honest, they don't cook very well: the pork is dry, oversalted, there are crushed bones in the chicken and be prepared to pay more for all this than in all the coastal cafes + 30% for service. We were in Ella, in a very popular restaurant - they feed Excellent, reasonable prices, and 10% service! But here I ordered a bottle of beer for 600 rupees, and they charged me 30% more.
Cleaning is sloppy: I complained to reception, they cleaned it, a day later, they forgot... you get the picture. There was a situation: we were on a day trip from 4:00 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. - they didn't clean our room, they just made our bed, and a smartass on staff drank a small sprite from our bar and threw the empty bottle in the trash can by the entrance (we accidentally noticed the dirty trick), and the next day we reported our "ugh!" to the manager. I was shocked to find that they don't throw away the small shower sample bottles, but rather refill them with shower gel, shampoo, and balm. So don't throw empty bottles in the trash—or you'll end up like we did: the staff was rummaging through the trash looking for the bottle.
The cottages have constant problems with Wi-Fi and TV, and the power goes out when it rains.
The hotel is located on the second line, a 15-20 minute walk to the beach. The hotel provides a shuttle to the beach from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and picks you up in the evening. The hotel has a small stretch of beach with a cafe, bar, free sun loungers, and umbrellas. Towels are provided on the beach. The cocktails are tasteless—too much ice, half a glass of foam. The umbrellas are a complete dissonance: there are only five, of which four are functional. The sun loungers are old and broken. Beachboy is cheeky; he sold our umbrella spots to passersby in front of us, instead of putting in another umbrella or fixing the broken one.
There's no customer loyalty program—they don't know how to congratulate someone on their birthday.