Ceyloni City Hotel in Kandy

Aside from being located in the city center near the Temple of the Tooth Relic, this place is terrible. The soundproofing is poor, the air conditioner is running all night, the blackout curtains on the balcony door can't block out the light, there are no blankets, only sheets, and they smell like detergent...

Not sure where all the positive reviews are coming from to be honest. We found this place to be very tired, run down and a bit grubby. The photos on here are VERY flattering. Particularly the bathroom need a good deep clean/refurb. The bed collapsed on one side when I got in. Some power points didn't work. Bedding had holes in and looked older than I am. We checked out early and left for the coast. Seems very expensive for what you get - must be better in Kandy

Based on my experience, I would definitely suggest to avoid this place! I booked here through an online travel agency. Not only the booking was regularly confirmed, but also the hotel explicitly confirmed me that it was possible to check in between 10 and 11pm. Nevertheless, when I arrived, around 10pm, I was told that my room was given to someone else (!!). This is already not optimal, but I am aware that mistakes can definitely happen. The problem is what happened later. First of all, there was no reprotection. Instead of finding another hotel for me, as I would have expected, the receptionist did almost nothing, as he said he wasn’t authorized by his manager to give me any support, and neither he was able to find his manager by phone. He just suggested me to go myself on foot to ask for a room to some neighboring hotels. All of this, despite public lighting wasn't working that night, so the whole city was scarily dark and almost desert. So basically I ended up asking him to use the phone of the hotel (which wasn’t even working very well) and solving the issue myself, spending 1 hour at phone with the travel agency, till they finally found an alternative solution. Secondly, while I was there trying to find alternative accommodations, I wasn’t even offered a chair to seat, despite I was standing right in front of the receptionist, while on phone. Once I finally seated, after ＞30min at the phone, it was just cause I asked him for the chair. He didn’t even offer me some water, except when I was already about to leave. I also felt zero empathy. Thirdly, when the travel agency finally found me an alternative hotel, I wasn’t even offered a taxi or tuk tuk to reach the other hotel. Just nothing, as if it was all my own issue. Overall, despite the mistake done by the hotel, I felt they did almost nothing to solve it, and they also treated me quite badly. Got three suggestions for the management: 1. Try to avoid these mistakes 2. Empower the staff to handle these situations: they must have the possibility and the budget to re-protect the guests, as well as to pay for the transfer to the new hotel. Leaving staff alone, with no power and budget to solve basic unexpected issues, is never a smart managerial choice! 3. Train the staff to show some more empathy