Randholee Resort & Spa in Kandy

We recently stayed at Randholee Mountain Resort and Spa, and while the location is undeniably beautiful, our experience was overshadowed by safety and management concerns.

​There are certainly things the hotel gets right:
​The View: The mountain scenery from the room is truly amazing and easily the highlight of the property.

​Comfort: The rooms were clean, well-maintained, and comfortable for our stay.

​Frontline Staff: The general staff members were friendly and welcoming throughout our visit.

​HOWEVER!

The biggest letdown was the swimming pool. We encountered a "gang" of about 10 monkeys swimming in and lounging around the pool area in the middle of the afternoon.

​As parents of two young children (aged 4 and 2), we found this completely unhygienic and unsafe. When we brought this to management's attention and showed them video evidence, they seemed unaware of the situation. While they claimed the pool is cleaned nightly, that doesn't help guests wanting to swim during the day (especially when water is cold) after a troop of wild animals has been in the water.

We requested a discount since we were unable to use one of the main facilities we paid for, but they refused which was very disappointing. Kids were very excited to use the pool but turned out to be a dissapointment. One member made a silly comment that even humans have germs (of course we do! but we have come a long way in the evolution to know how to maintain our hygines)

We do understand that this is a nature resort and we love wildlife encounters, however witnessing first hand that pool area is not properly managed is dissapointing

Also, the food at the breakfast buffet tasted good, the service was reactive rather than proactive. We constantly had to hunt down staff to refill empty dishes, bring water to the table, or provide basic items like paper towels.

Kandy is a wonderful place and we will definitely visit again when we return to Sri Lanka.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for Mount Randholee Resorts and Spa after a truly bizarre stay.
Following a busy day on our tour of Sri Lanka - organised by Voyage Prive - we were delighted to learn that our booking had been upgraded and we’d be staying a double suite for the night, and were shown to our room by a charming member of staff. We discussed cricket and marathon running, among other things.
We were slightly surprised to learn that we wouldn’t be staying in the main hotel but a different building on the estate, which for all intents and purposes was a construction site and not ready for guests - with tools and debris lying around while men were at work behind an ominous curtain. Even more disturbing was a stack of used mattresses slumped outside of our room - looking like something from a horror film.
After a long day, we were both excited to freshen up and head for dinner, but our plans were foiled when we discovered a leak in the bathroom, with disgusting waste seeping out from the shower drain. While a maintenance staff member toiled with resolving the problem and desperate to get clean, I returned to the lobby to relay the problem to the same porter who showed us to our room and asked if there was an alternative bathroom we could use to have a shower.
At this point the porter - who as mentioned was charming and very pleasant when we first arrived - appeared totally baffled and failed to help. A colleague diminished the problem (and did not apologise), saying it would be resolved ‘in 15 minutes.’
Forty-five minutes later, we were told the problem was fixed, until the leak occurred again when running the bathroom tap. At this point it was close to 11pm and I asked for the mess to be cleaned but to leave us alone, and we opted not to use the bathroom for the rest of the evening.
The next morning, I decided to go for a run using the gym’s treadmill, only to discover that this too did not work properly. I raised the problem with a member of staff who said maintenance would arrive to resolve the issue. Nobody turned up for an hour.
The only saving grace for this truly mortifying stay was the wonderful view from the main building during breakfast. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to convince me to stay again.