Hotel Heritance Kandalama (Dambulla, Sri Lanka)

Of course guests had booked in here because of the natural surroundings of the mountains and Lake Kandalama. It seems that, in reality, the hotel is even better incorporated into these surroundings than appears in the photos in the hotel's marketing materials.

While several guests seemed have an issue or two with the secondary pool, the main pool terrace was said to offer spectacular views, and was seen as the ideal place to relax and view the incredible natural surroundings.

It was near impossible to find a bad word written about the staff. On the contrary, many guests mentioned that they received a very warm welcome on arrival and staff were friendly and helpful throughout their stay.

This was a very sore point with a few guests. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, the resort quotes prices exclusive of an extremely hefty local tax that must be paid on-site. Those who were not aware of it were not happy, to say the very least.

While no guest really felt the food was actually bad, quite a number believed that it simply didn't live up to expectations. This is a luxury hotel, and given this classification many felt the food was just not good enough to meet the high standards that demanded.

While it seems most rooms do indeed have the spectacular views over Lake Kandalama shown in the hotel's marketing materials, some disappointed guests point out that there are also rooms that have fairly ordinary views over the hotel's gardens. Guests allocated to these rooms were somewhat less than impressed.