Goldi Sands Hotel

Nice four starr hotel. Great location, clean and professional. Good food and very reasonably priced. Lovely staff.

If you’re thinking about booking this hotel whether independently or via a travel agent I would seriously consider the following to ensure it is the right hotel for you. We are currently here, in a ground floor room overlooking the pool. These rooms are extremely dim due to a large overhanging roof canopy, they have little lighting, just a few lamps dotted around although I can appreciate the higher rooms would be much brighter. From what I can gather no rooms have anywhere to dry your swimsuits or towels (the hotel did provide us with an airer on request). Be prepared for local wild life to share your room, several small lizards, a frog and a small colony of cockroaches that reside in the bathroom. (You’ll need to appreciate this is Sri Lanka and you are likely to find the same in all hotels) The WiFi in our room was non existent on arrival, I was using my data most of the time, I found it impossible to stream or video call except when at the pool. (This would appear to have been a faulty router which now replaced is working fine - many thanks to the lovely IT manager) The bedrooms are very spacious, usually with one king size bed and one single, (please note - extremely hard mattresses) the bathrooms are well equipped and a good range of toiletries provided. The air-conditioning is very efficient and whisper quiet along with a fan above the bed. There is plenty of wardrobe hanging space and storage which is a bonus. Plug sockets are the UK type or the round three pin kind and there are enough of them in the right areas, a hairdryer is provided and a nice hospitality tray along with water daily. A mini fridge is also provided. I would never normally comment on balcony furniture but the chairs provided in the standard rooms are atrocious, (see photo) massively uncomfortable, built for functionality and not for comfort! The food is variable in terms of quality, having returned two of the dishes from the à la carte menu and most food is generally cold when it arrives. In saying that we did have some nice dishes and the portions are very generous. Breakfast is good and bacon is available on request. There are a vast amount of crows in and around the hotel, they are protected in Sri Lanka and whilst the hotel does try its best to try and stop them bothering guests it is not always possible. Be prepared for them to let off a very loud crow scarer periodically from 7.45am onwards. A complimentary fruit platter was provided which I foolishly left on the terrace only to return five minutes later and discover the birds had opened the clingfilm and removed the contents. The noise from these birds is constant during the day and very often they would steal food from your plate whilst dining alfresco. The pool area is clean with plenty of sunbeds/parasols/towels and the pool guys are amazingly helpful. The staff at this hotel are fantastic, it is difficult to single out any one department and the hotel is beautifully clean inside and out. This hotel is busy with external functions, which is fine, I appreciate the need to make money but not at the detriment of residents. There is a nice covered shaded area for guests to relax and have a drink and also dine if this is preferred to the restaurant but one particular function took up half of this area then the day after a daytime party with live music was hosted on a terrace right next to our room, the same evening a 50th party took up 90% of this space, we lost all of our seating area all day and evening, the removed furniture was placed on the grass with no umbrellas, nowhere to shelter from the sun or occasional monsoon. The same day we received a note under the door apologising for the inconvenience that a live band was to be playing outside until midnight, literally just yards away from bedrooms. (Note - many functions were not intrusive and held inside function suites). The grounds are exceptional and the proximity to a private beach with sun beds is 2nd to none. Just to one side of the hotel facing the beach are a few small bars that are definitely worth a visit, barracuda bar in particular, lovely food, lovely people. The hotel is worthy of its four star rating but be aware they take bookings from large groups including schools and contract workers, we are visiting in the off season so this might not be the case during peak season when things are busier. Check your bill carefully when paying for items purchased from the bar or restaurant as there is a tenancy to miss off discounts or double bill on occasion. I am not in any way a serial complainer but so far have been to reception to ask for the following to be rectified. Broken fridge (replaced). Broken Wi-Fi (router replaced). Complaint re, large function (manager apologised). Hard mattress (topper placed but made no difference). Broken balcony light (fixed). Continual power cuts due to DB tripping (fixed). Outside airer request (delivered). Today I am going to ask if they can treat the bathroom for cockroaches. I am a regular visitor to India and whilst I don’t expect European standards, certain aspects of this hotel left me a little disappointed.