This review is based on the price paid for the room and the inherent expectation that you have based on this. We went peak season and paid £200 ($350)per night bed and breakfast....at this price the hotel is pitching itself against Shangri La, Mandarin Orienal, Leela and Taj chains in south east Asia and india ....and at the moment is well short of the mark although I believe they have 5 star aspirations.

Check in was efficient enough with cold towels and obligatory mystery beverage presented on arrival. The room we had was on the 2nd floor ...this is important many of the rooms back onto the road and have open corridors so you can look out onto the road...typical of this age of properties but provides zero sound insulation from the infernal tooting , peeping and bell ringing from motorcycles and tuk Tuks that persists day and night .... Thus sleeping is a challenge ..despite us staying at this hotel 9 nights we asked to move rooms 3 separate times , but staff seemed unwilling or unable to assist. The sleeping issue is further impacted by the fact that there are no curtains in the rooms rather beige coloured roman blinds with the odd dead smeared insect on them have been used instead.... Thus by 7am you may as well not have them closed as it is basically daylight in the rooms....blackout blinds are a must but have not been provided. Also worth noting that on a Sunday evening sleeping is not possible until 2am as there is a local bar that cranks up the bass to ensure Utter misery.

The rooms are large enough , spacious and completely painted white....the problem with painting the rooms white is that the decor needs to be spot on and the finish is simply not up to the requirement for a 4/5 star hotel ....eg I was in room 309 with missing door handles on the balcony door, missing wardrobe doors, dodgy brown stains on the sofas etc. The bathrooms have good sanitaryware but the decorative finish is so sloppy and scruffy it really detracts from the effect...what should be a really crisp finish just really fails. Most intriguing is the decision to have the door and walls to the bathroom in clear glass which enables you to watch your partner on the toilet ....I don't care how intimate you are as a couple there is one mystique that needs to remain and watching your other half pinching a loaf is way over the line.....and whilst blinds are provided to give some privacy, one questions what the point is in the first place .... Total waste of time they should just frost the glass.
Bizarrely no slippers or robes were provided which I would expect.

Beds were large and very comfortable , with nice linen .

Pools were excellent and really really attractive , with a picture postcard beach amongst the best I've seen anywhere ....not the azure waters of the Caribbean but really lovely nonetheless. The only downside is that the beach I believe is public, and this prevents the hotel from deterring the platoons of beach hawkers and vendors peddling sarongs, t shirts, boat trips and all manner of carved wooden beasts. .....these people are insecessant and utterly relentless, meaning that you get no peace whatsoever....they are constantly waving their wares in your face and if you make the error of judgement to contemplate buying , then you are besieged by people like locusts at a harvest festival. ....these people sit in and amongst all the hotels sun loungers , at one point I saw 13 vendors harassing 20 guests .....total nightmare!

Service around the pool when we first arrived was not great , trying to find a waiter at one point was like trying to find a unicorn, however happilly service improved noticeably during the week.
Food and beverage was of decent quality and reasonably priced by western standards.

I'm not sure the reservation systems at this hotel are entirely foolproof as whilst we were there they seemed to have significantly overbooked themselves, to the point we were asked if we would like to go on a complimentary sight seeing tour in Colombo and to then check into another hotel for a night with complimentary full board.... Not very professional for what aspires to be a top end hotel.

If I had paid $200 per night I would have been more accepting of the shortcomings but if they feel they can command top price they must provide top product and service.

Tips ...get a room in the main building away from the road ...when using the pool / beach if you want to avoid constant harassment, stay off the sand

Unless the price was right I would not stay again, you also need to bear in mind Negombo is a very basic resort so it is not somewhere you really want to spend 9 nights as we did ...restaurants and bars in the area are basic and apart from a couple of exceptions eg Lords and Black Coral most places serve up 70s pub food eg rump steak and chips, chicken Kiev and chips, prawn cocktail , lasagne and chips , frozen pizza etc.