Southern Province Hotels

"Excellent. That’s all that needs to be said"

"N/A"

"Excellent service, kind staff. Food was delicious. Rooms were spacious and clean"

"There are positives and negatives about this hotel. First, the positives: the staff are friendly and helpful, and some of the amenities are good. For example, there is a good games room, and the pools are quite good (the water is a little dirty though). The buffet in the evening is a good option, the other restaurants not so much. There is a welcome happy hour for cocktails.. There is quite a lot of wildlife around the hotel (monkey’s , various birds, lizards), which is interesting. The negatives: the service in some of the catering facilities is almost ridiculously slow. There is no orange juice at breakfast, and the other available juices are poor. The breakfast in general is not quite up to the standards of some other Shangri-La hotels (although it is not bad). The property overall is slightly run down and the rooms could do with some refurbishment. A coffee machine in the rooms, with fresh milk in the fridge, would be desirable. If you are to visit Hambantota and are travelling from Colombo airport, choose a good and reliable car service, although not the one offered by the hotel, which is priced multiple times higher than other available options. I would recommend a visit to Hambantota and Shangri-La overall, though, if only for the chance of seeing wild elephants walking down the road."

"5 star worthy hotel on a beautiful beach. Food was outstanding with a huge choice - recommend all inclusive as the prices were also 5 star! Best desserts ever had. Great tour guide on the beach and hotel water sports. Most seemed to travel through - we stayed 10 days. Will definitely be going back. Only tiny complaint was the pool bar staff were quite slow and not up to the standards as the rest of the hotel but not far to walk to get your own. Seemed short staffed with a few weddings and conferences on. Good for couples and kids. My son learnt to surf on the beach. "

"Rooms are small, half the size of other 5 star hotels. Bathroom is tiny, hardly any space. Hot water tends to run out after 10 minutes. Very unusual for a hotel of this reputation. Expedia also promised a $50 voucher for VIP access when I purchased the room. The hotel said this was not communicated to them, and Expedia said they cannot honour after I arrived at the hotel. Won’t be booking with them again. The only good thing was the beach was close to the hotel and easy access. Staff were excellent and very friendly too "

"Relaxing"

"We went for this hotel based on the trust in the Riu brand, location, all inclusive basis and general good reviews. Overall the hotel was very good. We’d stop short of rating it as excellent based on some of the amenities looking / feeling slightly tired - probably on the basis of having been worked hard. Some key thoughts; We visited during the Middle East war / crisis and consequently the hotel was much quieter than normal. Therefore everything felt more spacious, less crowded and easier to access. We wondered how our very good experience might of been if the hotel had been close to full as we were told is the normally the case. The food was outstanding - particularly for an all inclusive. The choices were broad and quality excellent. The themed restaurants were also superb and easy to book. The Pan Asian and Sauté restaurants were particularly good. The staff were brilliant, so polite, helpful and curtious - a real credit to the hotel and Riu. There were 3 big pools but only one with an easy bar access which was also strictly (and enforced) adults only. That suited us but with parties including under 18s may be an inconvenience and something to consider. The rooms were big, clean with functional facilities and simple decor designs. The hotel is right on a stunning public beach. You can swim but need to take care due to big waves and strong currents. Overall, we’ve done lots of all inclusives and this one is defiibately up there as one of the better we’ve experienced! "

"Great breakfast "