Shashank D R

Review of Taj Samudra hotel colombo

This hotel is nice. The amenities as expected. The...

This hotel is nice. The amenities as expected. The service OK, for a 5 start hotel. When compared to other 5 star hotels across the world, this lacks the perfection in terms of service, that usually sets fantastic hotels apart from the rest.

Let s start with the booking process. The website is sub standard and hard to navigate. It s also hard to understand how the website works or how to make a booking or compare prices etc.. we had to redeem two free nights that were awarded as part of the epicure membership and that was another hassle to deal with. It required a few phone calls and a lot of time on hold.

Next, the check in process. So we got upgraded to the club level, but I guess unlike most other 5 star hotels, it wasn t a true upgrade that also reflects the services. For instance, the club level rooms come with access to the lounge, but no, not for us. I guess it s okay to not include these services with the room upgrade but at that point, it s almost irrelevant to say we have been given a special upgrade when in fact we were probably just given the only rooms available when we checked in. Oh, and in spite of checking in around 5 PM, we still had to wait for more than an hour to get our second room.

During our stay, we had both breakfast and dinner twice. The breakfast was actually great! The spread was good and the food tasty. However, service wasn t really up to the mark here on the second day. Dinner on the other hand had fantastic service but average food. So overall an average experience when compared to the prices of things involved.

The check out process was also long and convoluted. Took about 20-30 minutes to get it sorted and understand the various invoices. Even prior to check out, we had someone come into the room and take note of the mini bar status. Who does it these days? Seriously?

Leaving aside the fact that this is an old property and what not, this place doesn t live up to the brand image of Taj. But all this said, the upgraded room was certainly spacious and well equipped as seen in the attached pictures.