"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."
