Pearl City Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka - Our Stay Review

Pearl City Hotel
17, Bauddhaloka Mawatha,
Colombo 4

Tel: (94) 11 4523800
Fax: (94) 11 4523866
Email: pearlcityhotel@sltnet.lk
Web: www.pearlcityhotel.net

Self proclaimed as "A Modern Business Class Hotel in the Heart of Colombo". Pearl City Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka The hotel is off the Galle Road in the coastal Bambalapitiya District of Colombo, close to shops, restaurants, banks and south-western line railway station. A short bus, tri-shaw (tuk-tuk) or taxi from all of the main business and commercial areas of Colombo.

We stayed at the Pearl City Hotel in October 2008 for six nights, occupying a standard room (208) on the second floor, cleaned and serviced daily with fresh towels and two complimentary bottles of drinking water, shower gel and shower cap.

Pearl City Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka The room did have a slightly musty damp smell eminating from a damp patch on a wall and slight stale tobacco smoke odour, particularly coming from the net curtains, when you first entered the room but the air-conditioner did its job and these problems became barely percievable after a time.

Our air-conditioned room with en-suite shower room with hot and cold water, had a mini bar, TV - with local and a couple of international satelite channels and enough furniture to contain our belongings. The in house laundry service was fast and very reasonably priced.

Pearl City Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka The room had no internet access but free Wi-Fi was available in the lobby area. De-luxe rooms have hard-wire internet access as standard.

On the ground floor there was a Business Centre. This small business centre was equipped with Fax, Photocopier, Email and Internet access, plus a Western Union money transfer service.

Also on the ground floor was the alcohol free, Cafe Alfa catering for 24 hour room service as well as being open 24 hours with a menu that includes something for everyone but the waiting staff seemed to have a problem fully understanding English.

The Pearl City Hotel has a quirky billing system, in that as soon as your account reaches or exceeds SLR10,000 (around £50.00p) you are required to pay the ballance. Our assumption is that this system is apparently an anti-fraud measure that dispenses with leaving credit / payment card details on the hotel's computer system.

We apologise for the repetition of some place or proper names with different spellings, but there is no definitive spelling translation of these words.

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The conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, commonly known as “the Tamil Tigers”) ended in May 2009. Although the conflict is over, the LTTE are believed to retain some capability to mount terrorist attacks such as grenade or explosive device attacks and shootings. The Government has relaxed the State of Emergency, under which it has extensive anti-terrorism powers but there are still heightened levels of security (e.g. checkpoints, road blocks) throughout the country. You should exercise a high level of vigilance. The risk for the most part is one of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. In order to minimise this, you should avoid military, government and paramilitary locations. Always carry formal photographic identification with you. Stop and show your ID when asked to do so. If you are detained, you should ask the authorities to contact the British High Commission.

Fatal attacks linked to the LTTE occurred throughout the country into 2009. Most attacks have been directed against Government and military targets though a number have been focussed on civilian targets such as crowded public places, public transport and market areas. Some of the most significant attacks included a suicide bomb at a political gathering in March 2009 and an air raid on military targets in Colombo in February 2009.

JeGraNet.com statement - 15 October 2008 - Quote from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: "There is a high threat from terrorism in Sri Lanka. Fatal attacks have become more frequent. They have occurred in Colombo and throughout Sri Lanka, including places frequented by expatriate and foreign travellers. Further attacks may occur at any time. There is an increasing risk of British nationals being caught up in an attack". As independent travellers we left Colombo after just 9 days into our planned 6 month stay as a result of a feeling of insecurity, however we are sure that 'package tour' travellers to tourist resorts will probably enjoy a worry free holiday.