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We had a brief but lovely stay at Wallawa near Colombo. The hotel is located in an old heritage house beautifully restored with incredible grounds. The rooms have private gardens and open on center courtyard with a beautiful pond. The common areas of the hotel retained the feel of the old home, with well-appointed cozy space and lovely details. The restaurant faces the beautiful garden and the breakfast is delicious, with especially fragrant pastries and high quality dishes. The rooms are very cool and comfortable, with a mix of old and modern details and materials effortlessly layered. Beautiful mix of reclaimed finishes and new and the most amazing bathroom. Wish we stayed longer!

First of all, everyone who works is friendly and the food is clean and delicious The building is old but takes a lot of effort to clean up

I am not really sure where to start on this review. I could write pages and pages for you but all I am recommending is that you do not book the Hotel Clarion and if you have, cancel it. The last time I stayed here in August 2018, I was assured by the management that the whole hotel was going to be refurbished, I supposed they say this thinking that you are not going to return. I borrower a hairdryer from the hotel and it did not fit any of the sockets in the first room. I stayed here for three nights just before Christmas, and I moved rooms three times. For ease, I am just going to list the issues that I had. The sad part about all of this is that, on the whole, the staff were courteous and as helpful as they could be, but the lack of investment and application of health and safety issues had to be seen to be believed. They - whoever was in charge - basically did not bother to address severe problems or the overwhelming number of complaints that I made on a regular basis. THIS IS NOT A FINITE LIST: First room - no hot water, loo did not function, bath towels were frayed on all edges, no hand towels, toiletries were 'second hand plastic bottles and refilled', wardrobes and shelving were grimy and dusty, toilet seat was broken, tap on wash basin was not fixed to the wash basin, mould in living area, mould in bathroom area, electric wires were visible, pedal bin in bathroom area rusty and pedal half broken .... and so the list goes on. Down for breakfast - sausages in bain marie were luke warm & were not hot, flies over fruit and bread (these were casually whooshed away by the staff as they could not see what I was worried about), dining room area carpet was filthy and desperately needed a hoover and a steam clean - & wait for it - bugs (I was reliably informed by a waiter that these were not bugs but ants!!) crawling across the table. Second room - wardrobes etc grimy, but carried on unpacking, did not have time to settle because - wait for it - when I took out the plug to the hairdryer, the whole electrical socket fell out exposing wires etc. One man arrived with a small screwdriver and he assured me that it was 'no good' - he called another man who arrived with a larger screwdriver who also assured me that it was 'no good' and that there was a risk of fire. Yes - FIRE. Third room - I was then moved again to their luxury room which had a huge damp patch in the hallway, exposed wires, a filthy fridge, grimy shelving in the wardrobes, damage to bottom of bath area and mould on the shower curtain & the drains smelt. Despite my use of mosquito protection, I woke up the following morning with three bites on my face, one on my wrist and one on my ankle. At breakfast I moved tables three times (they had changed the tablecloths) because of the ants. It was a Sunday and there were only four people staying in the hotel, so very little breakfast was provided - a plate of food was brought over, which I rejected. I ordered a cheese omelette