ST0075
April 15, 2025
My honest review of The Club Hotel Dolphin (March 23 - April 4 2025) Now that we have been back in the UK for a week or so these are my thoughts on the hotel. We had an amazing time on Sri Lanka and the hotel was part of that experience. We arrived around 6am and were greeted with a lovely drink as we started to adjust to the heat after 13hrs of travelling. Unfortunately things didn't get off to a great start on check-in, we were informed that our room was not yet available, which was fair enough as it was early morning. However they continued by saying that this was because the hotel was fully booked, which as we discovered was far from the truth, it was very quiet and some areas not even open. Ok, we could wait. We were then told that if we wanted breakfast that we would have to pay €20 each even though we were all inclusive! I have never experienced this before, ok we were early and the room wasn't ready (although they knew when we were arriving) but to not even offer refreshment was terrible. We refused to pay that and made camp in reception, potentially having to wait until 2pm! We were then offered a 'free' upgrade to a room that we hadn't booked if we paid €60 early check-in fee which again we refused as we wanted the poolside room that we booked. Eventually after 3hrs we were told the room was ready, which gave us just enough time to get out key, drop our bags and get some breakfast. Not a very nice welcome, and totally unnecessary, bad first impression, were we going to continue to be ripped off for the rest of the holiday we thought! Two other couples that came in shortly after us were also told to pay for breakfast which they were also clearly upset about, but they did pay it, however they told us later that the TUI rep wasn't happy about it and would get their money refunded. Why create tension when customers had been travelling through the night with very little sleep! You'll be happy to hear that wasn't the theme for the rest of the holiday! The hotel is lovely, set over a large area with only three floors at the highest point. Very well kept grounds and nice and clean. Room: We had a poolside room (136) which was really nice. Huge bed, well decorated, nice bathroom with large shower. The air-conditioning kept the room at a very pleasant temperature, which was vital, and there was also a ceiling fan. The room had a free to use safe, fridge, tea & coffee facilities and a good hairdryer. The plugs are 3-pin, the same as the UK. Outside the room we had space for a couple of chairs and table, and space for two loungers that we had to ask the pool staff for, who promptly bought some over. Soo nice to have your own sunbeds outside the room. The cleaning staff were excellent, especially Upol who we had most of the time, very friendly and created some fantastic towel art! Bottles of water were updated daily which we put straight in the fridge. We were just a few metres from the edge of the pool... Pool: We were near the end of the sha