Instagram

INDEPENDENT AND UNBIASED - LUXURY TRAVELS REVIEWS 'THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE TRUTH'

You are here: Home > Places > Sri Lanka > Tangalle > Amanwella Resort - Tangalle, Sri Lanka | Resort Review

Amanwella Resort - Tangalle, Sri Lanka | Resort Review

Gorgeous Pool and Beach... but too many issues to be Bombastic

?
| 0 comments

Amanwella is a luxury beachfront resort situated close to the coastal town of Tangalle on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Set amidst a coconut grove, this Aman resort faces a crescent shaped beach.

The perfect place to relax and unwind this Aman resort in Sri Lanka offers 30 contemporary suites. Situated along the hillside, these suites are connected to the public areas through a number of pathways. All the suites are identical in layout and have been built using local materials like terracotta roof tiles, hand-hewn stone walls and terrazzo floors. Also, every suite is equipped with its own plunge pool and terrace.

Share this review on Facebook.

First Impression/Lobby: The transfer from Amangalla to Amanwella was part of our package. An old van that had seen much better days was used for this transfer. This van was surely not up to Aman standards. (We split the negative points between both Amangalla and Amanwella)

Reception: We arrived at Amanwella and were offered cool towels and cold drinks. After finishing our drinks, we were quickly shown to our Ocean View Villa. After completing the registration process in the villa itself, we were assigned a butler. We checked with the butler whether Amanwella offered unpacking service. The butler hemmed and hawed and finally said that he could help if we needed him to.

The Suite: Two sides of our Ocean View Villa were made of floor-to-ceiling glass and latticed panels. Out of these, one opened to a small courtyard and plunge pool, while the other opened out to the terrace. The terrace was furnished with a small dining table with two chairs and a sun lounger. Sadly, the courtyard with the plunge pool was located at the back of the villa. Hence, there was absolutely NO VIEW from the pool. A total waste of space, in my opinion!

Our villa offered a nice view of the beach and the ocean though. Again, the view was somewhat blocked by the palm trees. On inquiry, we were told that villas 108 and 109 offered the best views.

The villa itself was a bit run down and rather dated looking. Though Aman is known for its simple elegance and luxurious resorts, this villa definitely did not fall in any of these categories.

The living/sleeping room of the villa featured a king sized bed, writing desk, armchair with footstool and a mini bar. There was no television in the room, but the staff will put a TV with DVD player in your room upon request. We checked their list of DVDs and didn’t find it that impressive.

The bathroom had a number of issues, a bathtub that wouldn’t hold water, a sink that wouldn’t drain and a shower that leaked water into the bathroom. These issues took major points off the villa’s scores.

Another negative was that there was no Wi-Fi in the room. Instead a USB Wi-Fi service was provided. To our chagrin, this service was EXTREMLY slow and we were constantly losing the signal.

Room Service: Placing an order with In Villa Dining was a hassle most of the time as many of the hotel staff did not speak English very well. The food cannot be compared to what was served at Amangalla as it was average to downright bad tasting. It was really hard to believe that this sort of dining could be Aman’s.

Service was fair to good, but they have a lot of improvements to make before I would even consider it five-star service.

Housekeeping: Our villa was kept clean and neat throughout our stay.

We did get a different butler assigned to us but in reality, the butler really did nothing for us. The set up here is not like Amangalla where the butler is your main contact. Here, we hardly saw or talked to our butler.

Concierge: We did not make use of Amanwella’s concierge service.

Restaurant: Amanwella has a restaurant that overlooks the swimming pool, a pool side terrace for al fresco dining, a Lounge Bar and a Beach Club. The restaurant serves Asian and Mediterranean cuisine and is open all day. The Lounge Bar serves drinks and snacks. Both the restaurant and the Lounge Bar offer stunning views.

The pool terrace serves simple lunches during the day and antipasti and home style dishes in the evening. As the name suggests, the Beach Club is located near the beach and serves Asian salads, Mediterranean classics, grills, granitas and ice cream. We had a beautiful beach dinner, complimentary from Aman, to make up for our initial transfer and butler issues, and the set up was amazing. However, the execution part was poor as all our grilled seafood was served cold.

Pool/Spa/Activities: The 47 meter infinity swimming pool was beautiful and definitely the best part of the resort. Half a dozen sun loungers overlooked the pool. The pool offered breath taking views of the beach and the ocean.

The beach was nice but the waves were very strong and made swimming conditions unfavorable. Spa treatments were done either at the Spa Suite or in the guest suite itself. A well-stocked library and a boutique selling Sri Lankan artifacts, jewellery and antiques were also present.

Check-Out: Our bill did not have any issues and the whole check-out process was completed smoothly.

Overall Impression: The staff at this Aman Resort were generally nice, even though communicating was a bit difficult at times. However, the only reason I would go back to Amanwella would be for the pool, the view and the beach. The new management brought in the past year are working hard to bring this Aman resort up to Aman standards. But for now, Amanwella gets a Between Bombastic and Not rating.

Join us on Facebook!

5 Star and Luxury Hotel, Resort,
Restaurant, Airline and Travel Reviews,
Advice and Information - Independent and Unbiased




Share this article:

reddit Delicious Digg Mr. Wong Webnews Facebook StumbleUpon




When you book with us, you may get:
Upgrade on Arrival, Subject to Availability
Continental Breakfast Daily, for up to two in-room guests
Complimentary a la carte lunch for 2 persons once during the stay

 

TheTravelNetwork

 

Be the first to post a comment!