Cinnamon Red Colombo — Hotel in Colombo

This is definitely the worse hotel experience I have ever witnessed. On 12th of January 2025 we arrived to check-in to 4 rooms we had booked. Our check-in was around 2pm however we arrived at 10pm due to delays in our travels. We received a very poor welcome. Team member 'T' asked that all 14 of us produce ID documentation. When we booked the rooms it was not stated that we need to provide identification to access our rooms. T insisted that the terms and conditions stated that we need to produce ID evidence upon arrival to the hotel. I requested that T bring me the evidence. T then proceeded to spend 30 minutes looking for the terms and conditions. Because it was already very late in the night and we had exhausted children who wanted to sleep I told another staff member to go bring T back. T returned with M who was the afternoon general manager. M proceeded to laugh and sneer at us when I told him I do not have my Australian passport on me and that I don't have any valid ID as I am a foreign citizen and my ID is kept in a locked safe in our vehicles which were parked very far from the hotel. M was extremely disrespectful and said we cannot be shown the terms and conditions. I told him that if we signed the terms and conditions we have a right to see them. M profusely rebutted what I said and told us that the terms and conditions state ID must be shown. He later conceded and let us into our rooms- it was probably around 11:30pm! The overnight manager N came and spoke to us and profusely apologised for M's disrespectful behaviour. N told me the terms and conditions do not state that ID evidence needs to be supplied. M and T were merely wasting our time. I was devastated because for so long we had to argue with M and our children had to stay up so late and couldn't sleep on time. Even worse is that when we arrived to our "3-bed room" it only had a double bed. We had to ask N to get the staff to bring the other bed- the problem is they didn't bring a proper bed, it was some pop-up bed. It is completely unacceptable that you advertise the room as 3-bed when the room can only comfortably fit a double bed. BE WARNED THE "3-BED ROOMS" DO NOT PROPERLY FIT 3 BEDS- YOU WILL BE SQUISHED! I don't understand why the rooms were not ready by check-in which was around 2pm. We arrived around 10pm so why wasn't the pop-up bed already in place? We had to wait more time to have our room ready to sleep in. In all my travels around Sri Lanka (we stayed at Shangri-La, hotels in Trinco, Nuwara Eliya, Katharagama etc...) this is definitely the worst hotel and worst hospitality I have ever witnessed. This hotel doesn't hold a candle to hotels in Australia. Cinnamon Red is definitely not a world class hotel. It is sub-par and not worth the price at all. This rating deserved 0 stars to be honest. I advise that M be taught how to treat guests in a more courteous manner and apologise for lying that the terms and conditions state we need to provide ID. This is what's called human decency. This hotel has great potential but one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel. A good place to start is training your staff.

I have removed the staff members full names to respect...

Very disappointed. Terrible experience. Will never visit again! This might be my last stay at a Cinnamon hotel.

This is my third experience with Cinnamon hotels. Previously, I stayed at Cinnamon Citadel Kandy (2021) and Cinnamon Bey Beruwala (2024). This was my 8th hotel stay this year (2024). The other hotels I stayed at this year were Jetwing Lake Dambulla (March 2024), Cinnamon Bey Beruwala (June 2024), Turyaa Kalutara (July 2024), Golden Ridge Nuwara Eliya (October 2024), Heritance Ahungalle (October 2024), Earl's Regency Kandy (October 2024), Cinnamon Red (October 2024), and Citrus Waskaduwa (scheduled for November 2024, which will be my third stay).

Previously, I had positive experiences at Cinnamon Bey Beruwala, and Cinnamon Red has a stunning view, which is why I chose this hotel over Marino Beach or Taj Samudra. The budget or price wasn't an issue, as I typically avoid hotels below 4 stars. Before booking, I knew this was a 3-star hotel, but I assumed it had that rating due to the smaller rooms (26m²). I wasn’t sure how hotel ratings work, but I thought it might still be a decent choice. I was wrong. In my opinion, this hotel doesn't even deserve 2 stars.

Here’s what went wrong:

No welcome drinks: I asked the reception why they don’t offer welcome drinks to in-house guests, and they said, “This is a budget and business hotel.” That’s not a proper excuse—welcome drinks don’t cost much and are a nice gesture for guests. Even hotels without star ratings offer welcome drinks.

Poor buffet spread: The buffet was very minimal, almost like a mini buffet. For Rs. 6,000 per dinner, it was a waste of money. You can get a much better spread at other hotels in Colombo. To me, it wasn't worth more than Rs. 3,500 due to the lack of variety.

No bathroom door locks: This was unbelievable. It might be fine for couples, but this hotel doesn’t only accommodate couples—families and friends stay here too. We’re not nudists or aborigines! We had to use a bathroom on a different floor. How can they not have locks on bathroom doors?

Faulty safety locker and TV: The room’s safety locker didn’t work, and we had to wait 20 minutes for it to be replaced. The TV had no sound, and while they offered to fix it by replacing a cable, we declined since we didn’t want to waste more time. Why aren’t these things checked before guests check in?

Delayed check-in: Check-in was supposed to be at 2 P.M., but we had to wait over 40 minutes for our room.

Late checkout issue: We requested a 1-hour late checkout since the reception wasted our time during check-in, and they agreed. However, our room key stopped working after 12:00 P.M., and I had to go back to reception to reactivate it.

Terrible extra bed: The extra bed felt like a coffin—extremely uncomfortable.

No free extra water bottles: They don’t even provide extra water bottles for free

Actually in this my review i gave 2 star over 1 star because they give me a 22nd floor room. If not this would be...

Normally we stay at a 5 star hotel not far away for the same price per night, but due to the ratings and Cinnamon reputation we thought we'd give the Red a try. So disappointing. To give context, we've stayed in over 20 locations in Sri Lanka. This, for the ratings, was the worst. First, we received a message that the hotel has smoking rooms and they could not guarantee what we would be provided. When we asked for clarification and that we would have to cancel if we couldn't guarantee a non-smoking room, they said they would accommodate. That's the first time ever we've had this. We arrived and were provided a room on the 23rd floor. Upon exiting the ridiculously slow elevators, the whole hallway smelled like mildew. Our room was so bad (smell) we went back down to speak to staff that did not seem surprised and moved us with no issue. Our room on floor 10 smelled better, but whenever the air con was on we could smell smoke from other rooms and the hallway smelled terrible. Our sink was clogged and the handle to the shower head spewed water. We had no hand towels. Don't get me started on the elevators. There are three (one more than our usual hotel) but they seem to not be able to change direction once in motion. So if you take it from floor one to 7/8 which is reception and restaurant, it will continue up to 23 before coming back to your floor or it will pass by and go to floor one. It was totally strange and at one point we waited for close to 10 minutes. You have no access to the stairwells to walk, they are for emergency only. Breakfast - ew. And 3000rs plus the infamous 10% and then again the over 23% tax. Cold food, crowded, no self serve coffee and tea so we were halfway through our meal before we were served half a cup of tea. Hoppers and kiribath were tasteless and I think maybe staff don't know tourists may know the difference? All the poached eggs were on bread so I could eat them (celiac) and the line up for a fresh fried egg was huge. Scrambled were slop. None of the fruit was ripe. The bacon was ok, but my husband said everything else like sausages and the eggs were colder than the room. 3000++rs. For pros, which are few, the pool was ok and the view was great. Staff are helpful and accommodating. The three star rating on this hotel was well earned. Very budget. I highly recommend doing a bit of research as there are many lovely hotels in Colombo for...