Ella Sisila View — Hotel in Sri Lanka

The caretaker was very friendly, welcoming and engaging. We were welcomed with tea on the patio overlooking the mountains and nine arch bridge which was spectacular. From a location perspective it was fantastic albeit very challenging to get to especially with luggage. Getting there was not easy so much so our driver had to park at the top of the hill and we had to take a tuk tuk down with our luggage because it was raining and the hill was too slick for him to navigate in the van. Then there was another climb up to the guest house so if you have a lot of luggage or heavy items know it’s a fairly long windy hill from the upper road down and a short steep climb up to the guest house.||While the views are amazing the accommodations could use quite a bit of improvement. The rooms were dirty. The one I had was at the end of a small communal hallway with a plywood door to enter and a key lock which didn’t feel that secure. Same with the bathroom door. Termites had eaten through part of the bathroom door trim, there were gaps around all the windows and doors, dead bugs in all the window sills/crevices and holes in the mosquito nets. ||If you are staying on the main level the caretaker, and what I assumed were family and/or friends, were staying in the other rooms and they congregate in the communal areas in the evenings watching videos on their phones. They also wake up early and with the walls being thin you will hear conversations and videos bright and early. ||My friend was staying in the large room above the gathering area and the stairs were slippery and looked partially rotted in some areas and there was no lighting so her son fell a handful of times coming down the steps. Their bathroom did not have walls going all the way up to the ceiling so there was not a lot of privacy. While the room was spacious and has a couch and two chairs they were very worn and torn and the curtains were very filthy and stained. Same issue with gaps all around their windows and doors and holes in mosquito nets.||If you are backpacking in the area and are planning to be out and about most of the time and just need a place to store your luggage and crash without breaking the bank then some might not mind the accommodations but the photos of the actual rooms don’t really reflect the current condition of the property. ||The caretaker was very hospitable so this review isn’t meant to reflect poorly on him but rather the owner who would greatly benefit from improving the accommodations. Just know going in that you pay for what you get...

DO NOT STAY AT THIS PLACE - YOUR BOOKING IS NOT GUARANTEED We had booked this place 3 months in advance. We had initially booked 3 rooms and had to cancel 1 out of the 3 rooms due to less people coming. When we arrived at the place, they told us that we had cancelled our entire booking. After we had showed them our booking confirmation, they realised that it was their mistake and informed us that they don’t use Agoda so they were not aware of the issue. Why would their listing be on a booking site that they do not use?? After making such a big mistake, the least we expected was for them to arrange for everything to be relocated to a better place. The lady at reception had called the manager and the manager had asked what race we were, to which the lady replied “Indians” (which we are not, but regardless why is race being brought into the picture here??) The manager told us to contact Agoda ourself and get a refund. We spent our entire time at a beautiful pool club sorting out this issue and being stressed instead of being relaxed, our sole purpose of going to Ella. Once we had found another hotel ourself, the staff members there told us to “exit the room within 10 minutes” as the other guests had arrived. None of the staff members assisted us with bringing our luggage down the steep hill which their hotel is located on, they just merely watched at us with a glare as if we were the ones who stuffed up. They even expected us to arrange for our own transport to relocate our bags until we had to argue for 10th time with the manager on the phone. Overall the worst experience any of us have had in our multiple years of staying at hotels. We have never come across such rude, racist and irresponsible staff members. Would not recommend anyone to stay here and we will be looking to take further action...

Location is beautiful and rooms are just enough to spend a night. In my "better" room with small extra charge, there was only one power socket in room, no table lamps. Balcony door didn't get closed properly and shower was bit dirty. No shower gel or shampoo included in rooms, and no room cleaning service. Breakfast was coffee, bread and butter, banana and egg. Dinner is almost same every night, fried rice and chicken. At around 20 euros / 25 dollars per night it might be ok, but it's clearly not that fantastic place that some people say. Biggest problem is the communication with staff. They don't speak/understand english properly and they reserved us their own driver (without any confirmation from us!) on our last morning even though we told couple of times that we already had a taxi booked on our own. Beforehand we had only asked about taxi price, not anything else. Our driver had to pay to hotel staff for letting us leave, even though it was...