Hotel Sapphire

Close to key places in Colombo. Staff is friendly and efficient. I must mention that house keeping staff is fantastic.

We will recommend to any visitors to book this Hotel for long term/short stay

I had a pleasant stay at Hotel Sapphire. The staff were friendly and helpful, the room was comfortable, and the overall service was good. The location was also convenient. I would definitely recommend this hotel to other guests

I booked to stay at Hotel Sapphire in Colombo in August, and unfortunately my experience was extremely disappointing from the moment I arrived. My flight was delayed by around 13 hours, so I arrived at the hotel just before midnight. Instead of receiving a warm welcome after such a long and exhausting journey, I was given a filthy, extremely dated room with three large beds crammed into it, leaving virtually no space to move around. The furniture was old and broken, and the overall condition of the room was simply unacceptable. I then badly bumped my toes on the furniture and was in severe pain. I tried repeatedly to call reception from my room, but nobody answered. As I could barely walk, I eventually had to make my way down to reception myself to ask for a smaller room with just one bed. My request was refused, although I was promised that I would be moved the following day. I asked the front desk staff members, *** and ***, if I could speak to the manager. I was told that the manager did not speak to guests and that I could only speak to the front desk staff. I found this extremely poor customer service. These two staff members were regularly at the front desk, apparently working back-to-back shifts, and unfortunately their attitude made my stay extremely uncomfortable. I was repeatedly met with frowns and stern looks, which I found intimidating and completely inappropriate for a hotel reception. I also witnessed and heard numerous complaints from other guests in the foyer, and it appeared that many people were unhappy with the service. On one occasion, they even approached me as I was trying to return to my room and appeared to be attempting to stop me from going upstairs. I found this very concerning and subsequently reported the incident to ***. Despite being promised a room change, days passed without anything happening. On the third day, I was finally given another room, but unfortunately it was hardly an improvement. It was again dirty, the television was broken, there was no shower curtain or shower door, and water was flooding across the bathroom floor. For almost five days, I tried to speak to the manager but was unable to do so. Eventually, I happened to meet a gentleman at the front desk whom I believed was the manager. He introduced himself as ***. I explained everything that had happened, and he appeared genuinely concerned. He agreed to compensate me and refund the money I had already paid. Trusting his word, I even gave him some valuable gifts for him and his family as a gesture of goodwill. I was therefore genuinely expecting the promised refund. Unfortunately, after that conversation, *** became unavailable and I was unable to get any further response from him. I subsequently contacted the CEO, ***, and another executive, ***. The CEO did not respond to me. *** did respond and also promised that the matter would be resolved and the refund would be made. However, I am still waiting for my money to be refunded. Despite numerous emails, telephone calls and WhatsApp messages, I have received no satisfactory response and no refund. I find this completely unacceptable. The condition of the rooms, the lack of basic customer service, the difficulty in speaking to management and, most importantly, the failure to honour a refund that was promised have left me extremely disappointed. I have travelled to Colombo many times and have stayed in hotels where I have received much better treatment. Unfortunately, based on my experience, I would strongly advise others to think very carefully before booking Hotel Sapphire. For me, the biggest issue is not simply the poor condition of the hotel; it is the way my complaint was handled afterwards and the fact that promises were made but not honoured. I would urge someone from the UK management team to contact me as a matter of urgency to resolve this matter. I would not stay at Hotel Sapphire again and I would avoid recommending this hotel to others.