EKHO Surf Bentota

This property is right on the beach and our room opened directly on to the pool which the children loved. The beach has lovely soft sand and a Long Beach to walk along. There is also a walking track alongside the beach if walking on sand isn't your thing. The water was too rough when we stayed. The beds were very comfortable. The breakfast was good and had a good selection of different options. The passionfruit was fabulous. The resort has a gym which isn't advertised anywhere. The rooms are large. There is a very good restaurant right outside the resort across the railway tracks called bamboo.

The rooms are a little dated, but doesn't affect the quality of stay. The rooms would benefit from a drying rack out on the balcony to dry swimmers.

We have room attached to the pool. It was great .

Pool closes very early at 7 pm. It should be till 9 pm at least.

Ekho surf is easily one of the great options if you are in Bentota, Located just on the beach it gives you private access to a beach. The pool is huge and well maintained. If you have a ground floor room you just have a private access to the pool. The buffet menu is elaborate whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner. It has all the facilities of a good resort. A very well maintained property all together.

Indian dishes on the menu. They so need to have an Indian chef. If you are having such an elaborate Indian menu, you need to do justice to that which I specifically found missing. The taste, availability and presentation of Indian dishes is really bad. Also the train track just behind the property literally gives a shaky feeling if you are in activity room and train horn blares even when your room doors are closed.

The hotel grounds are well maintained and visually appealing, and the beachfront itself is lovely (although there is some visible rubbish, but that is just positioning of the ocean). The room was comfortable overall, and dinner was good with breakfast offering a decent selection. The standout staff were housekeeping and the grounds team. They were consistently friendly, hardworking, and proactive in greeting guests and checking in with how your day was going. The omelette chef at breakfast was also excellent and good banter.

Unfortunately, the overall experience was disappointing, largely due to poor organisation and lack of service from customer-facing staff. Activities advertised were not delivered. Water aerobics and bocce were both listed but did not run on either day. When I tried to locate the water aerobics, there was no staff present at either pool. After asking multiple staff members, I was eventually told it wasn’t running that day — with no apology or explanation. If activities aren’t running, they should not be advertised. Basic hotel processes were unclear. We were given towel cards but there was no signage or clear location to exchange them. The layout of the hotel is also quite non-intuitive, which adds to the confusion. Service in restaurants was inconsistent and frustrating. We were told we could order dessert à la carte in the main restaurant, only to then be told by another staff member that we had to leave unless we were having the buffet. We were redirected to the café, where options were even more limited, and then told to go back to the restaurant again. In the end, we gave up and ordered externally, which is not what you expect at a hotel of this level. Staff generally appeared disengaged and uninterested, particularly in guest-facing roles. There were often multiple staff present but not actively assisting guests. At check-out, staff insisted I scan a QR code to leave a “good review” and then asked me to prove I had submitted one, which felt inappropriate and uncomfortable. The spa experience was below average and overpriced. The treatment quality was poor, and at times it felt like the therapist was distracted as she would only use one hand. There was also a large spider in the treatment room, which, while understandable in this environment, could have been addressed before guests noticed. The hotel itself feels somewhat dated internally, and while the room was fine, the shower clearly needs maintenance.