This hotel has the sea on one side and a river on the other and the location is undoubtedly very nice.

However, on arrival we were given a sea view room - great we think, but after being left in the room (after the obligatory tip, more of that later), I notice that the floor is wet and the bedclothes feel damp and cloying (and smelly). We decide to give it one night but following morning complain as the air con hasn't improved the situation. Having been shown several rooms we settle on one facing the river, which is still damp but not nearly so bad. You can however see where the mould has been painted over and some of the cushions still smell.

I thought the food was pretty average, they seem to bland everything down, and I was sick of the sight of buffet after buffet. There were one or two nights where it was better. The bar was OK, but had no air con so was very hot some nights.

The hotel does not have a private beach so you cannot use the beach for fear of being hassled by people selling you stuff. The Sri Lankan's may be 'nice' as everyone kept telling us, but this seemed to be mainly in an attempt to get your money (to be fair some were very nice). We were asked for money by various members of staff including two security guards. And the 'special night' (at extra cost) was pushed on me about 6 times in the same day.

I lost track of the use of the "can you buy (expensive) milk powder for my child" routine (one even said his kid was 7 - a bit old for milk powder). Seriously they're as bad as the Egyptians, just less rude, which is worse because you don't feel you can be rude back.

Also the location leaves you a bit captive, as it's a little too far to walk to town, but you can take a short taxi or tuk-tuk ride (expensive if you go through the hotel reception).

On the positive side, there was free internet use (2 PCs in the library and wifi in the suites) although it wasn't always working. I also enjoyed the Kyaking and seeing the fire flys at night.

We also stayed in the Mount Lavinia hotel and I'd definitely recommend that over the Kani Lanka. The food is much better, the service seemed better (less asking for cash) and the private beach made a world of difference. There's alos a bit of history. That said it's still not perfect and you have to watch out for them trying to fob you off with a dodgy room.

Overall I'd rather go back to Thailand, nicer people, better hotels and food and scenery that's at least as beautiful.

We stayed at the kani Lanka Hotel,for 2 weeks, all inclusive during which we got married,there were 10 of us,some with First choice and some with Kuoni,unfortunately the weather was still stormy,mostly in the afternoons,But this did have big affects to the beach (see photo).
Apart from that the Hotel its self is quite nice,the storys you hear about the ground floor rooms smelling are all true.so try for 1st/2nd floor rooms

A couple of things we didn't like was the hard push to get you to purchase wine at dinner times,and to try to get you to have the seafood BBQ on a friday evening,we think the waiters are on commision. if your with Kuoni your intitled to a glass of wine with Dinner & lunch,which nobody was told about untill the last 2 nights(guess they must of forgot !!!!!!)

The staff are all very friendly and can't do enough for you,but ant shy in coming forward for tips tips & more tips,not suprising when they only earn about £2 per day,

The one big problem we had on the wedding day,was,some members of our party went out and purchased champagne for after the wedding,as it was around £90 a bottle in the hotel,we were told by a member of staff this was OK and that he would keep it on ice for us,untill after the wedding,for which he received a nice tip, that was fine untill we wanted to drink it,when we were told by a senior member of staff that there was a £75 corkage fee for every bottle, it got sorted in the end but did sort of put the dampers on the day for a while.( Be warned)

Beach Boys,they were great !!! will take you anywhere for a lot less than the tour opperators, We used a real nice lad called Fredee,who took us out on mass in either tuk-tuks's or mini-bus,we had some nice trips and so full of local knowlege.
He also invited us back to his house for lunch one day,to meet his family,Lovely people.

Sri lanka is a nice place to visit ,lots to see and very pretty,but is a very poor Country with lots of poverty.

The Kani Lanka is an alright hotel,but wouldn't rush back.
Give me Tailand anyday !!!!

I live in Sri Lanka and, therefore, have an opportunity to visit many hotels (usually on the week-end). This week-end I took my local family to Kani Lanka for the day.

I like swimming and took the togs along intending to get changed there. That was ruled out as the hotel wanted to charge me £20 to hire a room for the afternoon. Strange that they have a free changing room for the pool.

At the pool side I asked for a tomato jiuce. Sorry, we don't have any. I asked for a King Coconut. Sorry, we don't have any. Anything expensive? Oh yes sir, lots.

The buffet was disgusting. Roast Lamb that I could have soled my shoes with and no gravy. Oh, I could have had mushroom gravy if I wanted.

I agree withy many of the previous posters that service is not existant and, sadly, like many other establishments here, they simply want the money.

There are many hotels in this country who genuinely want to serve their customers and make them feel welcome.

This is not one of them.

My wife and I were visiting Sri Lanka for the first time and choose the Kani Lanka resort through First Chioce because of its execellent write up in the brochure and its fit to our requirements.

The coach drive from the Airport to the Hotel was interesting and took over three hours!

On our journey we were kept awake by the First Choice rep who made it clear that we were to book any excursions through him and not the beach boys. He told everyone on the coach horror stories of previous holiday guests that had gone with the beach boys. Due to this we booked an overnight excursion with the First Choice rep...this was our first big mistake, i'll explain more a little later!

When we finally arrived at the hotel we were greeted by staff and the lobby scene from the brochure...i have to say this is probably the first and last picture that resembled the brochure. The picture of the lovely modern dining room in the brochure did exist but was only used on a few occasions while we were their. All meals are eaten in a much less glamerous room above the modern dining room, i have no idea why!

We were all ushered to our rooms on arrival, we paid a supplement when we booked the holiday to upgrade to a superior room which meant we got a lagoon or beach view. This is a con, all rooms have either a lagoon or beach view! We were very dissapointed with the size of the room, cleanliness and general quality of the room. Damp patches on the walls, plug sockets hanging off the walls, lights that didn't work, stained bedding, filthy toilet and shower. It goes without saying that this is no where near a 4 star hotel. I rate this as a 2 star hotel, i have stayed in cleaner and better equiped hostels.

The evening entertainment was niether cultural or interesting. i felt like Simon Cowell on the X factor as it really was that bad. Generally the entertainment was a sole guitarist trying to sing old english songs badly.

As for pool side entertainment...for the first two days after we arrived there was nothing...then out of the blue on our third day an entertainment guy turned up who was excellent at getting people up for aerobics, pool volleyball, darts but this was generally only for a couple of hours a day. Bear in mind you get no entertainment at all on Wednesdays & Thursdays as these are his days off.

one last thing to say about the pool...on saturday and sundays the pool is packed out with local Sri Lankans which we were only told about on our arrival. The locals are treated like gods by the Hotel staff and you are made to feel very second class. You also notice that the standards in the Hotel rise at the weekend when the locals are around.

On several occasions we were reffered to as the foreigners by the locals who speak very good english, i agree we are foreigners...but should it be thrown in your face all the time when on holiday...perhaps not!

The food was fantastic, my wife is a vegetarian and she had no complaints. If you enjoy curries you will be in heaven especially the one labelled "Hot", try it!

Please don't forget that everyone you meet in Sri Lanka wants money / a tip. We had a guy who cleaned our room on a daily basis, unfortunatly the day before we left he had a day off and we were unsure if we would see him again before we left, so we left money in an envelope for him with reception. The guy who stood in for him on his day off literally pinned me in the room by putting a hand on each side of the door and not allowing me out of the room until he had made it quite clear i should be giving him money for the days he was cleaning the room. Needles to say i gave him nothing, we later saw the guy who had cleaned our room all holiday and put the cash in his hand.

Now a quick word about the excursions...don't use First Chioce for your excursions, the beach boys are great and much cheeper. We made the mistake of booking with First Chioce and felt completed cheeted at the end of it. We booked an overnight excursion where we were supposed to stay in a five star hotel called the Cittadel in Kandy surrounded by lovely tea plantation. What we actually got was a shabby hotel in the centre of Kandy right next to a shanti town rubbish dump with people rumaging throught the rubbish to feed themselves. Please note that you will make lots of stops not on the agenda which are to line the pockets of the tour guide as they get commission for taking you into the shops. I didn't mind so much at the start of the journey, but when you end up taking a detour that takes five hours rather than the planned 2 hour trip home just to go into yet another wood carving shop or jewel shop it starts to wear thin.

I hope this has given you a better insight into this hotel.

Believe it or not we never complain about our holidays as they have always been fantastic with First Choice, but felt on this occasion you needed to know the truth about a very bad Hotel.

Remember that alot of people who write these reports are on honeymoon or getting married at the hotel which i sometimes think is blinding there judgement!