Crystal Resort Dickwella

We ended up here bc our hotel elsewhere double booked and didn’t have a room. Turned out to be a good thing. The hotel is right on the beach and has a good pool. The staff were all so lovely and the location is not too busy. The hotel needs a renovation but in fairness it is cheap. We had a good time here.

Don't lose your key. First time I ever lost a key and i was charged 10,000 rps. I asked does it cost $34 US to copy a key? I was told it's on the sign and sure enough it is hotel policy. I guess it's a stupidity tax. Not on the beach as advertised. A road and a bunch of little restaurants are between hotel and beach. Hotel has no chairs of their own on beach. Wifi went out 9pm and never came back on as of checkout the next day. Plugs in bad shape and arcing heard a lot. One receptacle popped out of wall and shorted out. 1 guy running the show and he is busy so takes a long time to get any service. Only thing nice was pool but for extra 10,000 rps I could have stayed somewhere else down the beach ACTUALLY ON THE BEACH

FRAUD Alert!! FRAUD alert!! We have checked in the hotel for 1 day on Jan 31, 2024 with our family of 10 peoples (including 6 with age of more than 60 years) expecting a decent hotel considering it is a beach view hotel. However the experience in the hotel was pathetic. The rooms were not ready for check in till 2:30pn (against checkin time of 1pm). They provided the wifi late at 9pm after repeated request since checkin time. Since we all are vegetarian, we asked them during checking in to provide just vegetables sandwhichs and they agreed to provide the same. However in the Breakfast, they provided toasted bread, butter in bowls, sliced tomato and slice cucumber in the plates and they asked us to prepare the sandwich by ourself. They didnt give the list of items they have provided in the room. However, during check out, they made us to count each cups, glasses, towels, charging plugs, etc in all out rooms. They falsely claims that 1 charging plug and 1 bath Mat is missing in the room for which they asked us to pay Rs 5,000 (not ready for giving bill for this). Just to be informed we were staying their 1 execustive suites (best in claas of their hotel) and 3 family rooms. They illegally blocked our ways. While calling the police, they tried to threatened us. But ultimately they have to allow to go. They wasted our 2 hours during check out and it was completely a mental harassment. They intentionally do all these to earn extra money. Please do not visit this hotel. They are playing fraud. Please keep yourself away from this hotel. Interesting fact: Hotel is completely managed by 3 boys only. They are they only receptionist, they only cook food, they are bell boys, they were only serving breakfast, they are house keeping persons as well. They do everything so just imagine they quality of service. I hope this never happen with anyone so please be careful.

So, it's a little bit scruffy, but we're in Sri Lanka... Ignore the 2 previous reviews - we were here for 5 nights in Jan 2024 & loved it. Charming & helpful reception ( ok, their English is a bit better than my Lankan...) but good aircon, fridge, kettle, mugs, tea & coffee, drinking glasses. Free soap & toothbrushes with tons of hot water in a nice bathroom with bath and shower. Clean bedding and pillows too. Lovely pool & garden swept daily, and a fab view over to the beach. Great spot, close to everything. No catering at all whilst we were there, but so many good options within 50m. Worth every rupee.

This hotel is a hot mess! Can’t believe how the more basic things are missing and how the staff is unprofessional and lost. We had to stay two nights for work in Hiriketyia and we booked at Crystal cause we were in a hurry to find an accommodation. The first impression from outside was of a proper resort so we payed straight away the two nights. What a mistake. I don’t even know where to begin. They don’t clean the room because - according to the person at the reception- they only have one copy of the key per room (!!!) and as we left in the morning of course they happily avoided to tide up our room. The “staff” consists of 3 young boys that are completely clueless, don’t speak English and look like they were randomly hired the day before with no instructions. The place is alarmingly ran down and quite dirty. No towels were provided and we had to ask them multiple times (using a translator on our phones) until they brought us two miserable old cloths that probably were towels in the previous century. They provide a kettle in the sadly decorated room but no coffee sachets present so you can eventually enjoy a nice cup of warm water when you wake up. Or if you feel more adventurous why not us one of the old and filthy tea bags that the property magnanimously put 20 years ago beside the kettle. Clearly the owner of this so-called hotel doesn’t give a s***t about his property but instructed the staff to take promptly in advance the payments. The “staff” works from 9am to 9pm and the rest of the time this big dinosaur of a building is left to a security gentleman that has no clue either. Bonus info: have fun reading the multiple broken English signs, menus and guest information around the property. Not even the effort of printing something in a correct grammar or at least that can be readable. If it wasn’t for the money we payed I would have left after 30 seconds.

Good facilities and great staff that go the extra mile as well as the perfect location to access Dickwella and Hiriketyia really make for a fantastic stay. Personally prefer Dickwella beach to most of the surrounding beaches and staying at Crystal Resort allows you to access all the great restaurants such as Smoke and Bitters in the area. Highly recommended.