Earls Reef Beruwala reopens with Rs. 400 mn facelift

The four star Earls Reef Beruwala Hotel that went for refurbishment and add capacity reopened recently with an investment of Rs. 400 million made towards the hotel.

Chairman Managing Director Earls Court Hotels Earl Gunasekera, said despite the C-19 pandemic and drop in arrivals they saw a silver lining in tourism in the future for Sri Lanka and invested when most of the other hotels shut down and adopted cost cutting measures. “As an entrepreneur, I see future an opportunity during ‘adversity’ (like now) for a long time and this is why I re-invested in Earls Reef Beruwala.”

He said that in addition he has also made several other investments in Kandy during the last 18 months acquiring abandoned hotels and also investing overseas to expand their Earls Court Hotel’s footprint. He recalled that the five star Earls Regency Kandy with 86 rooms at the time too was built when the country was experiencing LTTE bombs explosions in all parts of the country.” Since its establishment in 1999, the Earl’s Regency became an iconic 5-star hotel in the hill country, hosting many local and foreign dignitaries and heads of state, MICE events and was a trend setter for other hoteliers to follow and invest.

The group today has over 400 plus star class keys in Kandy, Kurunegala, Beruwela, Katunayake and Negombo. General Manager, Earls Reef Beruwala Sujeewa De Zoysa said that the management headed by Chairman and Managing Director, Gunasekera is confident of a tourism recovery and is keen to maintain the hotels in its peak form. Soysa being with the Earls Group for over 6 years he said that before the Russian Ukraine conflict they had tourists from these countries in large numbers and now they are getting guests from UK, France, India and the Gulf and forward bookings for winter too are positive. Counting over 20 years of tourism and hospitality experience with overseas work experience as well he said that they have now re-sized the hotel to 52 rooms creating large room space by including the balconies into the room and building additional balconies.

“We have also added 5 suites with individual jacuzzi to our room inventory and a spa with two ‘Couple’ therapy rooms would be added in a few weeks.” General Manager, De Zoysa a Fellow member of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association and currently reading for his MBA at Kelaniya University said that the swimming pool too was refurbished along with the Lighthouse Bar and the garden too was re-laid.

“We also pay great emphasis on our food and service factors and our 75-member staff have been specially trained to provide the best experience for the guests. The hotel also has several excursions to nearby places like the Beruwala Lighthouse, River Safari and also has special card promotions for locals.”