Good Karma

The Good Karma hotel is everything it promises to be, in contrast to several poor reviews published on TripAdvisor this year. So much so, I wonder if those reviewers are maligning the hotel for another reason. We stayed for four nights and would be hard pressed to find fault with any aspect of the hotel. The staff were unfailing polite and attentive, making us immediately welcome by arranging for dinner to be served in our villa since we had arrived well after dinner service had begun. Our villa was thoughtfully refreshed when we were absent; the food was tasty and well presented with loads or fruit, juice and tea and coffee on the side; the grounds are well tended and the neighbourhood dogs, which cannot be prevented from visiting via the beach, are well behaved and treated kindly. Staying in the villa with a pool was lux but economical for our group of three. We particularly enjoyed the peaceful location, the morning yoga session (at no extra charge), leisurely breakfast, evening drinks on the beach, and the excellent onsite spa services. The hotel is well away from the hustle and bustle however there are several dining and spa alternatives a few steps along the road or the beach. A tuk-tuk or taxi can be whistled up at any moment. We did not experience any of the issues other one-star reviewers have mentioned, although it is worth noting that any tropical beach paradise has a lot of rain water around and the lush surroundings may smell different to what you expect. I am highly sensitive to smells, and only detected the faintest waft at times. Definitely not a constant.

We stayed here 10 years ago and was completely in love with the place. This time around was a completely different experience. The check in was informative and pleasant and from here it went down hill. We visited a very dirty restaurant which looked liked it hadn’t had any maintenance or cleaning for years. The menus were so dirty most of it was illegible. The food was also poor, which much meant that we ate outside of the hotel for all our meals! We stayed in a villa with private pool and all the pools looked dirty as did the sun loungers. I went to speak to the manager and his first response was, we should leave. It was 8pm and informed him this was not possible. He did however give us a small discount on the room. Really disappointed with management attitude and lies. There are many lovely places to stay around here and this is not one of them . Please steer clear and do not waste your money.

This place is unbelievable! After putting the following words below on google the first evening, they forced us - kind of - to move out by turning the power off, don’t trust the booking reviews! Google review 8pm: Usually I write only good reviews. But unfortunately this place is such a disappointment. When we arrived the checkin was quite a rush, then we had to pay 5% extra with card payment, which the guy didn’t tell us about, for us this is almost 30 dollar. When I asked for invoice, he says we get it only in the end of the stay. That is not professional at all! The room is way darker than it shows on the pictures. If you want dinner you need to order in the afternoon and even tell the time for eating, we really wish for some flexibility on our vacation. When we came for dinner we were guided upstairs in an open room which is 10 degrees hotter with very uncomfortable lightning. The incence stick we asked for never came. When I asked I got to know that you can not sit on the beach, only on your last day. If you book a week, this seems a bit unfair. I honestly don’t understand why, there is enough open space and even a free table at the beach. No big effort for other hotels in Sri Lanka. Mango juice is on the menu but not available, when we asked it’s not season. In our last hotels we got Mango many times. I usually don’t complain, but since this is our first evening, we are happy to help improve this place together! Read this from another customer, unbelievable! I started with 2 stars but now 1 star to balance this out: „Good karma = bad karma Be careful! You will find a lot of top ratings here and the only reason why is because they offer you a 10% discount after your stay if you write a top review!“ Update, 2 hours later, 10pm: Interestingly the power in our room turned off minutes after we submitted our review (a power outage in general was unlikely as the neighboring bungalows still had lights on) we were basically forced to move out in the dark at 8pm! Without air conditioning it was very warm and rather uncomfortable in the room in mid April. We packed right away (in the dark) and left this scary place. It is good for a story, but not so good for relaxing, don't be fooled by the name, it's just bad karma here. More ideas to improve: - You can look into the room from all sides, so you need to use the curtains for some privacy - WiFi in the room very low - only one bin in bathroom - fridge was not active when we arrived One positive fact to end with: the laybed area is really nice!

The best of guest relations - Akila offers advice and help with everything - arranges trips, taxis, tuc tuc rides - nothing is too much trouble. The Good Karma is beautiful, relaxing and peaceful. Approached via a little dirt track the accommodation is located on either side. On the left are the villas with their own individual pools (perfect for honeymooners and those who really didn’t wanted to engage with anyone else) On the left are 12 (I think) spacious rooms, great air conditioning and fans, bathroom with superb rain slower. Cleaning staff are very attentive and rooms cleaned daily. Expect some critter visitors as you are in the jungle - we had frogs and small lizards which are completely harmless and just needed to be encouraged outside. Decent WiFi privided free. A short 100mtr walk down the little path and you are at the pool directly on the beach, sand is very hot to walk on. There is a small bar area which serves beer wine and cocktails very reasonably priced and upstairs is the restaurant (all open) overlooking the ocean. Food is very good, there are other options to eat out just a few 100 yards away only negative was the odd power cut and no TV. All in all a wonderful break which we would have stayed longer at but there was sadly no availability - Highly recommend this idyllic little place.