Bentota, Taj Exotica

I stayed at taj exotica on the 1st december 2009 it was amazing very helpful the food was delicious i would definately go back again they had different variety of resturants and had huge variety swimming was really nice and the rooms were very clean room were very big the scenery in the hotel was very beautiful we really enoyed our honeymoon package treatment at the spa every night we get asked how many bottles water would we like i thought it was a good service and it was complimentary by the hotel so far taj exotica been best hotel for me i look fordward going back again

Chandni , Umesh Bhojani

A good experience visiting Sri Lanka, although it is unlikely I will ever return.

Taj Exotica came highly recommended by various friends who had visited prior to Tsunami. Unfortunately Taj did not come up to expectation and basically requires some investment on the infrastructure to re-establish it's former eminent position. On returning home, we noted that our tour operator Kuoni have downgraded the Taj Exotica two grades from deluxe to first class and I believe this reflects our experience of this hotel.

I am not sure if anything can lessen the impact on travel, although I understand a new motorway is under construction?

Regarding the hawkers and beggars, this is the price you have to pay when visiting third world countries, although there was a consensus that our experience in Sri Lanka was the worst for many years.

We had a fabulous start to our honeymoon here. If we were to go back I'd travel around Bentota and the neighbouring villages a little more.

Taj Exotica is a beautiful place, and the Sri Lancan's are beautiful people.

Ask the waiter in the Piano restaurant to get his brother (tuk tuk driver) to take you out for the day. We got great deals on Sapphire rings, wooden elephants (which cost well over double in the hotel) and a visit to a Spice Garden (don't buy any products as they cost quite a bit), but tip the guys who give a head and shoulder massage.

Also one of the trips is on the Bentota river, which involves visiting Cinnamon Island, and I recommend you buy some products from there.

Also, children ask for sweets. We took coloured pencils, pens, rubbers and also some cheap plastic toys from a supermarket (eg. a maze with a ball baring in) and they love them!

My boyfriend and I stayed in Taj Exotica in October 2004.

The hotel lobby is impressive with marble floors and fine decor, and the staff at the reception can't do enough for you.

We stayed in a standard sea facing room with a balcony. The view from the balcony was lovely, it faced the sea, gardens and the pool area. I wouldn't recommend staying in the rooms facing the other way, as these face the railway track. Although the train doesn't run very often, the noise is enough to wake you up.

The room was quite basic, and I wouldn't class it as 4-5*, the furniture could do with updating and replacing, and the room in size wasn't very big. The towels were replaced every day, but the staff were always expecting tips.

The beach was gorgeous, with white fine sand. The beach boys and the men selling coconuts, do get on your nerves after a while. Also watch the waves at certain times of year, especially October, as they are strong, and I wouldn't recommend swimming too far out.

The local elephant made regular visits to the beach, and an elephant ride is a must!! This can be organised by the hotel.

The evening buffet was lovely. The food was different each night, and there was plenty to choose from for everyone. The evening entertainment gets a bit boring, and the music stops around midnight, although there is a disco for those who wish to continue. The dress code is casual, although some people did make more of an effort.

There is plenty to explore and see in Sri Lanka, and I would recommend that you don't settle just for the beach. The hotel organises various trips, and I highly recommend you explore the rest of Sri Lanka, purely because the scenery is very beautiful, and there is so much more to the country than just the beach.

All in all I would recommend Taj Exotica, but I wouldn't recommend staying there for more than 10 nights, as it can get a little bit boring after a while, especially with the local boys trying to get you to go on trips.

Bentota, Taj Exotica - I recently booked a holiday in Sri Lanka with my boyfriend and stayed at the 5 star Taj Exotica hotel in Bentota. The hotel itself was excellent; located right beside the beach, overlooking the Indian Ocean and surrounded by a well-tended exotic garden. Marble floors, high roofs and exquisite teak, ebony and mahogany furniture adorned the inside. The food was fabulous and the service was excellent. The ambiance was relaxed, dignified and calm. Life outside the hotel however was very different.

The perimeter of the hotel is patrolled at all times by security guards to keep the locals from hassling the guests. On our third day at the hotel we met with our tour rep, who sat us down for an hour to warn us of all the things we should not do while in Sri Lanka. Don't drink the water, don't sun bathe between 12.00 and 3.00 pm., don't swim out of your depth because of the strong current, etc. However, it was his warnings about the scams we would encounter that caused us the most anxiety, and as it turned out, with just cause.

We were warned not to book any trips with the 'beach boys' who patrolled the beaches outside the hotel. He told us that these 'all inclusive trips' would sound like a good deal but could turn out to be anything but inclusive. E.g. entry fees to sites of interest might not be covered, or hotel costs if staying overnight would not have been paid. If we booked a trip on the river, we might be confronted while on the river and asked for more money - at which stage its hard to refuse! He recounted the story of one English couple that had gone to the Taj Exotica on their honeymoon. They booked a trip to the Yala Park Game Reserve with someone they met on the beach. Their tour rep warned them against this but they felt they could trust this guy. Two days later the tour rep got a call in the middle of the night from the couple. They had been robbed of STG£650 by their 'trustworthy' driver and left stranded on the other side of the country with no way home and no way of paying their hotel bill. When asked why they had taken so much money with them, they responded saying that their guide had told them his uncle owned a gem mine and he would get them a good deal on some gems. The rep organised their return, contacted the police and eventually the culprit was tracked down and half the money recovered. It was too late for that couple - their honeymoon was already ruined!

We were also warned that if we purchased by credit card that not all shops had automatic credit card machines. If presented with the old carbon copy type receipts we should ensure that we put a line before and after the total to ensure the sum could not be altered after we left. We were also warned to be careful when buying gems as it's a regular scam to sell worthless duds instead of the real thing. We were told that if were went into town not to speak to anyone who approached us on the way; not to ask for directions and if anyone followed us into a shop to tell the shop owner he wasn't with us and we didn't know him. The reason for this is the commission system that operates in Sri Lanka. As soon as you leave the confines of the hotel grounds you will be approached by locals who will shake your hand, ask where you're from and ingratiate themselves with you so that you will trust them to take you where they want to take you - they will recommend a restaurant, a gem shop, an ayurvedic garden, souvenir shop, etc. When you go to these places and spend money your friendly guide gets a kickback from the local business, which of course you end up paying for in the price you pay. You will also want to give the guide a tip for his help of course.

Tipping is another thing that is expected by everyone you deal with. The concept of tipping because you're happy with the service or the amount of the tip being at your discretion doesn't seem to exist. Guides especially expect you to be very generous even if they rush you around the site and don't give a particularly good service at all. The porters at the airport who rush in and take your trolley from you without be asked or needed will demand 200 rupees at least for pushing your trolley 100 yards. I witnessed one Sri Lankan family with two young children being hounded by two porters at the airport demanding more money when they were not happy with what the tip they were given. Two porters weren't necessary in the first place, and hassling a young mother carrying a baby was shameless.

You should also be aware that there are two pricing systems in Sri Lanka - one for locals and the other for tourists. E.g. a bottle of coke has a price of 20 rupees on the lid of the bottle - a tourist will pay 100 to 120 rupees. Entrance fees at sites of interest may be 20 rupees for locals and 300 for tourists etc. There's always a significant difference in prices unless you shop in the shopping centres in Colombo where everyone pays the same. I can't say that I found shopping there cheap, you end up paying first world prices a lot of the time. Always haggle, otherwise you will get totally skanked. I found that items I purchased outside the hotel were at least 30% dearer than the gift shop in the 5 star hotel we stayed in and that was after bargaining the price down. If you're paying for a meal you will be a 10% service charge, which the waiter won't get so you will be expected to pay another 10% to the waiter as his tip.

One final word to the wise regards Sigiriya - the 8th wonder of the world. On arrival our driver told us a guide would show us around, that he had already been paid and that if we were happy with the service we could tip him. Sigiriya comprised the ruins of a 1600 year old palace, part of which is built on a 200 meter rock. There are over 1000 steps to climb to reach the top. The guide stopped us at the start of the steps and told us that the steps were old, broken and very slippy. A tourist had fallen the previous month, cracked her head open and broken a leg. He had two teenage boys with him who were 'specially trained and licenced' who would help us if we needed them. When one of the boys grabbed me I said no thank you but was ignored. I was dragged along, with my 'helper' standing on my flip-flops and generally getting in my way for the next hour or so. Along the way hawkers would jump out from behind rocks trying to sell us ornate wooden boxes, guidebooks and other souvenirs. The guide told us we didn't need to buy now, we could think about it and buy on the way back down. We were confronted with them again on the way down but refused to buy anything. When we neared the bottom of the steps again the guide stopped - well away from where our driver would see us. I tried to tip the helpers but they refused to accept the money because it wasn't enough. At this stage the guide's demeanour changed considerably and he became quite nasty. We were informed that we HAD to pay the helpers 350 rupees each and more if we were happy with the service. As I hadn't needed or asked for their service, hadn't been told there would be a charge and had in fact refused their help in the first instance, I was far from happy. I didn't have small denominations in rupees so I had to give them 1000 rupees between them. Having given them this amount we were taken a little further on by the guide and given the 'its been a bad season, I'm an independent operator, I expect a fat tip' spiel by the skanky guide. We ended up having to give him 1000 rupees too. I was totally disgusted by this behaviour. On the way home at the airport we met an English couple who had suffered the same fate at Sigiriya only they had been asked for 1000 rupees per helper. The English woman, like myself, had an arm full of bruises after the specially trained helper had finished with her.

I can't say I really enjoyed my holiday. If we left the hotel to go to the beach we had to run the gauntlet of hawkers and beach boys trying to lure us here there and everywhere. I felt like we were being hunted every time we set foot on the beach. While on our trip we were constantly hassled by hawkers in the street, if we went into a shop the shop assistant followed two feet behind me hassling me to buy something. If I did I was hassled to buy something else. As for the tipping culture, as one Englishman said, "their hand is always out and they're never happy with what you give them". The view of westerners seems to be we're all filthy rich, ripe for ripping off and have endless cash to throw away. In the end the hotel became a gilded cage because we simply weren't prepared to get hassled or ripped off anymore by leaving it. Sri Lanka is definitely not somewhere I will visit again. The only thing that made it worth while was the hotel. But a good hotel does not a holiday make - not for me anyway. Being treated with respect by locals and feeling free to go where you want and do what you want is what is important to me.