Mount Lavinia Hotel

This was my fourth visit to colombo, I had booked Mount Lavinia Hotel through Club Mahindra and expected a lot being a premier hotel in Colombo. We stayed there for six nights. The hotel is itself a fabulous piece of old architecture, the hotel looks grand and majestic from the outside, the reception is huge and holds a bar and sitting area. The white old fountain infront of the hotel is truly a masterpiece and calming to the sore eyes. Thats about it, the rooms and interiors are worn down and needs immediate upgrade. We were given garden facing twin rooms with a connecting door. The room's shape was odd and at first we didn't like it, we felt the rooms were small and asked for a change. One of the bathrooms had no door lock and was very inconvenient to use. The incharge showed us suite and a family room, which were smaller than those which were allotted to us, hence we settled in the allotted rooms. The rooms allotted were really dirty, we could feel mud in the foot rugs and a big dead spider hanging in the wall. We were irritated and called the housekeeping manager, who promptly asked " Did you kill the spider ? ". Such was the attitude of few staff. Later, the rooms were cleaned, sheets changed after we showed our displeasure. The room opens up to the garden with a beautiful view of the beach and the city. The location itself is it high point, with the beach attached to it in the city !! First two nights, the AC in our room did not work and we were sweating and could not sleep well. There were no windows also, only garden doors hence no opening for fresh air. We complained continuously for two days, went to reception numerous times only to be promised that they will look into it. Being a 5 star hotel, i didnt expect such service. Finally, AC technician was sent and still there was no respite. I finally had to give up. Most of the days and nights, it rained heavily and water would flow into our room through the garden doors and even walls. Again, repeated complaints were ignored and being tired of complaining, I just put a towel or two on the water and we were careful not to walk over it. They have a beautiful restaurant overlooking the sea and a bar attached. The menu is a Vegetarian's nightmare. The menu is fixed, out of total of 48 dishes, only 10 ( 2 for lunch and dinner) are vegetarian. Even for breakfast bun and rolls, egg is used. We were tired of ordering the same for two days. All days had buffet, with 80% non vegetarian, hence did'nt take it up. Rest of the days, we would order through grab. Breakfast buffet had a good spread, but the staff would clear the buffet at 10AM sharp. I was serving myself and was shocked to see the staff remove the spoons and close the buffet. Not even a minute, even after request. Few items were not refilled and upon complaining, the chef in charge argued with us rudely and loudly saying 'everywhere in colombo, breakfast closes at 10 AM, even ITC, shangri la, etc.. ". We were disappointed with the