Name: Aloft Grand Hotel
Address: Hettipola Watta, Ella, LK

4/10

Poor

11 Sep 2025

Grady

DO NOT STAY HERE! I've stayed at hundreds of places all over the world. Cheap hostels, swanky resorts, and everything in between. Aloft Grand Hotel might just be the worst place I've stayed.

We stayed in one of the cottages, which is located at the bottom of a very steep, poorly paved, dimly lit path. If you have mobility issues or are spooked by walking around in the dark, don't stay there.

Staff doesn't clean the rooms unless you directly ask them to. We came back after a day exploring Ella to find wet, dirty towels. I went to staff to get clean towels and they asked us to wait 10 minutes. Turns out the just dried our dirty towels! Did they not have extras they could have given us?

If this was a cheap hostel, I'd understand. But at $85 USD a night, I don't think it's unreasonable to have regular cleaning.

Hotel has a very nice, good-sized pool...with only 2 lounge chairs. No other chairs. Just 2 lounge chairs.

Hotel is not done with construction. Fair amount of work being done throughout the property and there was clutter everywhere.

The shame is that this could be an INCREDIBLE hotel. Amazing view of mountaintop temple. Lots of land to do great things and the cottages could be a great place to stay. But we got the sense that 1.) the hotel opened too early and isn't ready for prime time or 2.) the owners have ZERO idea what they're doing.

DO NOT STAY HERE!

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

03 Aug 2025

Amila

This property is still under construction. We got a newly built room with a great view. Staff is very helpful. Food is great. Overall we had a great time there

Leisure Family

2/10

Poor

14 Mar 2025

Verified traveler

Choose somewhere else

Very dirty. Don’t stay. Way over priced for room with animal poop and stains on the bed.

Friends_and_family Friends

10/10

Exceptional

11 Mar 2025

Sameer

Staff was incredibly friendy and the views were exceptional..

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

07 Nov 2024

Chalsea

Very good over all.

Nice hotel staff. Friendly manager. Great view of the famous temple. Lots of beautiful wildlife sighting on the property if you’re into that kind of things. I am.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

06 Jul 2024

Dilhani

The staff at Aloft Grand were absolutely wonderful. Location and rooms were great ! I highly recommend this hotel.

Leisure Family

4/10

Poor

07 Apr 2024

Marcos

Go somewhere if you could

This property isn’t the cheapest around but after checking the pictures we decided to give it a try.

Arrived there at night, not to late 8-9pm, the check in was quick and staff very helpful with the luggage.

We tried to order food an hour before the restaurant closes just to find out they decided to not serving food an hour before closure? Anyways nothing is around so we went out to bed.

Next morning we tried to shower only to find out the hot water wasn’t working, not a big deal

Wifi is very poor and slow, not a big deal.

Overall a very unpleasant stay, roof was not properly clean

Partner

4/10

Poor

03 Apr 2024

Verified traveler

2 friends travelling booked 2 deluxe chalets. 1 was mostly clean apart from some cobwebs and mould on the bathroom ceiling. The other was not clean. There were stains on the bedding and towels and we had to ask for the bathroom to be cleaned twice. Couldn’t comment on the food as we were told breakfast was at 10 and we needed to leave before this. There is a nice pool but the 2 sun loungers available were ripped and torn and couldn’t be used. The chalet doors didn’t fully close and therefore the rooms were full of bugs. One of the chalets seemed to be close to a staff store room so there was constant noise. Not quite the peaceful stay we had anticipated.

Friends_and_family Friends

10/10

Exceptional

18 Feb 2024

Duane

Thanks

Leisure Friends

6/10

Pleasant

20 Dec 2023

Richard

This was a little disturbing that we had no hot water, no internet, the fridge was off and slightly mouldy, mould in the cupboard, a leak in the bathroom, and the air conditioner was faulting out. Other than that everything else seamed ok. We would not stay here again until they sort out their staff and pre inspections of the rooms. It’s really a pity as this property has beautiful views.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

28 Aug 2023

Lili

Stayed at Aloft Grand Hotel for one night while traveling around Sri Lanka. The hotel view is very pretty, the rooms are clean and straightforward, not luxurious. Fair room for the price we paid. The staff and service was great, very nice people and super attentive of all our needs.

Friends_and_family Friends

10/10

Exceptional

02 Feb 2022

Tina

What a little gem

What a little gem the Aloft Grand turned out to be. The chalets provide you with everything you need for your stay and the staff are beyond helpful. We were passing through Ella from Kandy on our way to Galle and wished we’d planned our trip differently to have more time in Ella. One of the best things about the accommodation is the incredible view and also the nature. Absolutely loved it and would definitely staff again.

The day we were leaving the hotel organised our car to Galle at a very reasonable price. Our driver took is the scenic route via the waterfall and some other amazing sights. Really appreciated.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

04 Aug 2020

KIRTHI

.

New property with modern amenities
Located in a tea estate
3 km away from Ella town
Good place to relax and unwind
Friendly and helpful staff

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

15 Mar 2020

Amanda

Friendly staff and very cute cabins with lots of room. Accessibility needs to be reviewed. Path to cabins are steep and slippery with shale. They should really consider adding a stairway.

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

13 Mar 2020

Verified traveler

Cosy chalets

Staff were really friendly and helpful, room was nice and cozy. Breakfast was good, they were really fast when I needed to leave early.

Bathroom- shower ran out of water (hot and cold) and was hard to finish washing my hair.

Would stay again.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

10 Oct 2025

Gilberto

Si vas a Ella es el sitio para quedarte. 100% recomendable!

Partner

2/10

Poor

22 Nov 2024

Jørn

No chance to go to our room

We never got our room, because there were NO way to get from the reception to our room and back again.
They offered us a tuktuk to drive us to our room, but them we would be stock there without any chance to get back to the reception again.
Now we need to find a way to contact hotels.com and get our money back.

Friends_and_family Friends

2/10

Poor

22 Feb 2024

Joakim

Five stars are straight up lies

I have to say, my stay here was a big letdown, especially with all the 5-star reviews out there.

When we got to our room, it was a mess. There was chewed gum everywhere, and it looked like no one had bothered to clean it at all. The bathroom was even worse, smelling like sewage, and the towels were dirty and had gum in them too. There was a cockroach and some other leech-like critters in there as well. Lovely…

We kept asking for someone to clean up, give us new towels, and change the bed sheets, but nothing happened. Good thing we brought our own towels.

Breakfast was a total flop. We got some juice, coffee, toast with butter and some sweet jam, and a sad-looking omelette with cold sausages.

They’ll get you a tuk-tuk whenever you need one, but you’ll end up paying twice what you usually would.

It’s a bummer because the guy we dealt with the most was super friendly and always smiling, but when it came to getting things done, not so much.

I’d say steer clear of this place!

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

09 Feb 2024

Marcus

We arrived and wanted to upgrade to a room with hot jacuzzi. We paid the extra amount and got that room.

Unfortunately, there was not enough warm water and so the jacuzzi bath tub was not usable.

We did not get back the money after asking it.

The rooms and location is nice. If the hotel was better organized, it could be a nice place to relax

Business_and_leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

07 Feb 2022

Camilla

Unikt hotel med venligt personale.

Partner