Browns Hotel is well over due a major refrubishment. The rooms are tired and the bathroom was disgusting. The tiles were mouldy and the towels were horrid. The pool and bar area are well looked after. There is a fairly new sun terrace by the pool but againt he sun beds most were broken and the mattresses only just held together. The towels here were fine we actually took them back to the room as the room ones were so bad. As we were only bed and breakfast I can't comment on the main meals, but the breakfast was good, except you had to ask for bacon, they never put it out, it was like being Oliver!! there were complaints the same at main meals with cheese you had to ask. The staff need better training in cleaning and setting tables, we had fish knives were the butter knives should be !! The hotel grounds are beautifully maintained and the beach bar sell great cheap lunch time snacks.

We booked with Mrecury Direct and got an amazing All Inclusive deal.We do not usually do AI as we prefer to eat out in the evenings and this proved to be the case at Browns Beach.

We had a beach room which we upgraded to before we left home and according to fellow guests who saw it it was far superior to the standard rooms.

The staff are generally very friendly and always greet you as you pass.We never felt pressured for tips to get a service as can be the case in some All Inclusives.

Have to be honest we did not really enjoy the food apart from a couple of the themed evenings(Mongolian and Italian).I completely understand that for the price we paid the hotel has to have a budget per guest and most people seemed to be enjoying what was on offer.However my main problem was that the food was never that hot.Understandable given the fact it was a buffet but I would have probably eaten more at the hotel had the food been hot.

Very pleasant beach bar and no problem getting served which again can be a problem at some All Inclusives.Very amusing watching the beach sellers calling to guests as they have an early evening drink.Do not be put off by them they are all very friendly and I never felt pressured once.

People have commented on the fact that the Hotel is run down.I agree it is looking tired but at the moment Sri Lanka is trying to recover from a civil war,S.A.R.S.,Bird Flu and the general economic downturn and I just think that they are just about treading water at the moment.It is a bit of a chicken and egg situation for them at the moment.They would like to attract a more affluent clientele but need to seriously upgrade the hotel to do that.In order to have the money to upgrade the hotel they need a more affluent clientele.

So at the moment they are attracting what they can and waiting for things to improve.

They do however do their best and the place is always spotlessly clean.

The two weeks we were there we were blessed with fantastic fellow guests who certainly helped make our holiday.Hello to Paul and Angie and Angus and Karen.

Sri Lanka is a wonderful place to go and you could do much worse than Browns Beach.I know the food did not suit us but I would have to say it is one of the best value and enjoyable holidays we have ever had.

Thank you Browns beach

Local Restaurants we tried included King Coconut,Coconut primitive and best of all Lords.

This was our 3rd visit to Sri Lanka and the least enjoyable. After a very good holiday at the Blue Water in April I decided to visit Sri Lanka again but this time chose a hotel which was closer to the airport and decided on Browns Beach paying a bit extra for a beach room. On arrival first impressions were not too bad. The rooms were exactly like the description given in the many reviews I had read before we went. I suppose in many respects it's a bit unfair to compare this hotel to the Heritance and the Blue Water because it is not in the same category. The food was a bit hit and miss with particular emphasis on it never being very hot. Breakfast (although starting at 6.30am) finished at 9.30am and it was normal for a plate of food to be placed by the coffee/tea machines a bit later in the morning although you had to be quick to be in with a chance of getting anything. Usually your A/I includes bar snacks which can be taken between certain times but these were not included although the prices were cheap. The staff were OK although we didn't find them to be particularly friendly or bothered about the level of service. The room boy left some lovely designs on the bed and kept the room fairly decent and the gardener who was there from am to pm sweeping all the leaves off the grass certainly deserved our thanks (plus tips of course). The restaurant and bar staff were a bit mixed and sometimes you were asked if you would like a drink other times just ignored. The hotel is ideally situated for most of the tours on offer and there are a choice of bars and restaurants in the vicinity. The weather whilst we were there was very mixed and there was very little shelter from the high winds and rain it's no wonder they provide you with a big umbrella. During our 1st week there was a day when it was a holiday and no drink was served until the evening and this was in a room set aside for this purpose. Our last day was a Poya Day so we ended up drinking ginger beer on our last night!! To sum it up would I return to Sri Lanka, yes, to Browns Beach no.

We stayed in The Browns Beach Hotel for 25 days all inclusive in Feb-Mar.We have stayed there before and we like it .Alright it is tired and could with a lick of paint but the rooms are clean and the beds are great also the towels and sheets are changed every day. The staff are so nice and so friendly they can't do enough for you The food is fantastic it's a wonder we didn't come home alot bigger than we went.If you don't like foreign food the chef will always make you something plain.The buffet isn't only Sri Lankan it's Indian ,Chinese ,Italian etc.The entetainment at night isn't top class acts but some of it isn't bad .We were disappointed this year that the beach bar had blown down in July but it is being rebuilt and so it should be ready in the next couple of months .We like the location of this hotel as it's not to far from the airport also we wanted to go on the train by ourselves this year and it's not to far from the station

I visited this hotel in june of this year the general cleanliness was good but the bathrooms were dirty and needed a thorough cleaning instead of just a wipe over. the staff are extremely helpful and friendly I chose all inclusive just in case there was nothing else around but there is plenty of bars and restraunts in the area the pool was clean and the beach is fantastic please go with an open mind and remember the area was devastated by the tsunami they need tourists to go to sri lanka.
hotel beach bar was great and very friendly,I met people that I would not normally meet and really enjoyed my break from the real world. I will be going back in January see you there.