Sheraton Colombo Hotel

I am not going to recomed to anyone. Bad service. Not my choice.

I stayed at Sheraton Colombo for almost a month during a business trip, which gave me a good opportunity to experience the hotel across different departments.There are, however, several areas that require urgent attention.

The Front Office service was consistently slow. On multiple occasions, only one counter was open despite a queue of waiting guests, and checking out could easily take more than 20 minutes. This significantly affected the guest experience.

The most concerning issue happened when my room key suddenly stopped working. After having the key reactivated at the Front Office, it still could not unlock my room. Since it was a working day and I needed to access my room urgently, I used the emergency phone on my floor to call for assistance. I was asked to return to the Front Office. The Front Office team understood the urgency and promptly arranged for a concierge associate to accompany me with master key. However, the master key also failed to open the door.

I was then informed that the Engineering team would come. After saying this, the associate left me waiting alone outside my room, even though I had already explained that I did not have my mobile phone with me. From a service recovery perspective, I believe the associate should have stayed with me until the issue was resolved or at least ensured there was a proper handover. Instead, I waited approximately 10–15 minutes before approaching the Front Office myself, where I observed the Front Office tried to call, check and then I was told Engineering had already arrived. When the Engineering team finally attended, they attempted to open the door using their equipment but were unsuccessful. Only after further inspection was it discovered that the door lock battery had completely failed. In total, I was unable to access my room for around 40 minutes.

What concerns me most is not simply the delay, but the process itself. How could the master key also become ineffective? Was there no contingency procedure when the master key failed? For an occupied long-stay room, I would have expected a manual override process, with my consent as the registered guest, rather than having to wait while different teams tried different solutions. I also question whether door lock batteries are inspected proactively, specifically for occupied long-stay rooms to prevent exactly this type of incident.

I share these observations from the perspective of someone who has worked extensively in internal control and audit within the hospitality industry. Incidents can happen, but the preparedness, contingency planning, communication, and service recovery during this situation fell well below what I would expect from a Marriott property.

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, renowned for its genuine hospitality, and many associates at this hotel certainly demonstrated that. For example, the F&B team, especially the Lounge manger and associates were consistently warm, attentive, and professional throughout my stay. Their service truly reflected the level of hospitality I have come to expect from Marriott properties. Housekeeping also deserves recognition. After I shared some feedback during my stay, I noticed clear improvements, and I appreciate the team’s responsiveness.

I sincerely hope management will take this feedback seriously. It would be a shame if a few operational shortcomings overshadowed the excellent hospitality demonstrated by many of your associates. Thank you.