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Earls Court Hotels Chairman and Managing Director Earl Gunasekera
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The four-star Earls Reef Beruwala that went for refurbishment and add capacity reopened with an investment of Rs. 400 million made towards the hotel.
Earls Court Hotels Chairman and Managing Director Earl Gunasekera, stated despite the COVID-19 pandemic and drop in arrivals they saw a silver lining in tourism in the future for Sri Lanka and invested when most of the other hotels shut down and adopted cost cutting measures. “As an entrepreneur, I see future an opportunity during ‘adversity’ for a long time and this is why I re-invested in Earls Reef Beruwala.”
He said that in addition he has also made several other investments in Kandy during the last 18 months acquiring abandoned hotels and also investing overseas to expand their Earls Court Hotels’ footprint. The group today has over 400 plus star class keys in Kandy, Kurunegala, Beruwala, Katunayake and Negombo.
Earls Reef Beruwala General Manager Sujeewa De Zoysa said that the management headed by Chairman and Managing Director Gunasekera is confident of a tourism recovery and is keen to maintain the hotels in its peak form.
He said that before the Russian Ukraine conflict they had tourists from these countries in large numbers and now they are getting guests from UK, France, India and the Gulf and forward bookings for winter too are positive.
He said that they have now re-sized the hotel to 52 rooms creating large room space by including the balconies into the room and building additional balconies. “We have also added five suites with individual jacuzzi to our room inventory and a spa with two ‘Couple’ therapy rooms would be added in a few weeks.” The General Manager further said that the swimming pool too was refurbished along with the Lighthouse Bar and the garden too was re-laid.
“We also pay great emphasis on our food and service factors and our 75-member staff has been specially trained to provide the best experience for the guests. The hotel also has several excursions to nearby places like the Beruwala Lighthouse, River Safari, Aluthgama Kande Wiharaya, Brief Garden and also has special card promotions for locals.”