Blackpool Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, has received the four star status and is now looking at adding a spa to their portfolio.
The hotel which was built on a former potato cultivation is owned by a consortium including a Japanese investor, Yatara Travels, former Director General BMICH, Bandula Ekanayake and three book publishers, Sarasavi, Samayawardana and Sadeepa.
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| CEO, Bandula Ekanayake |
“The investors had first wanted to build seven cottages to be used as their holiday homes, but I suggested that we build a hotel which was easy to manage and it was how Black Pool Hotel was built with an investment of Rs. 750 million in 2015.”
The hotel has 54 rooms with 7 suites build on different themes. The hotel also has a large banquet hall to accommodate 200 guests and a conference facility to cater to 100 guests with modern facilities.
“In a bid to create exclusivity, we also introduced the first heated outdoor swimming pool in Nuwara Eliya, which even at present, is a much sought after attraction.”
As the hotel adopts sustainable energy practices, the swimming pool too is powered by solar energy. “This concept also won us several global and local sustainable awards including the German Sustainable Energy Conservation Award,’ which placed us seventh out of 100 projects in the world. The hotel also won the Presidential Environment Awards in 2018 and has also achieved the ISO 14001:2015 as well.”
The Blackpool Hotel has also received the World Luxury Hotel Awards and Luxury Mountain Hotel (Asia - Continent Winner) recently.
Black Pool Hotel has a new management theme where the General Manager is designated as Leader of the House, Room Boy as Team Members and Chefs as Leaders of Culinary Expertise.
He said that while they were constructing the hotel, a kitchen helper and a mason was later recruited to the hotel staff and today one of them is a Guest Relations officer. The make shift cook has excelled in the culinary sector and won a Silver and a Gold in the national Culinary Arts completion.
While offering special rates for Sri Lankans due to lean patch the industry is going through, the hotel offers a special US$ 5 coupon to all foreign guests to be encashed at the hotel.
Ekanayake, a veteran in the industry said that Nuwara Eliya is still considered a one night destination though there are so many things that could be marketed to make it a three day destination. “This includes a site to the Haggala Park, World’s End, Golf, Horse riding, Tea fields and factories and the Water Falls as well as the Ravana trail.”
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