The Dutch Burgher Union - DBU Colombo 4

The accommodation, location and selection of food was excellent. Staff were very helpful and very friendly. Would stay here again next time in Sri Lanka.

Nothing.

Mosquito

This property affectionatelly known as the "DBU" by its' longest standing fans is part of the history of the island and thus part of the fabric of the culture. I am pleased to see it getting the TLC it deserves, long may it last. The property enjoys the benefit of a fantastic renovation and substantial extension of an historic building. Many original features have been preserved and these combined elegantly with modern facilties. As a guest your are given access to the private members (colonial bar & dining) areas providing you adhere to the club rules and evening dress code, all perfectly understandable. The club facilities are excellent, as are the staff. The rooms are modern and elegant. They are equipped with everything one needs for a very comfortable stay. Great a/c and a ceiling fan too. Downstairs dining & VOC cafe are open to the general public & guests, bar & dining upstairs open to members & guests. All of the food and drink is very reasonably priced and good quality. The DBU is in a great location; cafes, restaurants, laundry services, supermarkets are all within a few minutes walking distance, central Colombo a short tuk tuk or cab ride away. A nice little touch was that an international power adapter was provided in the room. All of the staff; housekeeping, cafe, bar, restaurant and reception were friendly, attentive and helpful. In house dining is available in the cafe & restaurant, the food is excellent.

A couple of minor gripes and one big one. The fan in room was a bit noisy even on slowest setting, suprising for a new installation. There were not enough spare plug points I had to unplug lamps to charge my phone and use my laptop, as this is a project completed in 2024, I don't understand why anyone installs single sockets when it is pretty much the same effort and pennies extra cost to install a double socket. As many devices now require USB charging points why not also install sockets that have a USB port built-in or, having omitted to do this, at the very least provide a small multi-port USB charger in the room. Wifi is painfully slow/low bandwidth to the point of being not fit-for-purpose at times. It is also only available on the first floor where the guest rooms are, so sipping on a coffee or cold beer downstairs whilst working is not possible. If one was interested in the lucrative business traveller or digital nomad type clients this single issue would be a severe detriment. As a retired nerd and former frequent business traveller a) this would have irritated me intensely b) it would have prevented me from returning or recommending the property to other business travellers c) I know this is easy to fix, I hope they do so before my next trip to SL.

Breakfast was excellent

No much

Convenient location. Clean. Excellent staff

There is a difference in height between the bathroom n bedroom floor which is quite dangerous n made me trip a few times.

The location is excellent. The room was exactly what we need: spacy, clean, all the equipment that we always need. A hot water electric kettle, coffee, tea, sugar, milk, including two bottles of water. A working refrigerator. Excellent bath room with hot water. Air conditioning. WiFi worked well. Excellent European breakfast. Very friendly staff.

No negatives to report

The bed was very comfortable

The food on offer was very limited. The customer service was very poor

Staff members were excellent and helpful in many ways.

Nothing