Yala Leopard Lodge

The rooms in this property are lovely! Really well decorated, the beds were comfortable and we had everything we needed. The pool is nice and the staff were all really friendly and helpful.

Overall, the staff were really friendly and helpful. We experienced a couple of issues during our stay. 1) we were shown to the wrong room, despite making it clear that we were only a group of two, not four people. Despite us making this clear (as the gentleman who booked us in was confused that we were only two and was expecting four), we were shown to a four person room. After settling in for a few hours and making ourselves at home, we were told that the other group of four had arrived and we were asked to up and move very quickly. We did this, however it was pretty inconvenient. 2) the above was a general mistake / lack of communication. The next comment is more the reason why I wouldn’t recommend staying at this place. We were asked on the day of our checkout to settle the bill. We had wrongly assumed that a new swanky and modern hotel like the Yala leopard lodge would have a card machine - it didn’t. We didn’t have the cash to pay, however were presented with a formal invoice and informed we could make a bank transfer. We gladly agreed to do this. Having reviewed the bill, we realised that we had been billed incorrectly. My booking.com receipt showed $93, the general manager stated it was $103. He explained that the extra is the booking.com fee. I explained that this is the fee that the hotel need to absorb and that we were not paying this. I then got put on the phone with senior management who advised me to ‘cancel the booking’ on booking.com so as not to incur the fee. I explained that this is not possible as I had already stayed there and that is how the process works. After a little back and forth, they agreed for me to pay the agreed $93. Shortly before leaving the hotel, the general manager asked for a photograph of us (presumably because he wanted to have a record of what we look like incase we fleeced him), and then stopped us from leaving as he was panicking that the money won’t be arriving until tomorrow.

Everything is fantastic! We stayed here for two nights while going on safari in Yala with the all inclusive package. The staff at the Lodge were wonderful, and gave us everything we needed. The meals were delicious with lots of different menu options to choose from. The room was clean and comfortable with good aircon. The pool was also great. The perfect place to stay in Yala!

Nothing

Ambient location. The comfort and cleanliness of the room. The hospitality and warmth of all the staff, especially Ahmed and Thushan, the chef made very tasty meals. The attention to detail with small things like the lamps in the room, bedspreads, toiletries and its packaging was just superb.

This was the perfect location for our trip to the Yala reserve. I have recorded our impressions under separate cover as I feel this format does not allow us to do justice to the venue. I’m hoping you will be able to access the account by visiting the lodge online.

Not only is Leopard Lodge a fantastic place to stay with nothing to fault, the staff were interested in our arrangements in order to ensure we got the best value out of our visit to Yala on the safari. This interest helped us to be well informed and it was really helpful. They also were able to provide an adapter as the power sockets needed a different plug to my converter. The food was exceptional, I would rate it with fine dining, both in flavour and presentation. Lastly, the early morning wake up call at 4.30am took all the worry about oversleeping away and I really appreciated this.

I really can't fault this place. Perhaps provision of pool towels but that's quite minor, drip dry in this climate is fine.