Elephant Watch Hut Habarana has been ranked among the top two Bread and Breakfast (B/B) Hotels category in the area beating some of the four and five star hotel categories.
According the one of the three owners of the property who wished to call himself ‘Buddy’ said that it’s not the luxury rooms, air conditioning, buffet meals, large swimming pools, but the concept, that is driving foreign and local guests to the hotels to maintain an ear round occupancy of around 90% mainly foreigners. The other two investors are Rohitha and Priyantha. Just two year on Elephant Watch Hut Habarana has been ranked the best two BB hotels in the region by Trip Advisor.
“We offer three watch huts, (room) that could accommodate 12 guests and we are 100% powered by solar and alternative energy. The bathrooms use gas cylinders to provide hot water while the lighting and even phone charges are powered by solar while there are cool boxes in rooms for chilled drinks.”
The hotel also known as Botakanda (Elephant) is created without disturbing the pathway where elephants tread. “This is why we build the rooms on the first floor but have one ground level hut for the adventurous visitor.”
“We have mini swimming pools that use natural water, a restaurant that offers continental or Asian breakfast prepared by villages that and lot of garden space which is a major draw to the hotel.
All the building material including roofing and pillars are made out of natural material and cement was hardly used.
He said their concept is based on CSR and eco-friendly themes where they wanted to get the community involved. “We can offer those meals, excursions and transport but we prefer to get them outsourced from the villagers. Our only revenue is from rooms.”
He also said that they also encourage their staff to be self-sufficient and would not employ them for more than 5 years. “We will train them and release them so that they can start a leisure sector business on their own.”
He recalled that he started as a tour guide and his first investment was a similar two roomed hotel in Weerawila Lake followed by a bungalow type tourist retreat in Minuwangoda. “Due to the high demand in Weerawila we will be adding more rooms to it this year.”
Asked about the expansion plans for Elephant Watch Hut Habarana he said they would not add more rooms as it would spoil the concept on ‘nonprofit’.
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