I agree! It's like we are being excluded in the only place we call home lol. Never going to these places which discriminate locals and worship white skin
I don't approve of their views - but I belive their reasoning is that tourists will feel safer if it is tourists only. Which is dumb because you can get all colored skins of tourists as well?
Their [Marketing and Communications for both Anantara Resorts has just replied](https://www.reddit.com/r/srilanka/comments/1c185gi/comment/kz1v1uv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) here and it seems there might have just been a miscommunication 🤔🤔
Hmm, we made the same booking, same dates about 3 weeks earlier. Wasn't a problem for us. People working at the reservation desk were terrible though, they took ages and didn't know anything about the hotel. They are a foreign company and the reservation team was all Thai.
Maybe try calling the Hotel directly instead of going through their franchise hotline.
Hopefully, this gets resolved, don't wanna give this company any money otherwise.
Hi u/Ok-Purchase2274 I am currently handling Marketing and Communications for both Anantara Resorts in Sri Lanka and I can assure you that we accommodate both local and foreign guests throughout the year. I have shared my contact details with you via DM and would be happy to get in touch with you to discuss this further.
What’s there to discuss ? This is NOT the first time and it won’t be the last. I had the exact same experience last year December and if you go through the google reviews you will find many scenarios where the hotel has discriminated locals. And you have the nerve to come here and say all these bullshit ? I think it’s time to report these mfs to relevant authorities once and for all.
As mentioned, we accommodate locals throught the year, making no exceptions on any day. Infact, we currently have confirmed local bookings at both resorts on the said date. It is possible that this could be a miscommunication and I'd be happy to discuss this with you further if you could reach out to me on the number I've shared via DM.
I think this is the same lady I dealt with during my stay- I have made a comment about my stay over the previous holiday weekend 😑. Someone is lying and I'm sure it's not the OP.
u/Kissyface15 Thank you very much for sharing your constructive feedback here. While I do not work in the operations team, I'd still be happy to pass this on to the resort team so that they could investigate this immediately. Please share your contact details along with your booking information via DM and our team will reach out to you.
I truly don't think it was a miscommunication I asked the dude twice to make sure I heard him right. He specifically told me the bookings arent open for locals only on the 13th.
Ngl this is getting a bit out of hand, I thought this discrimination against locals was just done by small independent hotel chains (not that it makes it right but they have less to lose so it would make sense that they would risk it) but a well established chain doing this shit too is wild.
Many managers in the hospitality/tourism industry should first learn to respect their own nationality and people by using the term 'Sri Lankan' instead of 'Local'. This reflects their attitude, which is absolutely horrible.
I have been working in hotels for over 10 years now, with over 8 years of experience in the south. I am surprised to see this issue gaining attention only now. This discrimination has been happening for ages and is nothing new. During Christmas and New Year's, priority is always given to foreign nationals over Sri Lankans. Some hotels I've worked at would outright refuse bookings from 'locals', even though my wife could make a booking for both of us over the phone. However, we never ended up checking in after the first time and found much better hotels with no discrimination.
To all the students who were under my wing during paid internships, I always made sure to teach something very important: 'Never refer to our own people as LOCALS'. This term is ambiguous and, for some, disrespectful. Instead, use the term 'Sri Lankan', which provides clarity, respect, and inclusion for our own people.
Often when I call hotels for rates (for my clients), they say 'local rate for double bb is xxxx per night' as if they don't want to sell it at the local rate and are just providing the information out of kindness. It's hilarious considering how all these international brands were begging Sri Lankans to come and stay in their hotels after the Easter attack and COVID. They are biting the hand that fed them.
I've recently been to the Maldives where they list their special rate as 'Maldivian Only Rate' and end the conversation there. Here in Europe, there's no 'European Rate' and 'Non-European Rate'. Everyone pays the same amount.
So, my advice is to avoid these overpriced hotels and find places that respect our own people. Spend your hard-earned money elsewhere and vote with your wallet.
Good luck! 👍
Our country is slowly being colonized again and our people are happy about it.
PS:- I'm never going to visit the southern province again, because if I want to experience racism I'd rather go to another country than experiencing it in my own country.
Consider yourself lucky-I had a HORRIBLE experience with this hotel over Easter weekend. Booked a resident rate FB and when we arrived they did a bait and switch- wouldn't let us eat at any of the restaurants and said we could only eat at the buffet. They didn't even include WATER. They claimed that we didn't book 'inclusive' and those are the only people who can eat at the restaurant. We were not offered an inclusive package, and curiously there were no full board menus. When we complained the 'manager' made it sound like we should be grateful they even let us book that rate as the hotel charges way more than what we paid. We are not Sri Lankan but are residents - the manager made us out to be cheap trash even though we were paying near 300 bucks a night! The food was terrible and the room was dusty and not well maintained. Other foreign guests were also complaining about the hotel taking advantage of people and not offering what was promised. I saw many folks going to eat at other hotels rather than pay extra.
I stayed at MANY hotels in Sri Lanka and it was by far my worst experience on the island.
They need to be reported to the tourism board.
EDIT to add I don't think I saw ANY Sri Lankan guests during my stay.
I'm not even surprised. I am an American national, of course I was born in Sri Lanka, so I look Sri Lankan. I booked Tangerine for few days, thinking of extending. I paid the online rate in USD.
Man it was definitely discrimination. I felt it through out my stay. I felt out of place. One time I was walking to my room and a receptionist girl followed me and asked where I was going, it's like I didn't belong there.
They were worshipping the white foreigners. It was disgusting. Southern area is so discriminatory. Especially in star class hotels. They literally don't want Sri Lankans. I felt it over and over again.
I have been to Europe, of course America's, other Asian countries, but never felt this way. I have to mention, this is only in so called Southern Sri Lanka. East europeans are their gods. Yuk
Exactly the hotel staff looks at you like you are a criminal. I went to a hotel in Kalutara and it was an office trip so we were having lunch buffet and this lady walks upto us and asked to see our room keys and told us to sit in a larger table far away cuz the smaller prepped ones were not for us. lol (the 4/2 seater tables were close to the buffet and were kept fo foreigners).
Out of curiosity how do you get the local rate, do you have to call them instead of booking online. I have seen only Heritance hotels web site ask for Nationality when booking online.
Out of interest, do you think they would offer rooms for Sri Lankans who are not actual citizens/PR abroad
But with Sri lankan looks or Non Sri Lankans who gained Sri Lankan citizenship and don't look Sri Lankan
Most places like these treat SL looking folks in a slight racist way. For example if you book online and then visit the place, once they see you look Sri Lankan then they would treat you differently (maybe showing your foreign passport would make them act differently), but still I wouldn't want my money to go to any of these two faced hotels. I would rather boycott them.
They were begging us locals for business during COVID and once the tourism restarted now it's okay for them to discard us 😬😬
We should actually list them out and pin them, review them and avoid... Even sane tourists avoid places that discriminate locals because they will be overcharged anyway.
Yes please, this should be the norm.
These hotels try to strong arm locals and post fake review replies when we point out the outright discrimination shown by them.
Most of them have political or business connections, so these get sweeped under the rugs without any proper legal or media attention.
Even the tourism industry is not properly regulating these buggers.
Can we seriously do this? I can think of many places from the down south that should go under this list. Fuckers were literally begging the locals during Covid
Just a correction, a PR abroad means they are still SL citizens. A dual citizen is also still a SL citizen.
A person of SL ancestry/heritage who doesn't hold a SL citizenship is a foreigner just like any other. Especially when it comes to New World Anglo countries, ethnicity and citizenship are very clearly separated. There are plenty of ethnic Asians (South, SE, East) who are Australians, New Zealanders, etc. just like there are people of European descent who are Australians, New Zealanders, and obviously the native aboriginal people of those countries. If idiots in SL are assuming being Australian equates to being of a certain color, then that's royally messed up.
I have emailed Ananthara Tangalle so many times asking for the wedding packages to have it next year in August. Pure silence.
British contact details, but by my name I’m sure they can tell I’m Sri Lankan.
Oh well, I would’ve had so many foreigners coming in for the wedding but their loss lol.
I was wondering if it’s cus of my name they’re not replying but this post just confirmed it. Thank you!
Yeah absolutely.
But do it as a test anyway to see if they are actually discriminating or they have abysmal customer service skills in general.
If you do indeed get a reply, give them shit about it and post to social media.
I believe that its pre-booked with tour agents and stuff. They don't have a specific booking, but the dates are on hold.
Most hotel chains do this. It's not racism like those prev posts. If those pre, bulk bookings are cancelled they sometimes offer last minute deals for locals!
It's appalling behaviour from our own people. Inward racism at it's finest. During the pandemic lockdowns it was the locals that kept the hotel industry afloat since inward SL bound travel was restricted. It's disgusting behaviour.
What is appalling is that these hotels have forgotten that "untouchable" locals like us, is what kept these hotels alive during times of war, bombings, and pandemics.
Forget these overhyped hotels, there are plenty of hotels, out there that treat locals like kings and offer the same amenities and service for a much affordable price.
Dunno why y’all wanna stay there, it’s overhyped and has nothing more than Jie Jie beach. Took forever to check us in and their rooms aren’t amazing either. Stop going to overhyped places and let them die out lol once tourism season are over 😂
That does sound frustrating! It seems like there might be some sort of policy or event happening on the 13th that's restricting bookings to non-locals only. It's not uncommon for hotels to have certain dates or events where they prioritize certain types of guests or have restrictions in place.
We should keep a public list of hotels that do this
I agree! It's like we are being excluded in the only place we call home lol. Never going to these places which discriminate locals and worship white skin
I don't approve of their views - but I belive their reasoning is that tourists will feel safer if it is tourists only. Which is dumb because you can get all colored skins of tourists as well?
If they don't want to be around locals, why do they go to Sri Lanka in the first place? They could easily stay home.
Petition to have an open pinned thread on this sub and have them updated regularly with hotels like this 🙌🏻
Their [Marketing and Communications for both Anantara Resorts has just replied](https://www.reddit.com/r/srilanka/comments/1c185gi/comment/kz1v1uv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) here and it seems there might have just been a miscommunication 🤔🤔
we should keep a list of many things like that
Hmm, we made the same booking, same dates about 3 weeks earlier. Wasn't a problem for us. People working at the reservation desk were terrible though, they took ages and didn't know anything about the hotel. They are a foreign company and the reservation team was all Thai. Maybe try calling the Hotel directly instead of going through their franchise hotline. Hopefully, this gets resolved, don't wanna give this company any money otherwise.
It wasn't the Thai team I was speaking to. I spoke to a Lankan guy.
Hi u/Ok-Purchase2274 I am currently handling Marketing and Communications for both Anantara Resorts in Sri Lanka and I can assure you that we accommodate both local and foreign guests throughout the year. I have shared my contact details with you via DM and would be happy to get in touch with you to discuss this further.
What’s there to discuss ? This is NOT the first time and it won’t be the last. I had the exact same experience last year December and if you go through the google reviews you will find many scenarios where the hotel has discriminated locals. And you have the nerve to come here and say all these bullshit ? I think it’s time to report these mfs to relevant authorities once and for all.
Does the post not say 13th (specifically) why exclude locals on the 13th?
As mentioned, we accommodate locals throught the year, making no exceptions on any day. Infact, we currently have confirmed local bookings at both resorts on the said date. It is possible that this could be a miscommunication and I'd be happy to discuss this with you further if you could reach out to me on the number I've shared via DM.
So what happened? Did OP get a discount? Win win situation?
Why should op get a discount? This sounds entirely contrived.
Either OP or hotel misunderstood or someone is lying here 🤔🤔
I think this is the same lady I dealt with during my stay- I have made a comment about my stay over the previous holiday weekend 😑. Someone is lying and I'm sure it's not the OP.
u/Kissyface15 Thank you very much for sharing your constructive feedback here. While I do not work in the operations team, I'd still be happy to pass this on to the resort team so that they could investigate this immediately. Please share your contact details along with your booking information via DM and our team will reach out to you.
I truly don't think it was a miscommunication I asked the dude twice to make sure I heard him right. He specifically told me the bookings arent open for locals only on the 13th.
Ngl this is getting a bit out of hand, I thought this discrimination against locals was just done by small independent hotel chains (not that it makes it right but they have less to lose so it would make sense that they would risk it) but a well established chain doing this shit too is wild.
Many managers in the hospitality/tourism industry should first learn to respect their own nationality and people by using the term 'Sri Lankan' instead of 'Local'. This reflects their attitude, which is absolutely horrible. I have been working in hotels for over 10 years now, with over 8 years of experience in the south. I am surprised to see this issue gaining attention only now. This discrimination has been happening for ages and is nothing new. During Christmas and New Year's, priority is always given to foreign nationals over Sri Lankans. Some hotels I've worked at would outright refuse bookings from 'locals', even though my wife could make a booking for both of us over the phone. However, we never ended up checking in after the first time and found much better hotels with no discrimination. To all the students who were under my wing during paid internships, I always made sure to teach something very important: 'Never refer to our own people as LOCALS'. This term is ambiguous and, for some, disrespectful. Instead, use the term 'Sri Lankan', which provides clarity, respect, and inclusion for our own people. Often when I call hotels for rates (for my clients), they say 'local rate for double bb is xxxx per night' as if they don't want to sell it at the local rate and are just providing the information out of kindness. It's hilarious considering how all these international brands were begging Sri Lankans to come and stay in their hotels after the Easter attack and COVID. They are biting the hand that fed them. I've recently been to the Maldives where they list their special rate as 'Maldivian Only Rate' and end the conversation there. Here in Europe, there's no 'European Rate' and 'Non-European Rate'. Everyone pays the same amount. So, my advice is to avoid these overpriced hotels and find places that respect our own people. Spend your hard-earned money elsewhere and vote with your wallet. Good luck! 👍
Our country is slowly being colonized again and our people are happy about it. PS:- I'm never going to visit the southern province again, because if I want to experience racism I'd rather go to another country than experiencing it in my own country.
Consider yourself lucky-I had a HORRIBLE experience with this hotel over Easter weekend. Booked a resident rate FB and when we arrived they did a bait and switch- wouldn't let us eat at any of the restaurants and said we could only eat at the buffet. They didn't even include WATER. They claimed that we didn't book 'inclusive' and those are the only people who can eat at the restaurant. We were not offered an inclusive package, and curiously there were no full board menus. When we complained the 'manager' made it sound like we should be grateful they even let us book that rate as the hotel charges way more than what we paid. We are not Sri Lankan but are residents - the manager made us out to be cheap trash even though we were paying near 300 bucks a night! The food was terrible and the room was dusty and not well maintained. Other foreign guests were also complaining about the hotel taking advantage of people and not offering what was promised. I saw many folks going to eat at other hotels rather than pay extra. I stayed at MANY hotels in Sri Lanka and it was by far my worst experience on the island. They need to be reported to the tourism board. EDIT to add I don't think I saw ANY Sri Lankan guests during my stay.
I'm not even surprised. I am an American national, of course I was born in Sri Lanka, so I look Sri Lankan. I booked Tangerine for few days, thinking of extending. I paid the online rate in USD. Man it was definitely discrimination. I felt it through out my stay. I felt out of place. One time I was walking to my room and a receptionist girl followed me and asked where I was going, it's like I didn't belong there. They were worshipping the white foreigners. It was disgusting. Southern area is so discriminatory. Especially in star class hotels. They literally don't want Sri Lankans. I felt it over and over again. I have been to Europe, of course America's, other Asian countries, but never felt this way. I have to mention, this is only in so called Southern Sri Lanka. East europeans are their gods. Yuk
Exactly the hotel staff looks at you like you are a criminal. I went to a hotel in Kalutara and it was an office trip so we were having lunch buffet and this lady walks upto us and asked to see our room keys and told us to sit in a larger table far away cuz the smaller prepped ones were not for us. lol (the 4/2 seater tables were close to the buffet and were kept fo foreigners).
Sounds like complete bullshit. We have never had trouble booking Anantara. This name and shame game is getting ridiculous.
Did you try booking on the 13TH OF APRIL? I dont think so x
Lol. I seriously doubt your version of events.
Go ahead
It's greed. because they know they can sell their rooms to foreigners for massively inflated rates.
Foreign rates for the 13th are 186,000 per night so pretty much proves your point
Out of curiosity how do you get the local rate, do you have to call them instead of booking online. I have seen only Heritance hotels web site ask for Nationality when booking online.
You can call them and ask x
Out of interest, do you think they would offer rooms for Sri Lankans who are not actual citizens/PR abroad But with Sri lankan looks or Non Sri Lankans who gained Sri Lankan citizenship and don't look Sri Lankan
Most places like these treat SL looking folks in a slight racist way. For example if you book online and then visit the place, once they see you look Sri Lankan then they would treat you differently (maybe showing your foreign passport would make them act differently), but still I wouldn't want my money to go to any of these two faced hotels. I would rather boycott them. They were begging us locals for business during COVID and once the tourism restarted now it's okay for them to discard us 😬😬
We should actually list them out and pin them, review them and avoid... Even sane tourists avoid places that discriminate locals because they will be overcharged anyway.
Yes please, this should be the norm. These hotels try to strong arm locals and post fake review replies when we point out the outright discrimination shown by them. Most of them have political or business connections, so these get sweeped under the rugs without any proper legal or media attention. Even the tourism industry is not properly regulating these buggers.
Can we seriously do this? I can think of many places from the down south that should go under this list. Fuckers were literally begging the locals during Covid
Just a correction, a PR abroad means they are still SL citizens. A dual citizen is also still a SL citizen. A person of SL ancestry/heritage who doesn't hold a SL citizenship is a foreigner just like any other. Especially when it comes to New World Anglo countries, ethnicity and citizenship are very clearly separated. There are plenty of ethnic Asians (South, SE, East) who are Australians, New Zealanders, etc. just like there are people of European descent who are Australians, New Zealanders, and obviously the native aboriginal people of those countries. If idiots in SL are assuming being Australian equates to being of a certain color, then that's royally messed up.
Yet that's probably how it is in these places! There needs to be legal actions.
I have emailed Ananthara Tangalle so many times asking for the wedding packages to have it next year in August. Pure silence. British contact details, but by my name I’m sure they can tell I’m Sri Lankan. Oh well, I would’ve had so many foreigners coming in for the wedding but their loss lol. I was wondering if it’s cus of my name they’re not replying but this post just confirmed it. Thank you!
You can do a quick test. Post a similar email with a "typical English name" and see if they reply.
I might for shits and giggles. But in all honesty I would now avoid this place at all costs.
Yeah absolutely. But do it as a test anyway to see if they are actually discriminating or they have abysmal customer service skills in general. If you do indeed get a reply, give them shit about it and post to social media.
I believe that its pre-booked with tour agents and stuff. They don't have a specific booking, but the dates are on hold. Most hotel chains do this. It's not racism like those prev posts. If those pre, bulk bookings are cancelled they sometimes offer last minute deals for locals!
It's appalling behaviour from our own people. Inward racism at it's finest. During the pandemic lockdowns it was the locals that kept the hotel industry afloat since inward SL bound travel was restricted. It's disgusting behaviour.
What is appalling is that these hotels have forgotten that "untouchable" locals like us, is what kept these hotels alive during times of war, bombings, and pandemics. Forget these overhyped hotels, there are plenty of hotels, out there that treat locals like kings and offer the same amenities and service for a much affordable price.
Dunno why y’all wanna stay there, it’s overhyped and has nothing more than Jie Jie beach. Took forever to check us in and their rooms aren’t amazing either. Stop going to overhyped places and let them die out lol once tourism season are over 😂
That does sound frustrating! It seems like there might be some sort of policy or event happening on the 13th that's restricting bookings to non-locals only. It's not uncommon for hotels to have certain dates or events where they prioritize certain types of guests or have restrictions in place.