Ramada Colombo opens in Seeduwa

Lumbini Edirisinghe

One of the leading hotel chains in USA, Ramada Group has reconfirmed their commitment to Sri Lanka with the opening of Ramada Colombo in Seeduwa.

This is their second international franchise hotel in Sri Lanka with the first being Golden Sun Resort in Kalutara.

Ramada Renaissance that was managing the present TransAsia pulled out over a decade ago due to unrest in the country.

The management of Sirimedura Hotel (Former Situmedura) has invested Rs. 600 million to refurbish the hotel and bring it to international standards.

Today the hotel consists of 68 standard, and suite rooms with LCD TVs, high speed Internet and many other modern animates.

In addition the hotel also offers swimming pool, Gymnasium, Business centre, conference hall and two banquette halls. Conference and bouquet halls could accommodate up to 450 would be one of their high revenue generating areas.

General Manager of the Hotel Asoka Jayamanne said that the hotel is mainly a transit hotel and is also popular among the business community especially in the Free trade zone. "We have already obtained BoI statues for the project and will be re investing a further Rs. 100 million to put up 40 additional rooms," he said.

He said with the franchise of Ramada they will be able to market this hotel internationally without a cost to them. "With our sister hotel in Kalutara, the Ramada Group will also have the opportunity to market both hotels together with a city hotel and beach concept," he said. The Group signed the licence agreement in 2005 and the opening was delayed due to reconstruction of the hotel. The match making for the project was done by Nihal Samarasinghe based in Germany who also operates a franchise hotel and Shanthi Kumar of Holiday Inn who is the consultant for the hotel.