Colombo Court Blog The Hotel
Colombo Court for business travellers: what works and why
A boutique hotel in Colombo 3 with a meeting room for thirty, a library for eight, fast Wi-Fi and a garden that lets you switch off between meetings. The practical case.
Business trips to Colombo tend to run on three things: where the meetings are, how well the Wi-Fi works, and whether you can sleep. Here is how the hotel measures up on each, without the brochure language.
Where you are
Colombo 3, Kollupitiya, is the city’s commercial centre, and Alfred House Avenue is a quiet street two minutes from Galle Road. The World Trade Center in Fort is fifteen minutes away, the BMICH conference centre about ten, and most embassies, banks and head offices are between the two. Complimentary parking is on site if you have a car and driver, and we can arrange one, as well as airport transfers at any hour.
Where you work
Wi-Fi is complimentary throughout the hotel and fast enough for video calls from the room. Every room has a desk and a reading table, and the suites have a proper workspace. For meetings there is the Scarlet Room on the first floor, with a projector and screen and room for thirty theatre-style or twenty-five around a boardroom table, and the library, which seats eight at one table with no screen at all. Both can be booked for a half day or a full day, and the conference package includes them set up as you need.
Where you eat
Amber Poolside serves breakfast from seven, which suits an early meeting, and lunch from noon, which suits bringing a client back. In-room dining covers the nights when the day ran long, and Cloud Café & Bar on the roof is where to take the same client when the deal is done.
Where you switch off
This is the part a business hotel usually gets wrong. Here the rooms face a planted garden rather than the road, so the city is silent from your bed. The pool is long enough for lengths before breakfast, the gym overlooks the garden, and The Court Spa is open until nine at night for the back and shoulders that a week of meetings leaves behind.
Service
Thirty-one rooms means the front office knows who you are by the second morning. Airport pick-ups, a car for the day, a quiet room for an interview, laundry back the same day: ask once. Working from Colombo is our honest assessment of the city for longer stays, and the rooms are here.
