The Galle Fort Hotel: a truly historical cultural boutique experience

Extracted from: http://newsfirst.lk/

Galle Fort Hotel offers and contributes to a truly historical cultural boutique experience. Its 12 individually designed suites open out to the centrally located inner courtyard and the 10m swimming pools offer’s a tranquil exclusive area for guests. Galle Fort hotel rooms are luxuriously and individually furnished with king-sized beds dressed with canopied mosquito netting, crisp white linen and comfortable pillows.

The ‘Admiral Cheng Ho suite’ is a large two-storey suite that commemorates the visit of Admiral Cheng Ho to Galle in 1406.  The upper floor bedroom has a carved Chinese opium bed and work desk. A screen made from rare antique columns provides privacy from the living area below furnished with intricate pieces of oriental furniture and a day bed. The attached open-air bathroom has six-metre columns with a large elevated outdoor ‘waterfall’ shower.
The Grand Apartment is a grand suite and its 2,500 square feet occupies the entire top floor of the old wing. The room is divided into two king-sized bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a private verandah. The apartment features original 17th century artworks, antique chests and cabinets, an eight seater antique dining table and two large Dutch period four-poster beds.

The bar-cum-cafe is a great meeting point and has huge potential to attract greater market share. David the General manager plans to make it the hot spot of the area by making it more open and friendly to outsiders and passers by.
Open to non-guests the restaurant is very much in tune with the Fort prices and receives much positive feedback for its Sri Lankan style and western dishes and promotes freshly and locally bought produce.
David Elgar the General Manager has worked across multiple hospitality business sectors including hotel management, resort project management, high end luxury resorts, medi-spa health and wellness retreats, with over 30 years hands on hospitality experience. He has international experience working in ‘developing countries’ such as Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Fiji, Seychelles and now Sri Lanka.

He believes there is an art to managing people. The leadership style he adopts emphasizes and recognizes the importance of engaging with individuals in an approachable, constructive manner in order to achieve business success. As a Manager, he applies critical attention to the continued alignment of training staff, spelling out their expected roles and matching it by performance.

“I believe that while I am working and living in Sri Lanka I will not only be able to make a contribution to tourism in the country but also pass on my knowledge and skills to the staff at the Galle Fort Hotel and make them feel proud about who they are. Encouraging self-confidence and empowering people to think on their feet will improve self-worth and a hotel that promotes good energy is a hotel that will travel to great heights. This is my aim.”

The landscape of Galle Fort continually changes. Today a Museum occupies the stables; jewelry shops abound; cafes emerge from behind restored columns; interior design shops mingle with bookstores and fashion outlets and the supply of new hotels continue to grow. The number of hostels, hotels, boutiques, restaurants and shops are are too numerous to mention so we instead invite you to visit the Galle Fort and walk these beautiful old colonial cobbled streets and discover the treasures of the Fort for your self.