By Dimithri Wijesinghe
Photos Saman Abesiriwardana
City hotels have always been an integral part of urban tourism. However, as of recent times there has been a visible rise in the utilisation of city hotels by the local corporate sector.
Local businesspersons, primarily those arriving in the city from outstation, often require comfortable lodging and appropriate but also prudently priced accommodation to conduct their business.
However, the service is not limited to those arriving form out of Colombo; even within the city, many corporates wish to conduct business out of hospitality establishments as opposed to the traditional office setting.
This is where hotels like ME Colombo come into play; it offers plush accommodation for its guests, in addition to fine dining and its convenient location in Park Road, Colombo 5. ME Colombo prefers to be categorised as a design hotel rather than what one would traditionally call a city hotel, providing its unified theme of “my dining, my bar, my work space, etc.” Their architecture was designed by Vinod, one of the great Geoffrey Bawa students.
ME Colombo, which came into the hospitality industry in 2019, has been doing wonders in contributing to the city hotel ecosystem in Colombo since then, with their impressively reasonable pricing and variety in offerings to guests.
A four-star city hotel, ME Colombo is a seven-storey building with a restaurant on the ground floor and a rooftop infinity swimming pool. With 22 rooms – six deluxe, 12 superior, and four suites – the hotel has maximised space utilisation intelligently and provides a great venue for hosting private gatherings. The establishment is flexible to customise offerings according to your needs.
While the aforementioned amenities are most enticing, the biggest draw at ME Colombo, in our humble opinion, would have to be their fantastic, almost too-good-to-be-true lunch buffet; priced at only Rs. 1,200 per person, the hotel allows guests to use the pool for the entire span of the lunch buffet, that is form 12.30 p.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week.
The spread is most impressive. We can quite safely say this is one of the only places in Colombo City where you will get such value for money.
The rooftop swimming pool at ME, which also includes a jacuzzi, offers a spectacular view of the city below. There’s also a poolside bar offering a variety of spirits to accompany your morning, midday, or night-time dip.
We do however recommend their view of the city’s lights on a starry night, as the rooftop setup allows the panoramic view of the skyline of the city of Colombo, above and away from hustle bustle.
In addition to their fantastic lunch buffet, ME also hosts a BBQ night every Saturday, priced at Rs. 2,500 Nett for two persons – a steal! And on occasion, they offer happy hour courtesy of their rooftop bar and cocktail evenings, and seasonally, they host ladies nights and other events for their guests.
They also host other private gatherings on request, providing their in-house DJ or live musicians on retainer, and this past Valentine’s they hosted their Valentine’s Day special – a five-course dinner, the option of private dining serenaded by violins, and a discounted stay at the hotel inclusive of meals. Along with the latter, they also allowed couples to do pre-shoots, with the backdrop of sweeping views, free of charge.
On good authority, we can make a recommendation: If you are a smart traveller or busy corporate looking for a change of pace, do look this way at ME Colombo. It will be well worth your time and investment.