The recent brand ratings evaluated by Brand Finance Limited (Pvt) Ltd and published in the LMD issue of April 2008, rates all three Serendib Hotels (Hotel Serendib, Club Hotel Dolphin and Hotel Sigiriya) among the top 100 Brands in Sri Lanka.

In the top 100, Hotel Serendib is ranked at the 68th position, while Club Hotel Dolphin is ranked at 71st and Hotel Sigiriya at the 88th position.   In the hotel sector, Serendib Hotel is ranked 3, preceded by Taj Hotels and Trans Asia (ranked No. 1 & 2 respectively).

According to this study, the leading brands in Sri Lanka are Dialog,  Cargills Food City and Sri Lanka Telecom at 1 , 2 and 3 positions respectively. The study has been done on listed companies, where annual reports and other information for the particular brand is available.

The hospitality industry is the most widely represented in the table with 20 brands. In the brand rating category, Club Hotel Dolphin earns BB, the highest rating by a hotel, while Hotel Sigiriya is rated BB– and Serendib Hotel is rated B- . The top ratings are AA+ for Singer, AA for Cargils Food City and AA for Dialog.

The justifiably proud CEO Srilal Miththapala said “I am absolutely delighted to see these results. Over the past five years, the Serendib Leisure team has worked hard to build character and brand value in our hotel properties. After an in depth strategic analysis, we decided not to pursue  with an umbrella brand for our hotels, and decided instead, to individually build the brand characteristic of each individual hotel separately. This has paid rich dividends and for Serenidb Hotel to come at No. 3 is quite a considerable achievement”.

Serendib Leisure manages the three hotels,  Serendib Hotel – Bentota, Club Hotel Dolphin – Waikkal and Hotel Sigiriya – Sigiriya.

Club Hotel Dolphin is the great fun and beach hotel, full of activity providing top class animation, fun and games. It also caters to a deserving corporate clientele with its well equiped conference and banquet facilities.  On the other hand, Serendib Hotel is positioned as an elegant beach side resort, built in traditional architecture  with a Dutch flavour, designed by the world renowned, Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. The beach at Serendib Hotel is arguably the best in the region.  Hotel Sigiriya situated at the foot of the world famous Sigiriya rock, is today one of Sri Lanka’s leading environment friendly resort hotels, providing guests with a rich experience to reconnect with nature and culture and has been in the forefront environment energy conservation.

“Even though our resources were limited, the very focused effort in building our brands has been very successful, and today Hotel Sigiriya is fast becoming the benchmark and showcase as a typical environment friendly hotel” said Thishani Jayatunge, Marketing Manager.

All the Serendib Hotels are listed on the Sri Lanka Stock Exchange, and Club Hotel Dolphin (Stafford Hotels Ltd) recently paid out a 5% dividend for the FY 2007/08, possibly the only hotel company to do so this year.

The Responsible Tourism Awards are the most competitive and prestigious awards of their kind in the world and are a collaboration between online travel directory responsibletravel.com, sponsor Virgin holidays and UK media partners The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine and BBC World News, and World Travel Market, who host the Awards ceremony. This year 1900 entries were received across 13 categories for inspiring tourism ventures all over the world that are making a real difference to local communities and the environment. Winners were announced on 12 Nov 2008 during WTM World Responsible Tourism Day at World Travel Market, London.

Hotel Sigiriya is proud to announce that it received a Highly Commended  Status in

Best large hotel / accommodation (more than 50 rooms) competing with many large popular hotels from around the world. Dr. Harold Goodwin, Professor of Responsible Tourism Management at Leeds Metropolitan University and Chair of the Judges said” ” Hotel Sigiriya has retro-fitted the hotel to increase its energy efficiency and sustainability. It measures its performance as a management tool for continuous improvement and shares that info with others to encourage them to reduce their own environmental impacts”.

Mr Abbas Esufally, Chairman of Serendib Leisure and Srilal Miththapala Director /CEO of Serendib leisure were present at  WTM to accept the plaque of recognition. In May 2008, Hotel Sigiriya won the Green Award from International Restaurant and Hotel Awards California USA, making it the first Sri Lankan Hotel  to have won a Green Award in the USA.

Three hotels were short listed in this category  Kingfisher bay Australia, Frangipani Langkawi Resort and spa, Malaysia and Hotel Sigiriya. Kingfisher Bay Resort, Fraser Island, Australia  won the award for demonstrating that a large resort accommodating 60,000 guests per year and with 100,000 day visitors can be managed to have a low environmental impact; and for educating its guests about conservation, engaging positively with the indigenous people enabling them to share their culture and skilling them for employment. Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa, Malaysia also received a highly commended status.

Another Sri lankan project, the turtle conservation project from Rekawa was also highly commended in the category of “conservation of endangered species or protected area”.

Awards were given out to 12 categories and New Zealand was declared the overall winner for proving that it is possible to develop a national strategy which uses tourism to help make better places to live and to visit.  New Zealand has implemented many of the principles of the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations and demonstrated what national government can achieve – working with the private sector, local communities and local government – by harnessing tourism to benefit their people and their environment.

Hotel Sigiriya managed by Serendib Leisure Management a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings Plc, won two awards at the recently concluded Bartenders ABSOLUT Challenge 2009 regional competition organized for the very first time by Periceyl (Pvt) Ltd. The competition was held on the 25th of November 2009 for the members of the Cultural Triangle Hoteliers Association.

The programme held for employees working in the hotel trade, especially in the hospitality industry or the serving stewards of tourist hotels in Sri Lanka, was worked off in two categories – the Classic and Flaring. Mr. Ajith Wickramasinghe was chosen as the 1st Runner-Up in the Classic category while Mr. H.M.G.Jayantha Kumara was selected as the 2nd Runner-Up in the Flaring category. H.M.G.Jayantha Kumara joined the Serendib Group in 2005 from the Village of Thalkote (Sigiriya) and Mr.Ajith Wickramasinghe who came aboard in 2005 hails from Matale. They have been trained by Hotel Sigiriya’s Bar Supervisor Kingsley, a previous winner, and guided by Mr.Sujeewa Basnayake & Chef Zoysa.

Periceyl (Pvt) Ltd is a subsidiary of Group Pernod Ricard which holds similar competitions in various geographical locations around the globe. The main intention in conducting this competition was to encourage and motivate the hotel employees.  From a total of 6 regional competitions, three have been successfully concluded and the others are scheduled for 2010.

The competition was held for the ‘Negombo Hoteliers Association’ and the ‘Kandy Hoteliers Association’.

Nestled at the foot of the rock fortress, Hotel Sigiriya is a haven for those who want to retreat from the pressures of 21st century living, and would rather spend their days basking in the serenity of nature.

Located from a four and half hour drive from the city of Colombo, Hotel Sigiriya has 34 standard rooms complete with air-conditioning, telephone, piped music, hair dryer and tea/coffee making facilities. The 45 superior rooms are additionally equipped with a flat screen TV with DVD, mini bar and an in-room safe.  The hotel has an open-air lounge bar, where guests are afforded magnificent views of the rock fortress whilst enjoying a traditional Sri Lankan arrack cocktail. The hotel also has one restaurant serving international buffets, table d’hote and a la carte and room service is available for those who want to dine from the comfort of their rooms as well.

Hotel Sigiriya is a member of the Serendib Leisure Group, a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings Plc.

The Award Winning Bartenders with Their Trophies
In the picture from left: Mr. Dadisan Zoysa – Executive Chef, Mr. S. Anandaraj – Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Ajith Wickramasinghe – Bartender , Mr. Jayantha Gajanayake – Bartender , Mr. Laksitha Wegodapola – Manager and Mr. Sujeeva Basnayake – Manager Operations Coordination

Serendib Leisure Management came away, from the recently concluded Culinary Art 2010, triumphant, with Club Hotel Dolphin, ranking sixth, in the top 10 list. The only non-five star property to feature in the top ten, the hotel ranked ahead of several 5 star city hotels with its participants winning accolades in areas such as Live Cooking, Butter, Vegetable and Ice Carvings, and Set Dinner.

Amongst Dolphin’s 30 medal haul, were 4 gold medals, 9 silver and 17 bronze. The group’s other properties, Sigiriya and Serendib, also won 5 medals each in the silver and bronze categories, bringing the group’s total medal count to forty.

In preparation for the competition the group’s management had procured the assistance of Motivational Speaker, CEO of Sri Lankan Catering and incumbent President of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association, Sarath Fernando, whose motivational talks encouraged the group’s chefs and aided them in honing their skills for the competition.

The Culinary Art competition is a bi-annual event organised by the Chef’s Guild of Lanka and this year’s competitors were judged by an internationally recognised panel of judges, both from Sri Lanka and overseas, who weighed the contestants on the WACS international standards. The competition which ran from the 5th to 8th February focussed on new areas this year and participants were expected to display knowledge of the science of food, as well as an understanding of diet and nutrition, in addition to showcasing their creative presentation skills.

Serendib Leisure group of hotels have already gained wide-spread acclaim for their eco-friendly tourism practices, with Hotel Sigiriya, which is situated at the base of the UNESCO World Heritage site, Sigiriya Rock, winning the majority of the group’s “Green” awards. Serendib’s beach front properties, Club Hotel Dolphin, in Waikkal and the Serendib Hotel, located on Bentota’s golden beach make ideal backdrops for rest, relaxation and even exploring the surroundings that are rich in a colourful history that goes back hundreds of years. All three properties are aesthetically pleasing with in-room amenities and facilities that are above and beyond those provided by other similar class hotels and offer a diverse assortment of activities for the whole family.

Seated from Left:

Mr. Jude Fernando – Senior Sous Chef, Mr. K.J. Trevor Fernando – Executive Chef, Mr. Ronald W. Perera – Director – HR Management & Admin, Mr. D. Chamin Wickremasinghe – GM – Club Hotel Dolphin, Mr. Abbas N. Esufally – Chairman, Mr. S. Anandaraj – Chief Operating Officer, Mr. T. Thivakaran – Director – Finance, Mr. Jude Silva – Assistant Manager, Mr. Chandra N Wickramathanthri – F&B Manager, Mr. Anton Rosman Perera – Sous Chef

Club Hotel Dolphin managed by Serendib Leisure Hotels a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings Plc, became runners up in the hospitality sector at the recently held National Business Excellence Awards 2008. The hotel also won the Gold Award for customer satisfaction from UK’s largest tour operator First Choice for the 4th consecutive year in August 2008.

Picture: Chamin Wickremasinghe, Srilal Miththapala Director/CEO – Serendib Leisure, Ronnie Perera, T Thivakaran, Gayani Perera and Thishani Jayatunge

Club Hotel Dolphin, managed by Serendib Leisure Management, a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings Plc, brought honor to Sri Lanka by winning the ITS Red Star Award under the ITS program managed by the REWE Group, Germany, recently. This is the first time a Sri Lankan hotel had been nominated for this prestigious award.

The ITS brand has the largest hotel selection amongst the Tour Operators of the travel and tourism division of REWE Group. The focus of the ITS programme is on three- to four-star hotels. The ITS Red Star Award is awarded to the best and most popular 60 hotels worldwide. The selection for the award mainly focuses on three key points – referrals from their guests, consistent high standards of service delivery and high guest satisfaction levels. By winning this award, Club Hotel Dolphin has been recognized as the very best in the country.

Club Hotel Dolphin is the place where fun takes precedence. This club-concept hotel is located in the seaside hamlet of Waikkal and is just a half hour’s drive from the International Airport and 90 minutes north of Colombo. This sprawling hotel boasts of a total of 150 rooms – 98 deluxe main building rooms that are equipped with AC, cable TV, DVD player, Tea/Coffee making facilities, hair dryer, piped music and telephone, 50 individual cottages that are additionally equipped with a mini bar and 2 suites.

Club Hotel Dolphin has 2 pools – one being the largest pool in Sri Lanka. This is the hub of all the action and animation at the hotel. Guests are offered a wide choice of activities ranging from tennis, squash, volleyball and badminton to darts, archery, croquette and mini golf. The animation team keeps guests occupied with activities such as water aerobics, a club dance, bingo nights, karaoke evenings, fire limbos and animation shows. For those who prefer something less pulsating, a relaxing spa treatment or a lazy afternoon by the ‘quiet pool’ is available. Guests could also take an interesting tour of the Negombo churches that were built during the colonial period, or opt to visit Colombo on a shopping spree.

REWE Group is a multi-national company. The travel arm – REWE Touristik – is one of the largest German Tour Operators and is an important partner of the Serendib Leisure Group.

Hotel Sigiriya won First Place in the category of Green Award for value hotels in the International Restaurant and Hotel Award (IRHA) USA.  This is the first time a Sri Lankan Hotel has won a Green Award in the USA.

This is indeed a very prestigious achievement for Serendib Leisure Hotels, given the fact that many hotels from all over the world competed for  this award under  multiple categories, including Best Design Hotel, Best Family Friendly Hotel, Best New Hotel etc.

Hotel Sigiriya has been in the forefront of energy and environment conservation activities for several years now, and it is only fitting that the hard work, motivation and perseverance has now paid off with this recognition the hotel has received. The hotel has implemented several energy conservation and renewable energy projects, such as Solar Water Heaters, Biological Sewage Treatment Plan, Composting of garbage, replacing of diesel fired boiler with a Bio mass Gasifire etc.  The success factors of all these initiatives had been the dedication and perseverance of the staff, proper documentation and record keeping, which has enabled the hotel to carefully track the results over the years.  It is estimated that due to these energy conversation initiatives, the hotel is saving approximately 10% on expenses annually. Hotel Sigiriya is also the first hotel in Sri Lanka to have calculated its carbon foot print which also has been successfully reduced from 240. 2 MT in 2006/07 to 166.8 MT in 2007/08.

Srilal Miththapala, CEO Serendib Leisure admitted that most of these initiatives were begun primary to reduce energy costs, but as the projects developed, we found that there were greater benefits accruing not only directly but indirectly. This has become a useful marketing tool now, where discerning travelers are beginning to choose hotels, which are more environmentally conscious. He went on to say, that he was happy of the very dedicated and motivated hotel operations team, who genuinely believed in what they did and relentlessly pursued with their initiatives, in spite of many obstacles, therefore, this award is a truly  fitting reward.

Hotel Sigiriya was awarded the Silver Award by the Promotion of Eco-efficient Productivity Project (PEP) by the Chamber Of Commerce. This initiative on developments in green technology was carried out by Chamber of Commerce with the financial assistance from the Royal Netherlands Embassy. The project was designed to provide affordable financial support and grants to all companies in private sector who pursued good environmental and energy conservation practices. While over 100 applications from different sectors in industry were received, only 51 qualified for the support of the project, which included  only 5 hotels.

Under this project Hotel Sigiriya implemented a biomass based energy system based on gasification of gliricidia replacing the fossil fuel boiler for which it received the award.

The project resulted in substantial savings in energy costs for the hotel, while also supporting the livelihood of the community through gliricidia planting and purchasing.

The evaluation criteria included successful completion, follow up work, proper recording and evaluating of savings, dissemination of knowledge to others, and overall commitment of the organization towards eco friendly activities. The evaluation was done by a top scientific panel who has personally visited each and every project site.

Srilal Miththapala, CEO of Serendib Leisure highlights this win as one of the more important achievements of Hotel Sigiriya, firstly as the hotel did not apply for the award but only  participated in the  project and obtained a loan to finance it. Secondly as the evaluation has been done by a totally  independent scientific panel.

Hotel Sigiriya continues lead as a role model in the hotel sector in environmental best practices by demonstrating extraordinary performance related to sustainable environmental, practices of Energy Conservation, Water conservation, Wastewater management, Solid waste management & Minimizing pollution.  Its conservation efforts so far provides over USD 40,000 saving on costs per annum. Its efforts have been recognized both locally and internationally with the hotel winning some prestigious awards including the Green Award from IRHA, USA. Hotel Sigiriya has also been case study in global forums such PATA CEOs challenge and World Tourism Investment.

Hotel Sigiriya felicitates staff for Greening achievements

Hotel Sigiriya  recently felicitated its staff  in recognition of their efforts towards making  the hotel to become one of Sri Lankas  most well known and leading environment friendly hotels.

Hotel Sigiriya’s efforts towards environmental management and sustainability have been recognized both locally and internationally with the hotel winning many awards, including the prestigious Green Award in 2008, from the  International Restaurant and Hotel Awards in California USA making it the only hotel to have won a Green award in the USA. The hotel also received a “Highly Commended” status  at the Responsible Tourism Awards 2008, held at the World Travel Mart in UK. In January this year Hotel Sigiriya became the  Silver winner for Asia in the Green Apple Awards for environment best practices awarded from the Green Organization in UK. These awards were presented to the well deserving staff at a ceremony held recently at Hotel Sigiriya.

The Chief Guest of the event was Professor Sarath Kotagama, the well known environmentalist who has also been  guiding the hotel on environmental conservation  from the inception. He  presented the IRHA green award to the Manager of the Hotel Sigiriya while the other awards were received by some long standing staff members who worked on the greening project. Present at the awards ceremony were also Mr Abbas Esufaly, Group Director Hemas Holdings Plc and  Chairman of Serendib Leisure, Mr E J De Soysa Chairman of Hotel Sigiriya and architect Suchith Mohotti whos love for nature has been beautifully blended in designing the hotel including totally new open plan restaurant. Presentation of books were also made by Srilal Miththapala, Director / CEO of Serendib Leisure to 2 schools from the area  on the commencement of a new CSR project to create awareness and training on environmental best practices for school children.

Addressing the gathering,  Prof. Sarath Kotagama highlighted to all how the Greening story of Hotel Sigiriya commenced way back in 1996 with the hotel becoming the first bird friendly hotel in Sri Lanka. Mr Abbas Esufally, in his address to the gathering mensioned that these achievements were possible due the commitment of the Hotels staff.

Srilal Miththapala who has been driving force behind the Greening Project highlighted how the project evolved and what great heights it has reached today. It has been a case study in many global forums in the recent past including the World Tourism Investment Forum held in Bussan, Korea.

He said” since the late 1990’s, Sigiriya Hotel has taken many initiatives to minimise environmental damage. The primary objective for most of these initiatives was to reduce energy costs, but as the projects developed, the management found that greater benefits were resulting from their efforts, directly and indirectly.  Several measures have been adopted to mitigate and adapt to climate change such as energy conservation, water conservation, solid and waste water management etc.

He further said that the “greening project” was launched under the guidance of a reputed environmental management consultant. The goal of the project is to promote nature-friendly and sustainable tourism by integrating it into the daily management of the hotel.  In implementing these measures, Hotel Sigiriya refrains from pursuing an expensive high-tech strategy. Most of what has been implemented are time-tested, basic, common sense ideas.  They have been implemented with consistent commitment and are evaluated analytically, supported by a data-gathering system and careful monitoring, which is carried out by the hotel as well as through external audits. The several small measures result in significant savings in resources and money. In addition to the financial benefits, the hotels environmental management system as “a useful marketing tool now that discerning travellers are beginning to choose hotels which are more environmentally-conscious”. The several awards Hotel Sigiriya has won have resulted in a higher brand value and more publicity. The employment opportunities at the hotel  directly benefit the local community.

Hotel Sigiriya is managed by Serendib Leisure who also manages Club Hotel Dophin in Waikkal and Hotel Serendib Bentota.

Photograph: 1

Laksitha Wegodapola – Manager Hote Sigiriya receiving the IRHA Green Award from . Professor Sarath Kotagama  well known environmentalist.

Photograph 2

Kinsley Bandara Staff member Green Team Hotel Sigiriya receiving the Green Apple ward from Mr Abbas Esufally Group Director Hemas Holdings Plc and Chairman of  Serendib Leisure.

Photograph 3

From Left
Srilal Miththapala – CEO Serendib Leisure, Suchith Mohotti -Architect, Abbas Esufally Group Director Hemas Holdings Plc & Chairman Serendib Leisure, E J De Soysa Chairman Hotel Sigiriya and Prof. Sarath Kotagama