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The Beach brings five stars to Negombo
By Esther Williams
The re-launch of one of the country's oldest hotels, the Royal Oceanic as The Beach, gives the coastal town of Negombo its first five-star hotel.On one of the finest beaches in the country, with rooms opening up into private terraces overlooking the Indian Ocean, the boutique hotel is drawing a large number of tourists to the region.

A prototype of minimalistic architecture, The Beach embodies the latest concept in structural design. Its understated elegance combining the colours of the beach and warm brown tones results in an uncomplicated contemporary design, rustic yet luxurious- what is referred to as intelligent luxury. And a whopping Rs. 175 million has gone into the repositioning of the hotel.

According to Jetwing Hotels Ltd's Director - Sales and Marketing, Lalin De Mel, the selling point of the hotel would be its nearness to the airport as international tourists will arrive at their destination no longer than 15 minutes after they leave the airport. "By repositioning our hotel to five-star status we have enhanced the standard of Negombo," he adds.

Maintaining the late Geoffrey Bawa's concept of light and space, The Beach now comprises 75 deluxe rooms. Vinod Jayasinghe and Annika Fernando deserve accolades for the décor, with attention being paid to the smallest detail. The simple yet elegant furniture was custom-made in Indonesia.

At present only one wing of the hotel is open to guests as the others are still being refurbished. The theme suites that promise period settings include the Dutch Suite and the Roman Suite, aptly named since Negombo is also known as Little Rome.

Managed by an experienced Swede, the beautiful in-house Spa offers aroma therapy massages where couples should they so desire can avail themselves of the Rama and Sita room. The tranquil area lit with aroma candles is skilfully decorated, with towels placed in conch sells and guests having a view of little fish during therapy.

One of the first employees of Jetwing Hotels, Ruan Samarasinghe gave up his dream of playing cricket seeing no money in it and joined the Blue Oceanic at age 20.

Having watched the gradual growth of the group, Ruan who has since risen to the position of Executive Director of the company told The Sunday Times of the old days, recounting their initial struggles.

The communal disturbances he says took a heavy toll on their operations. "However, although the company has changed a lot, the same culture is practised," he remarks.

The success he attributes to the honesty and fair practices of the founder Chairman. "The tour operators trusted him and felt he was a person they could do business with. Negombo was not a sought after place - but he has made it a popular destination."

The major thrust over the years according to him has been on quality, service and training. "Foreigners come here looking for a certain quality and we are able to provide that."

Founder of Jetwing Hotels Herbert Cooray in the 1970s won a tender as a building contractor to construct a hotel in the sleepy fishing village of Negombo. Commissioned by J.E.B Milhuisen the hotel was built for leading Swedish tour operator, Vingressor to cater exclusively to charter tourists from Europe.

Vingressor and the young Herbert soon became friends neither however realising that it would lead to a long-term association. "Why don't you start your own hotel? We would be comfortable doing business with someone we trust," suggested one of the Swedish representatives one evening in a contemplative mood, over a whiskey.

Herbert bought the land, which now houses the Blue Oceanic Hotel and operated the hotel with six rooms in 1973. In 1978, he bought the Seashells Hotel, the construction of which he had overseen and the Royal Oceanic in 1981. One of the flagships of Jetwing Hotels, the Royal Oceanic adjoining the Blue Oceanic Hotel was designed by celebrated Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa.

Little did Herbert know that two decades later his efforts would result in the largest chain of hotels within Sri Lanka, dominating the segments of luxury, wellness and nature tourism. "I did not think so far in those days, but I had a vision that we would develop into something," says Mr.Cooray, adding that his children Shiromal and Hiran have "worked hard alongside me”.

Most importantly, Jetwing, he says, has a good staff who have grown with the company contributing to its strength. With The Beach, Jetwing now has three hotels in the five-star category, the others being the Lighthouse Hotel and Spa in Galle and the Blue Water Hotel.

Some 2000 staff are currently employed in the 11 hotels located in various parts of the country. Other resorts scheduled for 2005 are the The Beach Camp, Nilaveli and The Sigiriya Wetland Lodge and Spa.

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