Kandy’s popular five star attraction Earl’s Regency Hotel celebrated its 10th anniversary last week with much pomp and pageantry.
The celebrations started with the early hour by announcing plans for an investment and expansion programme during the coming year.
For the past decade, since its establishment in 1999, the Earl’s Regency has represented the best of 5-star hospitality in the hill country of Sri Lanka, hosting many local and foreign dignitaries and heads of state. Located in the heart of the ancient Kingdom of Kandy, the Earl’s Regency is today the flagship hotel of Kandy, providing a range of modern 5-star facilities tastefully combined with traditional hill country hospitality.
This year, celebrating 10 years in the hospitality industry, together with permanent peace in the country, the Earl’s Regency will embark on an investment programme to position itself as a high-end tourism service provider. This is in keeping with the national vision of marketing Sri Lanka as a high-end tourist destination,
As part of this plan the hotel will expand its luxury services to include a new, international standard spa.‘The spa will be managed by an international spa company. This will attract more demand for luxury hotel rooms and luxury services,” said Jeevaka Weerakoon, the General Manager, Earl’s Regency Hotel.
As part of its expansion plans the Earl’s Regency has also begun work on a new banquet hall, earmarked to be the biggest in the Central Province.
‘We have commenced ground work to upgrade our services by introducing a Grand Banquet Hall. This will definitely be the largest in the Central Province,” said Mr. Weerakoon.
Originally established with 86 rooms in 1999, the Earl’s Regency has already expanded its high-end room capacity and has also added a fine dining restaurant. In 2005, the fine dining restaurant’ ‘Mirabelle’ was added to the Earl’s Regency introducing a gourmet dining experience to visitors. A new wing, consisting of 19 deluxe rooms, named the ‘Knuckles Wing,’ was also added in the same year, increasing the total number of rooms to 104 and offering a luxury selection to visitors.
This year, the Earl’s Regency will initiate plans to further expand its room capacity from 104 to 125, to cater to increased tourism with the end of war. ‘The expansion of room capacity to 125 rooms is to meet the anticipated increase in demand for tourism in the hill region of Sri Lanka’ said Mr. Weerakoon.
The Earl’s Regency Hotel, which is owned by Sumiko Lanka Hotels (Pvt) Ltd., had the grand opening on 10th December 1999. For the past nine years the hotel has been managed by Aitken Spence Hotel Management (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of the blue chip company, Aitken Spence PLC.
‘The two companies, Sumiko Lanka Hotels and Aitken Spence Hotel Managements, have consistency maintained a close relationship that has been instrumental in making the Earl’s Regency the success it is today’ said the proprietor of the hotel Mr. Earl Gunasekera at the celebrations.
The Earl’s Regency has many achievements to its name. The Earl’s Regency Kandy is the first hotel to introduce ‘Nitrogen cooking’ (Molecular Gastronomy) to the hotel Industry in Sri Lanka and is recognized for its service excellence and consistent quality.
In 2007 the Earl’s Regency Kandy, was ranked the ‘Finalist’ at the ‘Best Hotels and Resorts in Asia’ competition, by the Asia Pacific Hotel Club, and was the National Productivity Award winner for 2007, in the ‘Service Sector’ category. In addition to many such accolades of recognition, the Earl’s Regency is also ISO 22000-HACCP certified for ‘Health and Safety and Food Hygiene,’ and is ISO 14001 certified for ‘Environmental Management Systems,’ and is Green Globe benchmarked.
Recreation facilities: The Earl’s Regency’s recreational facilities include a karaoke bar, live entertainment and a line up of sports facilities, including flood lit tennis, air-conditioned squash court, fully equipped gymnasium, mini golf, swimming pool badminton, and table tennis.
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