This hotel has heightened security, I don’t have a problem with that. Checking in took a lot longer that was needed, the staff were plenty, mostly standing around, looking to suggest they are busy. The room, great views, the rooms are a little dated , strange having a step to go into the bathroom.. I suspect its not a design feature. The bathroom was ok, but lacked the extras that you would expect in a 5* hotel, i.e. a toothbrush. The fridge was empty, no water, nothing, still think you are 5*?? Kettle fine, but no tea.. No extra pillows or blankets, even though we were ‘upgraded’ I would hate to have seen the other rooms. Had a meal at the pool / bar. It was ok, average at best, just be aware that the ‘pint’ of beer is not actually a ‘pint’, I should know as we serve pints in the UK. Breakfast, remember this is a 5* hotel, no condiments on the table, no teaspoon, loads of staff trying to look busy by moving chairs back and forth. Breakfast was not impressive. Now, guests, be aware, the hotel does offer a taxi service, so we asked to be taken to One Galle Face Mall, 1A Centre Road, Colombo 00200, Sri Lanka, its all of 1.2km from the hotel, they charged £8.00 can’t remember the cost in Local currency,, So avoid using their taxi service… 5*, I think not,,,, We did stay at Cinnamon Lodge Habarana, which I will review and the Lakeside Hotel could learn some lessons from a well run hotel. Oh yes, if there is a power failure or a spike, the TV comes on, as it did at 3:15 AM, I had to uplug the tv from the mains, this disturbed our sleep,,,GRRRRR