Elevating luxury in Sri Lanka with Signature Selection
ITB Berlin News spoke with Johan Aschan, Area Vice President, Sri Lanka Resorts & General Manager, Cinnamon Bentota Beach – Signature Selection, about the strategic new positioning and luxury offers of the resort.
How does Signature Selection elevate the guest experience at Cinnamon Bentota Beach – Signature Selection, and what inspired this luxury repositioning?
One of the main objectives was to elevate this resort to a Signature Selection property, giving it a new level of service on par with this luxury category. We set the deadline for this upgrade to coincide with the opening of the Cinnamon Life City of Dreams in Colombo, which is our other Signature Selection property.
The strategy was to give the resort the love and attention it needed to be able to position it as a Signature Selection property. We had a detailed checklist for everything that we did in order to be able to ensure that the quality experience was there leading up to the spring of 2024 when we launched the official campaign.
What are some of the standout amenities and exclusive offerings that set Cinnamon Bentota Beach – Signature Selection apart from other luxury beach resorts in Sri Lanka?
On arrival, as visitors come up the famous staircase leading up to the lobby, they see the batik ceiling by Ena de Silva, commissioned by Geoffrey Bawa. There they light a traditional Sri Lankan oil lamp, and are escorted into the lounge where they are served a signature welcome drink. It’s all about differentiation: how you enter the resort and how you’re welcomed set a guest’s first impression.
On the culinary side of things, we are positioning the resort as a number one culinary destination. We have a speciality chef from India as well as a Chinese chef from Chengdu with specifically dedicated corners. We have a beautiful seafood restaurant by the beach available both for lunch and dinner and we have also created an Italian a la carte restaurant. It’s all in the attention to details.
We’ve created something called the bloom house, which is next to our our nursery, where we are nurturing our plants, and cultivating our own orchids. It is beautifully located, next to the river, so it’s become a venue for afternoon tea and sundown cocktails.
