How the directory is built

The directory focuses on Sri Lankan properties identified through our research as officially classified 5-star hotels or resorts. We look for classification, registration, and licensing information connected to the specific property rather than relying only on promotional phrases such as “five-star experience” or on third-party star ratings.

Classification and licensing can change. A property’s inclusion records what the available evidence supported when it was reviewed; it is not a permanent certification by 5starhotels.lk.

• Sri Lanka tourism registration, licensing, and classification information where publicly available.
• Official hotel and resort websites.
• Official hotel, property, or parent-brand channels.
• Property contact details and location references used to resolve identity or naming differences.

Third-party travel websites may help identify a point that needs checking, but material public claims should be supported by a more direct or authoritative source whenever practical.

Source material is converted into consistent fields for names, locations, classification, contact details, facilities, traveller suitability, transport, and other hotel characteristics. Empty text is removed, lists are standardised, and dates, numbers, coordinates, and URLs are validated before publication.

Yes, No, and Unknown are treated as three distinct states. Unknown or missing information is not displayed as “No”. Public pages generally omit unknown fields so that the absence of research is not presented as a fact about the hotel.

Collection membership is calculated automatically from current hotel data using limited, reviewed rules. A beachfront collection, for example, should match only properties whose beachfront field is confirmed. We do not manually place hotels into collections simply to make a page look fuller.

Collection order and inclusion are not quality rankings. The site does not score hotels, aggregate guest reviews, or declare one hotel better than another.

Hotel photography is associated with a specific property and one image is designated as the primary image for directory cards and the hotel-page hero. Additional images may appear in a gallery. Image identity, source, and descriptive alt text are reviewed as part of the publishing workflow.

If an image is attached to the wrong hotel, is inaccurately described, or raises a rights concern, contact us with the page and image URL so it can be reviewed, corrected, or removed.

Hotel information is reviewed and republished when corrections or material updates are available. Time-sensitive matters—including prices, operating status, licence status, facilities, policies, and transport arrangements—should always be reconfirmed directly with the hotel before relying on them.

A useful correction should include the hotel name, the relevant page URL, the field that appears incorrect, and an official or otherwise reliable supporting source. Hotel representatives and rights holders are welcome to identify themselves when requesting a change.