Hotel Doorman Clocks 50 Years of Service at Sri Lanka’s Galle Face Hotel

June 16, 2016

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (June 16, 2016) - It has been 50 years since Mr. Banda lugged his first barrel of beer into the tap room at the Galle Face Hotel. Now - at 71 years old - the loyal employee is still earning his keep at Sri Lanka's oldest and most fabled property. Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Punchi Banda was barely out of his teens when he began work at the property on July 17, 1966. By then the hotel, which opened in 1864, was already more than 100 years old. In his first ten years, he worked his way from bar laborer to security guard. Forty years ago, he began greeting guests as a doorman, and he's still at it today. "Mr. Banda is more ...