Cheap and clean motel in Colombo
The VJ City Hotel is a decent budget hotel in Colombo for those in need of a last-minute place to crash or if you're just staying in Colombo for one night and don't want to spend too much (which was our case). The hotel is located on Sea Street, a seedy but safe thoroughfare in the heavily Tamil area near the port. The area around the hotel is actually filled with many small Hindu temples and some shops selling small and inexpensive Hindu icons (which we thought were ideal souvenirs).
VJ City Hotel mainly seemed to cater to locals so you won't get any of the cheesy exoticism on offer at a lot of the Western-oriented hotels. Here, it's a clean bed and a clean bath on the cheap, nothing more nothing less. Our room was small but spotless and it had air conditioning, a small television, and a small, simple bathroom (I don't remember whether it had hot water or not). All for around 30 euros, I believe.