For a more energetic experience enjoying the lush island Dhigali offers a 1.2 kilometre running track (sand paths) weaving around the island and marked with handy signs.
Best of the Maldives: Swing Park – Reethi Faru
For a more alfresco swinging selection, Reethi Fafu has created a swing park with a manicured garden surrounding an imposing banyan tree with a variety of swings hung from its branches.
Best of the Maldives: Swinging Bar – Dhigali
If you like swaying to the ocean breezes with your sundowner, then Dhigali’s got the swingingest bar in the Maldives. You’ve seen bird’s nest swings…well, its Haali Bar is a bird’s nest with swings inside it.
Best of the Maldives: Egg Croissant – LUX North Male Atoll
Happy Egg Day. Obviously, not Easter, but the national holiday to celebrate all things EGGY. I love me my breakfasts. Lori often remarks that I don’t just eat breakfast, I eat Breakfast #1, Breakfast #2, and then I top it all off with Breakfast Dessert. I also thorough savour the delicately rich flavour of truffle. So LUX North Male Atoll’s Truffle Egg Croissant was a treat for me.
Eggcellent!
Best of the Maldives: Jetty Pool – Aarah
Infinity pools on the edge of the island seem like there is a seamless expanse from your cossetted basin extending to the boundless horizon in front of you. Aarah’s main jetty pool doesn’t look over the ocean….it IS over the ocean.
Best of the Maldives: Dolphin Pool – Paradise Island
Every day is day of the dolphin at Paradise Island with their signature dolphin shaped pool. If you can’t swim *with* a dolphin, then swin *in* one…
Best of the Maldives: Chroma Therapy – Amilla Fushi
‘Hue’ can saturate yourself in the most colourful treatment in the Maldives with Amilla Fushi’s Sensora light therapy:
- “The Sensora light modulation technology is one of the most advanced chromotherapy systems in the world, clinically proven to bring the brain to rest, effortlessly reduce stress and induce deep relaxation. Sensora offers a unique multi-sensorial environment combining light, sound and kinaesthetic vibration. The advanced colour-light system recharges the brain’s electrical field and positively interacts with various bio-rhythms such as brainwaves, breath and heartbeat. The combination of associated colours and frequencies offers many beneficial effects including deeper relaxation; enhanced alertness; increased release of endorphins and reduction in chronic pain, helping to fight insomnia and fatigue; treat anxiety, mental tension and depression; and much more.”
An appropriate complement to the sunlight therapy that draws to many to Maldives in the first place.
Best of the Maldives: Spa AI – Kandolhu
At Kandolhu immerses you in the art of a deal with their “Spa AI” package. You can relax about a spa splurge and leave behind your worries about a wallet purge:
- “The new offering provide unlimited access to the entire range of spa treatments including VOYA body experiences, YonKa facial treatments, skincare options and a wide range of specialised massages. Skilled therapists personalise daily treatments and activities according to the guests’ wellness needs. By unlimited, no restrictions are applied from visit frequency to type of treatment. Curated instructional videos, Manduka towels and mats, specially designed wellness beverages and healthy mixed fruit plates are provided to all guests booked for this package. A preferred discount is given on all VOYA and Yonka retail products sold at the spa.”
Let your aches and cares melt away instead of your budget.
Best of the Maldives: Art of Seating – Joali
- “I wanted to help draw guests into an immersive experience in which they can relax and feel the waves and textures of the island.” – Dough Johston – Coiled
Joali immersive art motif is not merely about immersing yourself amongst an expansive collection of art, but also becoming part of the art itself. Not just the piece of artwork, but the surroundings of paradise that frame it, imbue it and inspire it.
One of my favourite parts of an art museum is the seating. After a few hours of standing and soaking in the works of creativity, weary legs can do battle with energized eyes. I especially appreciate seats situated directly opposite particularly engaging works so I can stop and take the piece in a literally relaxed manner. Joali doesn’t just have seating to enjoy its works…the seating are the works. The best collection of artistic seating I’ve seen since the Copenhagen Design Museum. With the added distinction that you can actually sit in them (and are encouraged to do so as a part of the immersive process.
- “These works at JOALI are vessels that carry my past. They now breath the air of the MALDIVES and their surfaces will absorb the heat of this wonderful island. They will now listen to stories and befriend guests as they live and age.” – Reinaldo Senguino – Ceramic Mini Stools [BELOW]
- “Combining traditional technique with playful fabrication, my work embraces – and at the same time protests – functionalism…” – Chris Wolston – Terra Cotta Furniture [BOTTOM]
9 Top Tips for Maldives Influencer Collaboration
While the previous post laid out the fundamentals of “Influencer Collaboration” straight from the authority of a leading marketing director in the Maldives, I wanted to share some of my own personal perspectives on the subject. At first, I thought that I might do a larger uber-piece on the subject that combined last week’s “10 Things Luxury Resorts Look For In An ‘Influencer Collaboration’” with these tips, but it got too big and unwieldly and the points really address slightly different dimensions (the previous one is more about fundamentals, while this one is more tips).
My own tips come from years of research tours to the Maldives where I have experienced the entire gamut from paying completely full whack rack rates (in fact, paying a premium because I was only there for a day or so) to getting a completely comped VIP treatment (usually from resort management who just love the Maldives Complete website and its general benefit to Maldives tourism as much as expect direct benefit to their resort).
But such collaboration has been challenged by the tsunami of wannabe Instagrammers trying to blag freebie trips on the basis of how cute they look in a bikini and how good their boyfriend is with an SLR. If you are an aspiring blogger looking to tick the Maldives off your bucket list without shattering your personal funds, then here are a few suggestions…
- Be Realistic – You need to have at least 10k Followers to even be looked at by a Maldives resort marketing manager. 50k is probably a better cut-off (though this is the point where it can be more flexible depending on some of the other listed considerations). Even then you have lots of competition (more than 1,500 Instgrammers/Bloggers with Followers over 10k visited the Maldives in the past 3 years. In fact, over 160 bloggers with more than a million followers visited).
- Sell the Content – Mind you, content is commoditizing at a rapid pace as resorts are reaping the benefits of mountains of free, crowdsourced content of every geo-tagged post. But if you have a distinctive angle to your content – eg. special editing effects, special writing or photography style special focus area – then the property might be more interested in getting that content produced (that it can re-use and refer to) than your less interesting Followers exposure.
- Avoid the Cliches – Thousands of blogs posts have waxed eloquently about the palm trees and pina coladas. Try to avoid the cliché topics (eg. colours of the ocean, white sand, sunny weather, charming service) unless you can lend a truly poetic articulation or unique perspective.
- Sell the Engagement – Sure, you’ve got thousands of Followers. So does everybody. But do your Followers actually respond to your posts considering to visit themselves? Or are they just life-style porn voyeurs sitting on their couch without even a passport?
- Be Clear About Your Proposition – Media pack, stats, examples, clear proposal of what you will produce (see the previous post).
- Don’t Get Greedy – Marketing managers are rife with stories of hubristic bloggers with a few thousands followers looking for an all-expenses paid, VIP-treatment week long stay for them and their boyfriend in exchange for a single photo on their Instagram feed. Maybe look for a bit of a discounted rate for a couple of day stay and propose a wide range of content and posting.
- Understand Resort Economics – Some things like buffet meals and rooms in low periods of the year can have negligible marginal cost for the resort by having you there so cutting you a break is easier. But other items – eg. fuel consuming transfers, alcohol, a la carte meals, spa treatments – do cost them money and so they are much more constrained on how generous they can be.
- Know the Resort’s Market – If you are a relatively small blogger on the world stage, but you are a pretty prominent one in Denmark, then find the resorts that get a good number of guests from that market (eg. Canareef has a regular charter from Denmark).
- Look for Unsung Resorts – Everyone wants to go to the fanciest 5-star resorts, but there are about 140 resorts and a number of the less glamorous ones get decidedly less inundated with requests and so might be more open (or at least less cynical and jaded). Don’t approach One & Only Reethi Rah unless you are an A-list red-carpet celebrity (and even then you probably won’t get too much notice since A-list celebrities are OORR’s core customer base).