Best of the Maldives: Instagram Butler – Conrad Rangali

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Conrad Rangali - Instagram butler

Yes, another you read it here first “Finally Seen” in the Maldives. Conrad Rangali has introduced the “world’s first Instagram Butler”. I’m not sure about that claim since I raised this idea nearly two years ago – #2 in Part 7. However, that was a “Social Media Concierge” and maybe no one has yet just focused on Instragram. Here are some details of their offer…

  • “Conducting tours around Rangali Island’s most photogenic locations, all the while offering advice on the best times of day to photograph and the optimal camera angles to use…Stop-offs along the way, on what the hotel calls the #Instatrail, include a traditional Maldivian swing on the beach (an undholi), and Ithaa, the world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant. But the fun isn’t limited to the walkabout. Yoga enthusiasts can take part in classes whilst at the same time receiving tips from the hotel’s resident instructor on how to strike the most Instagrammable poses. The Instagram Butler service, which the hotel believes to be the first of its kind, can also be combined with a number of special itineraries curated by the hotel in order to lend an alternative to the usual Maldivian photo-fodder of white sand beaches, curvaceous palm trees and turquoise seas.”

Ma’m, would you like filter cropping for breakfast today?

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Best of the Maldives: Snacks – Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa

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Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa - plane snack

Sometimes all you want is a snack. You don’t want to be beholden to restaurant schedules and so grabbing a lite-bite is a great way to handle the hunger pangs. All the more tasty when served over an azure lagoon like Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa. The resort offers a range of sacks throughout the day. They also put on snack stations at certain times like a mid-afternoon creperie.

Lots of resorts offer treats throughout the day, but what swung it for Hakuraa Huraa for me was their seaplane transfer snack-pack (see photo above). When you are flying back, they prepare a box with an assortment of sandwiches, fruit, cakes, etc. The seaplanes usually don’t even serve water (the domestic flights often have water and sometimes a little packet of nuts or biscuit). Lori and I had been a bit busy the morning before our departure getting last minutes things attended to and we didn’t really have time to go to lunch with our early afternoon flight time. So the snack was an especially welcome sustenance for journey to Male.

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Best of the Maldives: Sweet Shop – Dhigufaru

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Dhigufaru - sweet shop 1

National Dessert Day today. And as soon as you step off the seaplane to Dhigufaru, you feel like you have landed in dessert country. Some resorts greet you with some tropical juice, others with tasty cocktail, but Dhigufaru greets you with an entire sweet shop. Ice cream, cakes, muffins, coffees, drinks all at your disposal. And the arrival jetty is also the best entry point to the resort house reef so you can have a snack when you come in from your snorkelling safari.

Dhigufaru - sweet shop 2

Dhigufaru - sweet shop 3

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Best of the Maldives: Cirque de Soleil – Finolhu

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Finolhu - cirque 1

Finolhu puts the “Soleil” into the “Cirque de Soleil”. Today is International Sight day and some of the things you will see at Finolhu will make you not believe your eyes (including the occasional mermaid known to visit the island).

Finolhu has a bit of a retro Las Vegas nightlife vibe with its own resident entertainment acts high on showmanship and flair. They’ve featured hoops, silk banners, large hoops, fire dancing by a group called Area 51 which resident for three months. Then they circulate in a fresh set of artistes. When we visited a group from Mexico was there performing every night.

The resort explained that part of their contact is that during the day, the performers must work on new tricks and material. The idea is that the “artists-in-residence” have sort of a bootcamp for developing and refining their craft and act all the while sharing the fresh new work with the resort guests. Finolhu targets young groups early in their career so the booking can be a boost to their careers.

Sometimes resort (and cruise) entertainment can be a bit jaded. Circuit acts going through the motions with their gigs of tired material. But the Finolhu acts had a fresh vitality about them. All the buzz of someone pursuing their dreams and living them every day in paradise. And when they finally do hit the big time and get that headline act in Vegas, you can say you saw them in the original Circles of Sun in the Indian Ocean.

Finolhu - cirque 2

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Best of the Maldives: Social Media Mob – W Maldives

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W Maldives - Rebok instagram 3

One resort with its own collection of Instagram luminaries is W Maldives:

  • “Reebok Women invited 12 ladies from Southeast Asia and the Pacific to W Maldives as the faces and voices of their #PerfectNever campaign in the region, with the aim of flipping the conventional notion of perfectionThese are influencers with a huge following on social media and admired for their flawless lifestyles. With the #PerfectNever campaign set in the perfect environment, the aim of the happening was to show that there are more to these women than the airbrushed images on their social media accounts – the grit and the determination that makes them human and ‘perfect’ in their own way.”

Already a top 10 resort for attracting Insgrammer fashionistas, this esteemed group of snappers add another 7.7 million followers to their tally. Rest assured that Maldives Complete will be featuring many of the snaps shared on their popular Instagram feeds in upcoming photoshoot collections, but if you can’t wait, here is the list of Instagrammer stars and their feeds…

W Maldives - Rebok instagram 1

W Maldives - Rebok instagram 2

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Best of the Maldives: Celebrity Instagram – Velaa

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Paris Hilton (USA) – Velaa

Nine years ago today, Instagram was unleashed on the world. Maldives Complete had already been on the web for nearly a year at the time. Instagram has come a bit further since ;-). It has emerged as the social media of choice for the celebrity and fashionista class. The photo-based platform suits the beautiful people crowd quite well.

Instagram has changed our world and even Maldives Complete. The “Celebrity Visited” field in the resort profile has been a part of the site from the get-go and was gleaned mostly from press reports and celeb sponsored visits travel pieces. But Instagram has turned both the information and photo op spigot full on. I introduced the “Fashion” section of the blog two years ago this month and it has rapidly grown to be one of the most popular features.

So who is the “Best of the Maldives” at attracting Instagram followers through its guests? Velaa – they have the largest total number of aggregate celeb guest followers (117,790,176), as well top (tied) position for most Top 20 guests (3, along with Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru).

Here are few other fun figures about the sun-kissed figures…

  • Followers: Each cluster of an order of magnitude of followers all had between 300-400 fashionistas.
    • < 10k followers:     341 visitors
    • 1k – 10k:         454
    • 10k – 100k:    468
    • 100k – 1m:     347
    • > 1m:               106
  • Occupation – Entertainment was the dominant field here with creative and sporty type following.
 

RESORT

FOLLOWERS
1

Velaa

130,684,342
2

NIYAMA

108,835,373
3

Finolhu

57,357,484
4

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

57,100,000
5

Cheval Blanc Randheli

44,084,145
6

One & Only Reethi Rah

43,016,283
7

Huvafenfushi

35,564,912
8

Six Senses Laamu

34,504,716
9

Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

23,093,022
10

W Retreat

13,266,346

 

OCCUPATION

FOLLOWERS
1

Singer / Musician

215,354,798
2

Model

201,904,735
3

Actress / Presenter

125,240,233
4 Blogger / Designer

99,388,622
5

Athlete

6,912,456
6

Dancer / Yoga

6,323,516

 

COUNTRY

FOLLOWERS
1

USA

130,684,342
2

United Kingdom

108,835,373
3

Russia

57,357,484
4

Barbados

57,100,000
5

India

44,084,145
6

Columbia

43,016,283
7

Thailand

35,564,912
8

Brazil

34,504,716
9

Australia

23,093,022
10

Philippines

13,266,346

 

INSTRAGRAMMER

COUNTRY

 RESORT OCCUPATION

FOLLOWERS
1 Jennifer Lopez

USA

 Velaa Singer

68,600,000
2 Rhianna

Barbados

 NIYAMA Singer

51,700,000
3 Shakira

Columbia

 Velaa Singer

42,700,000
4 Cara Delevingne

United Kingdom

 Finolhu Model

40,600,000
5 Bruna Marquezine Brazil Cheval Blanc Actress 22,600,000
6 Huda Kattan USA Huvafenfushi Blogger 15,200,000
7 Jacqueline Fernandez

India

 Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Actress 13,800,000
8 Rita Ora United Kingdom Palm Beach Singer 11,400,000
9 Victoria Beckham United Kingdom One & Only Reethi Rah Singer 8,900,000
10 Aum Patchrana Thailand Coco Palm Bodu Hithi Actress 7,400,000
11 Roe Huntington-Whiteley

United Kingdom

 Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Model 7,400,000
12 Zoe Sugg United Kingdom Ranveli Blogger 6,800,000
13 Park Shin-hye South Korea Soneva Jani Model 6,600,000
14 Davika

Thailand

 Club Med Finolhu Villas Designer 6,400,000
15 Kimberley Anne Tiamsiri Thailand Kanuhura Actress 5,700,000
16 Belén Rodríguez

Argentina

 One & Only Reethi Rah Model 5,600,000
17 Paris Hilton USA Velaa Model 5,600,000
18 Eva Gutowski USA Six Senses Laamu Blogger 5,400,000
19 Aliaa Bhaat India Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Actress 5,200,000
20 Sveta Bilyalova Russia LUX South Ari Atoll Model 4,900,000
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Best of the Maldives: Maldivian Warrior – Kanuhura

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Kanuhura - Maldivian warrior 1

For a traditional twist on military-grade training, Kanuhura offers Maldivian Warrior training…

  • “Maldivian warrior is a bootcamp fitness course on the beach inspired by what Maldivians would have used in the past to keep fit before air-conditioned gyms came to the country. It’s a blend of calisthenics and exercises on the beach using wooden blocks, logs and heavy stones, followed by a swim in the lagoon and a run around the beach (over 3km to get round the island once).”

Kanuhura - Maldivian warrior 3

Kanuhura - Maldivian warrior 2

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Best of the Maldives: TRX Training – Amilla Fushi

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Amilla Fushi - TRX training 1

If you need a bit of help waistline effects of sumptuous holiday treats, then Amilla Fushi can firm up both your body and your discipline…

  • “TheTRX was birthed in the Navy SEALS, a 60minutes suspension training body weight exercise that develops strength, balance, flexibility, and core stability simultaneously. TRX is a fabulous training tool that leverage gravity together with your body weight to increase fitness, strengthen and tone muscles. An intense full body workout just for you.”

Sir, yes sir!  TRX, a treat!  

Amilla Fushi - TRX training 2

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Best of the Maldives: Pastry Class – W Retreat

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W Retreat - pastry class

Just before the coffee, is the dessert course and the W Maldives is taking those to treats to an equally artistic level. Star chef Julien Alvarex visited the resort to share his ganache guidance and coulis coaching to not just staff, but guests as well…

  • “W Maldives has partnered with World’s Best Pastry Chef Julien Alvarez to host a series of culinary events on its tropical playground in September 2017. His signature style incorporates unique design of desserts, amazing combination of colours, tastes and impressive decoration techniques.”

Béatrice Peltre once said, “Dessert is to a meal what a dress is to a woman,” if that’s the case, then W Retreat is the must-have haute couture this season.

W Retreat - pastry class 2

W Retreat - pastry class 3

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Best of the Maldives: Coffee Drinks – Kuramathi

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Kuramathi - coffee 4

International Coffee Day today. I remember when we first started going to the Maldives in the nineties, as much as we loved it one of the biggest (if not *the* biggest) negative and thing we missed from home was a good cup of coffee. Eventually, the espresso machines made it over and the resorts figured out how to brew some enjoyable cups. For the 5-star luxury resorts, the Gaggia machine is table stakes and most have pretty fine personal coffee makers in room.

Kuramathi continues the trend to ever finer roasted blend concoctions putting its entire F&B staff through coffee guru training…

  • “The resort completed a comprehensive course in advanced barista techniques and coffee beverage. The training was conducted by skilled coffee artisan; Giorgos Atsopardis who is a Certified Specialty Barista & Certified Specialty Brewer. Originally from Greece, he contributed his 20 years of expertise and wisdom in the coffee industry to participants from our Food and Beverage team in a dedicated workshop. Giorgos’s expertise in coffee has also earned him finalist positions in the National Barista Championship of Greece in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Coffee produced by the iconic brewing method of utilizing a ‘Syphon Filter’ was also demonstrated during the training session, and it’s no surprise the specialty is available for guests to try.“

Amongst the few additions to the hot drinks menu are…

  • Kuramathi on Ice – Espresso, Cold Chocolate, Scoop of Vanilla, Cinnamon powder, Caramel syrup
  • Freddo Cappuccino – Espresso poured in iced and creamy milk
  • Cold Mocachino – Espresso with cold chocolate

Kuramathi - coffee 3

Kuramathi - coffee

Kuramathi - coffee 1

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