Swim-up bars and jacuzzis both give pools an extra boost of relaxing in the water. But how about a swim-up bar in a jacuzzi? Well that is just another pool innovation introduced by Sun Siyam Oluveli. So they are not just the proud home of the largest pool in the Maldives, but also (from what I have seen), the largest (and most extravagant) jacuzzi there!
When we first started visiting the Maldives, not only were there few spas, but there were few spa services. I remember that Nakatchafushi had an Australian massage therapist on a 6-month contract giving massages on the beach and that seemed like a big step. Now, spas with wide ranging offerings are table stakes for even the value priced properties and they have gotten bigger and bigger over time with more services and amenities. The luxury resorts have distinguished themselves not only with over-water villas, but over-water spas. This move brings the soothing energies of the ocean, often highlighted with glass portals in the treatment room floors, to the treatment facilities themselves. And Ayada boasts the highwater mark over the water with a 3500 square foot complex (which we enjoyed during our stay).
One of the dividends of the new sea plane terminal is a huge amount of space allocated to resort transfer lounges. Siyam’s lounge for its Siyam World and Sun Siyam Irufushi properties was distinctive for its relaxation optimisation. Just the ticket after a long-haul, often red-eye flight. It wasn’t the only massage-on-arrival we had come across, but it was certainly the best (Lori didn’t want to leave the lounge when our seaplane departure was called). And while I sipped my coffee latte, I had a prime corner window seat with an expansive view of the seaport. The lounge also had an exterior terrace if you wanted to getting started on soaking up the tropical sun.
Our recent visit revealed yet another marine life creature to add to the seaplane menargie – Six Senses Laamu’s sea turtle.
One of the more popular parts of Maldives Complete, based on one of its most Frequently Asked Questions, is the House Reef rating. When I introduced this Resort field, I grappled with a number of approaches, but settled on a quite vague set of parameters:
Given that vast complexity of considerations (cf. The 8 Ds of a Great House Reef – Maldives Complete Blog), any further granularity would, I felt, be putting too fine a point on it.
TripAdvisor Forum contributor “Ventsi” of Bulgaria has taken an initiative on the Forum to create a crowd-sourced Reef Rating for house reefs which has some reasonable legs to it now – Reef rating system, crowdsourced – Maldives Message Board – Tripadvisor (Reefs – Google Sheets)
The approach takes vetted contributor’s ‘ratings’ on a scale of 1-10 and then aggregates them for an average. I tried this with Resort ratings when I first started the site (which is why the field is called “Average Rating”). Years ago, operators all put their own star-ratings down and I aggregated those for an average. I abandoned maintaining the averages because everyone was calling everything “5-star”. I would say don’t take the granularity of Ventsi’s ratings too seriously (ie. Don’’t chose one resort over another because it has a house reef 0.3 points better than another. It would be good for Ventsi to add heat-map conditional formatting to automatically provide a bit of segmentation.), but it can be an effective way to measure general quality based on crowd-input.
The challenge is figuring out what people mean by “reef quality”. Some people like visibility, others fish soup, others special residents, others underwater topography, others coral variety and color. Lots of data should iron out various biases (37 assessors so far) though awareness of it and interest in contributing will introduce a bit of its own self-selection biases. It is great to get lots of people because they see lots of reefs. My personal reviews can provide a consistent perspective (like following a particular film critic whose opinions align with yours or at least you know how to calibrate relative to how you tend assess films), but only for the reefs I can snorkel. Furthermore, reefs aren’t static but change constantly especially over the years. So my observations from a decade ago are likely to be dated in many ways.
Given that the contributors are vetted to a degree, it is sort of a Rotten Tomatoes for house reefs that can provide some helpful input to people researching house reef quality as a major consideration to their Maldives visit.
This recent tour made me realise that I really need to consider “Best of the Maldives” posts by price tier. Reethi Rah, Soneva and Velaa may have everything you can imagine, but few of us have the wallets to go there. Now that the sector as tripled in size since Maldives Complete started, you can find just about anything, certainly in the super premium properties. But it remains distinctive when a more modest tiers property offers such a unique or striking feature.
This musing also got me thinking about the core segments that the Maldives resorts have coalesced into. Actually, they are pretty conventional quartiles that you find in many markets (as illustrated in the chart below which compares them to other products):
These price bands play an important role in user reviews like Trip Advisor. Such star-ratings are not based on objective box-ticking criteria like hospitality association ratings (which has a long check-list of requirements for each grading class). Instead, these ratings really reflect performance against expectations. As a result, you can get a budget burger joint getting 5-star ratings because it is the best $3 burger that you have ever had. Conversely, a white-linen, silver setting gourmet establishment can get a 1-star rating if the meat is overcooked and service a bit slow during your $100 meal.
The key to exceeding expectations is (a) tick all of the boxes for your class (the cake), and (b) add a few special bits above the class (treats) that are valued and memorable. For example, Siyam World sits squarely in the Business Class segment, and yet still snared the crown as one of the Top 10 Hotels in the World in Tripadvisor’s 2025 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards 2025. It sits in the comfortable “business class” of Maldives resorts, but adds enough luxury touches to feel distinctive in that class.
Many guests come to the Maldives for its isolated tranquility from the noisy hustle-bustle of their daily life. A number of resorts either limit themselves to adult guests or offer adult-only areas in an effort to further preserve the quietude from the disturbance by over-ebullient youngsters. Joy Island has gone a step further in providing a silent beach where all noise is prohibited. Much like the popular “quiet cars” on British Rail. In a world of blaring mobile devices and tourists getting louder with ever pina colada they consume, the beach is a treasured sanctuary for the quintessential quiet which drew them to this idyllic paradise in the first place.
Romantic pictures of Siyam World’s white horses ambling on the equally brilliant white sands of the resort beaches have filled social media. But equally impressive is the operation behind the scenes that cares for these horses with a service and comfort rivalling the resort guests themselves.
For starters, each of the 11 horses (including 3 ponies) has its own personal caretaker. I toured their farm which included state of the art sables as well as an extensive set of paddocks and exercise areas. Kanbula, who Lori had the pleasure to ride, had a baby herself a few weeks ago who was being trained in one. The horse farm has its own veterinary clinic with its own dedicated veterinarian, Dr. Nora.
The horses are a mix of Arabian and Indian (working horses) bloodlines so they are well suited to heat of the tropics. This breed is used to competing in 20-60km races across the desert. The horses have access to the paddock early in the morning and later in the day when it is cooler as well.
The horse riding is not a touristy gimmick, but rather a true passion project of the owner. The state of the art facility is typical of many such features in the Maldives where the owner has shared their enthusiasm not just for this amazing destination, but for particular interests they have and which gives the property a touch of the distinction and personality.
Pools are one of the top features of a tropical resort. The very roots of the Maldives Complete website was me researching which Maldives resorts had pools in the 1990s. Back then, I had to go through countless paper brochures and catalogues from travel agents and collate the information into a spreadsheet (which formed the foundation to what become the resort database). Yes, I know the Maldives is surrounded by water in very swimmable lagoons. But we found that our kids could only take so much seawater before salt, salt and coral shards started to aggravate them. While we started every day of our holiday there with a morning snorkel, we also tended to hang out at the pool all afternoon so the youngsters could continue their aquatic cavorting while Lori and I rested on the loungers.
Sun Siyam Oluveli has eclipsed the previously title holder of “Longest Pool in the Maldives” by 10 metres with its 210m behemoth. Provide not just a pool, but a pool adventure. It is 1 metre deep except at either end there are segregated sections for small children that are just 0.45 metres.
One of my favourite parts of this feature is its proximity to the entry level duplex rooms, Beach Pavillions. Usually, having a pool right outside your door is a luxury feature for the high-end villas, but this the closest-to-villa economy villa pools in the Maldives. And a big one at that…
Per my post “Should I Keep Maldives Complete Going”, I have pondered in recent months whether Maldives Complete is still worth the big investment of time and money. But then I have visit like this year where I am so warmly welcomed and supported and find so many great things to write about that my sprit and perseverance is lifted. So, I have lots of material and motivation on the heels of this trip to keep me going for some time now.
A few overall reflections of the destination itself in the aftermath of this year’s Tour:
