Best of the Maldives Online: Resort Stories – Maldives.net.mv

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Maldives net mv

 

I wish I had said that.

That’s what I keep find myself saying following Maldive.net.mv’s Twitter stream of, among other things, great scoops and stories on Maldives resorts. Fortunately, my pride is not so strong that I am beyond a plenty of borrowing from their leads (with full and proper attribution of course). And so, @maldives (how did they snare that tag?) has become my richest online source of leads for ‘Best Of’ candidates, not to mention my most frequented Maldive web site of late.

Actually, it is more than a website. Maldives.net.mv would also be a contender for the ‘Best Integrated Web’ distinction. They seamlessly and effectively use Twitter and Facebook to complement their web content. In fact, their Twitter stream is probably the best on the Maldives itself. It is smart not to simply mirror the same content across all three media, but instead tailor what is shown where and how it is shown.

The site at the heart of all this digital activity is a real star in its own right. There is not much advertising, just a discrete area to do bookings if interested and a top banner. The writing style is very current and very professional. None of the ‘destination dross’ that spins out of too many travel writers. Part of their secret is that the site is run and written by local Maldivians. So they have the inside track not to mention heartfelt affection on their subject. Still, sometimes material written by locals can sometimes get out of touch with what really interest the foreign visitors. But not at Maldives.net.mv where the stories and approach remain fresh and on the mark.

Bookmark, Friend and Follow it now.

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#deadheadcab

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deadheadcab

 

Save money and save the planet. Travelling from the airport.

The first thing you learn in logistics is to minimise ‘Dead Heads’. That is an empty journey. A truck, carriage or other vehicle travelling someplace with nothing in it. If you have a delivery to make from Birmingham to London, then ideally you want to pick something up in London to take back with you to Birmingham.

One of the things that always drove me nuts about taxis is the UK is their extortionate racket at Heathrow airport for fares to the suburbs. Only ‘London taxis’ are allowed to stand in the airport ranks. If you have to travel 9 miles from Heathrow to a local suburb like Slough, the price is £39. This is based on the London rate of 20p for 135 metres (to choose the common ‘Tariff 1’ M-F 6 am – 8 pm rate) which is about twice the price of meter fares for suburban taxi companies not to mention an array of surcharges (eg. £5 for Terminal 5) that they apply.

Aside from the financial rip-off of this system, what has recently irked me even more is the ecological impact. Travellers regularly hire local licensed cabs to their airport for their outbound flights. But those cabs can’t join the ranks and pick up a fare. Instead, they are forced to return home empty. Dead Head. What is means is an extra car journey for the return trip that is totally unnecessary. The Slough cap takes a traveller to the airport and returns empty, and the Black Cab in the Heathrow ranks takes another traveller to Slough and returns empty.

But aside from the Heathrow ranks restriction, the primary obstacle avoid ‘dead head’ trips is logistics. Finding the traveller coming home to the same area that your taxi company is coming from.

A while back I thought that a web site could solve this problem. Ride share sites for hitchhikers and commuters are quite well established.  Suburban travellers and taxis could register and then the site could provide a sort of match-making service. Matching incoming arrival with taxi cabs from their area that were going to be dropping off a fare around the same time. Suburban taxis are allowed to come to the airports to pick up ‘pre-booked’ fares. This service would, in essence facilitate that pre-booking capacity. But web sites are complicated and expensive. How would one manage the transactions, the registry database, the security, market it to get critical mass of taxis and travellers, etc.?

Dead Head match-making seems like an ideal use for Twitter. And here’s how – the ‘#deadheadcab’ hashtag.

Here are the key components of the Tweet…

  • Mon – Investing 3 characters for the day of the week is a useful checksum to help guard against date typos and confusions. If someone types a date that doesn’t match the day, then the taxi can Reply with a clarification request.
  • 1 Aug 18:25 – Date and time of arrival. Use of 24-hour military time precludes having to expend 2 characters on ‘am’ or ‘pm’.
  • LGW N BA2042 – One could argue that the ‘LGW’ (‘N’ for ‘North Terminal’) is extraneous because one can look up the BA2042 flight to see that it comes into Heathrow. But including ‘LHR’ in the Tweet is a low (3) character help to the recipient to quickly assess whether that is an airport they will be near at the time as well as another sort of useful check sum (ie. if flight# and airport code don’t match, then likely a typo has occurred).
  • SL7 – The ‘outward code’ (first 2-4 characters of the full UK postcode) which pretty much corresponds to town.
  • £25 – This is the amount you propose paying for your journey. It is sort of a Priceline-like reverse auction. I would propose that it is in the neighbourhood of half the price of what it would cost to simply pre-book a local cab from your hometown. I would normally have to pay about £50 for a taxi to Heathrow from my home. But if a taxi has already travelled to Heathrow with a £50 fare, then picking up a £25 bonus fare for the journey back home would seem like a pretty attractive proposition. Splitting the benefit down the middle between taxi and traveller seems a pretty reasonable starting point, but of course anything can be negotiated.
  • (optionals) – You could always add some special codes for additional considerations like ‘van’ (if you need a bigger vehicle for lots of luggage), or ‘prem’ (if you would prefer to only ride in a nicer vehicle like a late model, higher-end sedan.
  • #deadheadcab – …and of course the DeadHeadCab tag itself

The Tweet snipped above is my field test of this concept. It is an arrival I am actually making in a few weeks. We’ll see if it can percolate through the Twitterverse before then for some SL7 area (Maidenhead/High Wycombe) taxi to pick it up.

Follow Maldives Complete on Twitter at @maldivescomp.

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Best of Maldives Online – Future Resorts: To Maldives

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To Maldives

 

One thing that makes MaldivesComplete so ‘Complete’ is that I include resorts that aren’t even there yet. Of the 125 resorts in the MaldivesComplete database, 25 are ‘Inactive’. Half of these are resorts undergoing refurbishment and relaunch, but the others are those under development.

So what’s the point of featuring resorts that aren’t available? Well, many people plan their Maldives trips long in advance. Some people up to a year. If it is a honeymoon or other ‘once in a lifetime’ event, people often book very early. By including the resorts that are not yet online, but in the works, people don’t have to regret that they didn’t know a new resort was going to be a possibility.

If you really want to look out further on the horizon of the upcoming developments in the Maldives, then ToMaldives is the place to go. They maintain a comprehensive listing of ‘Assigned Islands’ with some photos and info on the planned development.

Another hat tip to Francisco.

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Seven Plunders of the World

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Seven Natural Wonders of the World

 

Beware Paid for Endorsements.

The big news out of the Maldives tourism circles this week is the Tourism Board’s decision to withdraw from the ‘Seven Wonders’ competition. It turns out that tourism boards have to pay a significant price to be considered. So much for objectivity. The Maldives Resort Workers and Minivan feature good pieces on the headline announcement.

This sort of ‘marketing’ gimmick doesn’t surprise me. I’ll always remember my first marketing job for a small software company. We had a great product confirmed by customers who regularly rated us highest in ‘bake offs’ against the established players. But the industry leading ‘independent analyst’ (a real big name) never included us in their sector reports. We finally got an audience with their top analyst and asked why they neglected us and his response was, “Well, it doesn’t help that you don’t subscribe to our service.” So we scraped up the extortionate price for a ‘subscription’ (tens of thousands of dollars) and low and behold the next report featured a lovely little mention of us.

In twenty years, the world hasn’t changed at all. Now I am working in the media/broadcast sector, and one finds a similar cozy collection sector analysts/publications. One article was written about us winning the highest award in the UK (the Queen’s Award for Innovation), but it was removed allegedly when they found out we were not subscribers to their service.

I don’t fault the Maldivian Tourism Promotion Board for their earnest efforts at the outset of the Seven Natural Wonders campaign when it seemed somewhat creative and the investment was small (“$195”). But now that the Seven Wonders has exposed its true colours, MTPB is smart and courageous to say ‘enough’ and disengage.

This mutual graft is rife in the world. Auditors biased in their reports on clients. Rating agencies biased in their assessments of company well being. Investment banks biased in their stock recommendations. Magasines biased in their coverage. All based on how much one pays. My disenchantment with this dishonesty is one of my motivations behind Maldives Complete.

As I say up front, Maldives Complete has no ads, no sponsors, no selling. Just pure, transparent fascination and adoration with these idyllic islands. I make no bones about the fact that my writing and coverage (in the blog) is almost completely positive in tone. But that is a reflection of my heartfelt attitude about the Maldives, not the result of anyone bribing me to feel or write that way. With this site getting bigger and taking more work and resources (out of my free time and pocketbook), I am grateful that a number of resorts are helping me with discounts and comps. They reduce, but don’t eliminate the significant personal investment I have to make to keep the site up to date. And in no way do they affect my coverage. I still research and include every resort I can find juicy pieces on. Similarly, the best online resources – TripAdvisor is a fine example – have strict rules on any bias or promotion making its way into the content of their reviews and forums.

When looking for a Wonder-ful trip of a lifetime, turn to the enthusiasts over the self-appointed, commercial pseudo-official lists for your guidance.

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Cool Women

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Cool Women

Happy Mothers Day!

Mothers Day is celebrated on whole range of days in different countries around the world, but it is celebrated on the ‘India Sub-Continent’ today (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). The holiday has roots in the Roman festival of Hilaria where the ‘Earth Goddess’ was celebrated on the final day of the vernal equinox festival (spring finally sprung!).

It is also celebrated in the USA today where my own mother lives. The ‘traditional’ American ritual includes breakfasts in bed, homemade cards and a break from traditional chores as children (and husbands) try to chip to give Mom a break for one 24 hour period.

It seemed appropriate to post on ‘Cool Women’, which was created for International Women’s Day earlier this year, on this more traditional day of honouring women. My mother, Marjorie Lynn, is also a ‘Cool Woman’ in very much the spirit of the video. She ran a YWCA which provided support programmes for women including a women’s shelter and a number of outreach and community initiatives. Mom has always been a rather outspoken activist for well-being and capabilities of women with all the strength of Aemii Musko’s wave (see above). 

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Best of Maldives Online – Jobs: Job-Maldives.com

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Job-Maldives

 

 

Happy International Workers Day. ‘May Day’ is celebrated all over the world to recognize workers (though America has its ‘Labor Day’ on 10th October). And this year, the Maldives joins that community adding 1st May to its official public holidays.

If all this talk and celebration of working has you interested in going to the Maldives for a bit longer stay than a fortnight’s holiday, then Job-Maldives is the place to go. It is the comprehensive source for employment posting on resorts for all sorts of positions and welcome applications from all over the world.

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Best of the Maldives Online: Reef Regeneration – Seamarc

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Gapingvoid Hugh MacLeod Earth Day 2011

Happy Earth Day 2011!

Maldives have always been on the vanguard of promoting the thoughtful stewardship of the planet. In the spirit of the day, I thought I would highlight Seamarc who has been pioneering ‘reefscaping’ and ‘coral regeneration’ projects across the Maldives. Resorts using their reef grafting frames include Kandooma, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, Beach House at Manafaru, Island Hideaway at Dhonakulhi, Reethi Rah, and Four Seasons Kuda Huraa,

“Seamarc’s unique propagation techniques; whereby broken or threatened corals are harvested, attached to portable Coral Trays and put back into the warm Maldivian waters, mean that branching corals grow faster, rapidly creating new and replenishing old habitats. The project also provides alternative employment to residents of nearby B. Fulhadhoo Island who build the structures.”

The illustration above comes from my friend and social media pioneer Hugh MacLeod. I especially like his tagline about ‘changing lives’. The more we do that for the better, the easier it will be to get everyone to agree to some difficult decisions to take care of our planet.

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Tripbase Travel Blog Awards 2011

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Tripbase Travel Blog Awards

 

Congratulations to us!

Maldives Complete was awarded one of their top 10 awards for ‘Best Maldives Blogs’.

Here is how they describe the award process…

“The nominees are chosen by our team of travel experts that go out to scour the internet for the best blogs they can find. That select group is then short-listed via a rigorous selection process, taking in factors like how informative the blog is, the overall writing style, the actual blog appearance and how well that blog performs in its given category when compared and contrasted to other, similar blogs.”

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this honour through their comments, suggested topics, and helpful information and photos I have used in the posts.

Technorati Tags: Tripbase,blog awards
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Best of Maldives Online–Trip Advisor Destination Expert Recommendation: Athuruga

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Spammie in Athuruga

The Reviewer’s favourite might be Cocoa Island, and the Forum’s favourite might be Vilamendhoo, but what is the Experts’ favourite?

The other thing I noted in my survey (looking at the past 6 months of Trip Advisor Maldives Forum posts) was responses by the Destination Experts (DE’s) to the question ‘Which Resort?’ (which is most typically followed by the response, “What is your budget?”). 

First, I must say that I was impressed with the range and balance of their recommendations.  After having visited 19 myself, I’m not sure I would be so balanced in my recommendations (we all have our favourites).

Despite the impressive balance of recommendations, there was a clear favourite…Athuruga.  It was both the top 2 DE’s top recommendation as they suggested it 13 and 7 times respectively. Their next most recommended resorts were Maayafushi (11) and Mirihi (10) collectively. Curiously, most of the Maayafushi suggestions came in the first 3 months and the Athuruga one’s more recently (a shift of sentiment?).  In total, 32 different resorts were proposed by the DE’s. Other favoured resorts include Dhiggiri (8 mentions), Vilamendhoo (6), Bandos (5), Kuramathi (5). The top DE recommended a total 24 resorts on 81 occasions (again, this is just counting those instances where a poster asked a very open ended ‘which resort’ question).

Also, a hats off to all the DE’s on Trip Advisor who do a pretty heroic job of answering the most repetitive and obscure questions with speed, expertise and often a bit of light-hearted fun.

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Best of Maldives Online – TA Resort Popularity: Vilamendhoo

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Having been an active TA Maldives Forum participant (“Maldives Complete”) for a while now, I’ve noticed that one does see the same sort of things come around as regularly as sting rays at feeding time.  Discussions mosquitos, weather, snorkelling, children, snorkelling children, whale sharks. Many of these have been helpfully turned into FAQs by the Destination Experts (DEs). Obviously, one that comes around very regularly (about one out of every ten posts I discovered) is the question “Which resort?”.  With over a hundred resorts to choose from and a few dozen more in the works, we can all appreciate the dilemma.

But for all of the extensive choice, I found it curious that some resorts seemed to dominate the Forum while other great ones were virtually non-existent.  I wondered whether it was just my perception so I did a little test.  I pulled the Maldives Forum posts for the past six months (August through January) and simply logged any resorts mentioned in the post title.  Not extremely scientific as an indicator, but easy, effective and objective. 

Vilamendhoo came out the most popular resort enquired about. But just only as they pipped Reethi Beach 49 mentions to 48 over the last 6 months. Rounding out the top 5 were Kuramathi (40 mentions), Lily Beach (38), and Biyadhoo (37). The lions share are shown above which you can click on to see in a clearer, larger version.

I was also intrigued by the quite prominent resorts that have never come up on the forum at least as an explicit post. Many were Italian oriented resorts more like to go to an Italian language site – Alimatha, Dhiggiri, Gangehi, Kihaadhuffaru, Madoogali.  Other were pretty exclusive so that the butlers probably book the travel – Banyan Tree Madivaru, Dhoni Island, Nika, The Rania Experience. There was clearly an bias towards the lower priced resorts in terms of mentions.  Admittedly, while there are typically fewer rooms/guest on the more expensive/exclusive islands, the modest difference in bed number was not enough to explain the quite extreme difference in post numbers. 

Trip Advisor Maldives Forum

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