How to Pick Your Perfect Maldives Resort – UPDATED

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Perfect Maldives Resort

Maldives Complete’s most popular article by far has been “How to Pick Your Perfect Maldives Resort” with 288 comments. But it was written way back in 2013 and the destination, and the considerations around choosing a resort, have shifted a fair bit.

Some considerations are virtually identical …

  • Large or small island?
  • How important is off-beach snorkelling?
  • Seaplane ride?
  • Children?

Some questions are also the same except for my commentary with numbers…

  • What’s your budget? – While the question remains the same, my comment that resorts “vary in cost from £1,000 per week to over £10,000” would have to change to “vary in cost from £200 to £20,000 per night”
  • All Inclusive? – Same consideration as before but instead of “38 out of 132 resorts offer all inclusive”, it is now “59 out of 186”
  • Any favourite activities? – Same consideration as before but instead “now with over 120 resorts, there is something for everyone” the count has grown to 186.

The one question that has changed quite dramatically (and the one which was one of the primary drivers to be creating the spreadsheet which led to the website) is “does the resort have a pool”. When I first published the piece, I noted that “86 out of 132 resorts have pools” (65%…lots of choice but certainly no guarantee). Today, 180 out of 186 – 97%! – have a resort pool. So not so difficult to find a resort with one (in fact, the real challenge is finding one without one). What I noted in my article addendum I made in October 2020 was that the new thing was “private pools” for each villa. These days, 727 room categories out of 1,406 (or 51%) have their very own dedicated private pools. So the question is really more “do you want your own private pools” and it is less a question of finding a resort than finding a suitable room type at a resort.

And as my follow up piece, “How to Pick the Perfect Maldives Villa” noted, the villa “pool” consideration itself has lots of variations, ie. luxury, standard, plunge, jacuzzi.

 

Posted in: Industry \ Tagged:

How to Pick the Perfect Maldives VILLA

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Perfect Maldives villa

By far the highest engagement post of Maldives Complete is the post “How to Pick the Perfect Maldives Resort” (200+ comments and new ones coming in every day). But now the destination landscape has changed so people are looking as much for the perfect “villa” as the perfect “resort”. It used to be that the resort choice drove most of the variation in experience. The few room categories on offer simply provided some modest variations in size and location of your room. Most of the amenities (eg. pool) were shared across the property. Today, resorts typically offer over a dozen different room/villa categories with massive variations in size, amenities, and of course budget.

Like the Maldives Complete “Resort Finder”, the companion “Room Finder” was developed to filter a short list down from an even more overwhelming number of room types to choose from – 1,137 Room types versus 164 (active) Resorts. Below is a guide to the top considerations and what to take into account when considering them:

  1. BUDGET!! – As with the “Perfect Resort” piece, the very first question is your budget. Choosing a general star-category (eg. 4-star, 5-star) no longer narrows down the expected expenditure. The top of range villa can be many times the price of the entry-level one. The majority of resorts, even some 4-star ones, seem to offer a blockbuster “Presidential” villa which is many times the cost (and size) of their standard lodging.
  2. ISLAND – While the villa is the focus, you still have to consider your surroundings and ask yourself the other questions about the “Perfect Resort” (eg. size, house reef, public facilities).
  3. LOCATION – Location, location, location. For resorts themselves, that question is usually about transferring and distance to Male. With villa types, that question refers to a spectrum of possibilities essentially stack-ranked by proximity to the ocean:
    1. Water Villa (Middle of the Ocean) – Completely detached from the home island (with a shuttle boat service).
    2. Water Villa (Jetty) – In the middle of the water with jetty to the island.
    3. Water Villa (Water’s Edge) – Sometimes referred to as a “Lagoon Villa” or some other slightly different level. The front of the villa rests over very shallow water with the rear of it pretty much over land.
    4. Beach Villa – On the island typically within a few dozen metres of the water’s edge.
    5. Garden Villa – Typically tucked deeper in the island often without even a view of the water.
  4. PRIVATE POOL– When I first started my Maldives Complete research 20+ ago, a main focus was to identify which resorts had a pool for our kids to play and it’s #7 on the “Perfect Resort” check list. Now, the majority of 5-star resorts (and 5-star properties are the majority of resorts) feature your own private pool with your villa. Even these have a bit of a sliding scale with the most luxurious at the top:
    1. Luxury Pool – Some pools have special feature like glass sides or slides.
    2. Swimming Pool – The standard in this consideration of something that you can more than immerse yourself in, but even move or play around in (maybe even swim laps).
    3. Plunge Pool – Too shallow to swim, but plenty big enough to immerse yourself for a refreshing dip.
    4. Jacuzzi – Some villas feature a jacuzzi which does allow you to immerse yourself, but the inability to move around much is compensated to some degree by soothing bubbles.
  5. SUNRISE/SUNSET– The last I checked, a sunset view is going to cost you on average $200 per sunset. I’m happy watching the sunset at the bar with a fresh cocktail in my hand, but enough people must value watching it in the privacy of their villa. If this matters to you, it will affect your price. This variable is not (yet) in the Room Finder as the majority of resorts don’t make this distinction, but it is something you might want to consider in your final choice. Either in looking at the published room categories or, if not a distinct category by the resort, submitting a preference when you book.
  6. SIZE– Both in number of bed rooms and in square footage. Not a big deal to me, but if it matters to you, it is something that is easily filtered on the Room Finder.
  7. FAMILY– Minimum age. For Resort’s, it something people seek. For Room’s it’s something people need to avoid (if you have children that age).

The Room Finder also allows you to filter on “Glass Floor”, but primarily because that it relatively easy data to get a hold of, but frankly sure aesthetic touches are not something I would recommend using to guide your choice.

There are actually dozens of amenities and features that vary by resort and room (eg. hair dryers, bidets, safe, kettle, deck chair). I’ve never felt these were serious determinants of where to stay so I haven’t done the work to put them in the database, but if you are interested in such details (maybe to split hairs on a toss up choice between options), I recommend Mondo Maldives whose website does a thorough job of tracking this information.

Posted in: Industry \ Tagged:

How to Pick the Perfect Maldives Resort

\ 288 Comments \ by

Dreamy resort

A sunny Bank Holiday Weekend was an inspiration to invest a bit of time on Maldives Complete and revamp the Best of Maldives section a bit. With now over 300 distinctions, I’ve had to add yet another tabbed page (‘Service’) to hold them all. I split out sub-categories in a few areas like adding a ‘Sweets’ section for ‘Food’ and splitting ‘Drinks’ into ‘Soft’ and ‘Bar’. I added a new section called ‘Workplace’ distinctions since good management and workplace innovation are pet professional subjects of mine.

With more resorts with more distinctions than ever, it has never been harder to wade through the riches of choice to find the resort for your often once in a lifetime trip. The Sunday Times featured a piece a short while back on ‘How to Pick the Perfect Resort’, but it focused on skiing). I often get emails and other contacts from Maldives Complete fans looking for advice on choosing the best resort for them (there is no ‘best resort’, there is only ‘the best resort for you’). I thought I would document the steps I often go through to help them winnow down the selection…

  1. What’s your budget? – Don’t ever say ‘Money is no object’ in the Maldives unless you are a billionaire.  This is the single most important question to ask to start with and will narrow your search significantly (resorts vary in cost from £1,000 per week to over £10,000).
  2. Large or small island? – Some people prefer the intimacy of a place barely larger than a plot of sand and palm tree. Others prefer more to explore and more infrastructure to support a broader range of options and activities (islands range in size from 5,000 square metres to to over 2 million)
  3. How important is off-beach snorkelling? – This is also known as the “House Reef” question. You can snorkel on any Maldives island. But real snorkelling afficionadoes eschew the limited fish and coral life of the sandy lagoons for the thrill of the ‘main event’…house reefs that plummet from the shallows into deep open water where large schools of fish and forests of variegated coral fill the wall between land and ocean. The most active and enthusiastic snorkelers will often insist on a great house reef. Those who just want to try a bit of great snorkelling are happy with going on a few snorkel safari excursions.
  4. Seaplane ride? – The resorts split roughly down the middle between (a) those that are a speed boat ride away from the main Male airport, or (b) those that require a seaplane transfer to a more remote atoll (81 out of 132 resorts are a seaplane ride away). The advantages of the the seaplane ride is that it opens up more resort options, but more importantly the trip can be an exhilarating experience in its own right. The birdseye view of the mottled blue tapestry of island, reef and ocean is almost like visiting another planet. The disadvantages of the seaplane include…
    • Extra cost – Typically about $500 round trip.
    • Extra time and logistics for the transfer – Especially on the return leg where the resorts need to book lots of extra time into your transfer to make sure no weather delays have you miss your plane.
    • Noise – You can’t even talk to your seat mate the small turbo props are so loud in the cabin (ear plugs are standard issue on all flights to reduce the irritation).
    • Fear of flying – You pretty much had to get on a plane to arrive in the Maldives in the first place (unless you are on a cruise stop), but nervous flyers who can just about handle jet planes can find smaller planes a bit to unsettling.
  5. Children? – Some resorts actively cater for children. Other resorts (or sections of them like their water villas) actively discourage them (or a few even prohibit them).
  6. All Inclusive? – Some people prefer ‘all inclusive’ plans so they know what total costs they are on the hook for and don’t have to keep track of the extra charges that they are racking up. (38 out of 132 resorts offer all inclusive).
  7. Pool? – While the resorts are ostensibly surrounded by the world’s biggest swimming pool, an actual pool is often appealing to some for lounging, refreshing, exercising or playing. We often found that the children could only take so much irritation from the salt and sand of the beach and preferred spending a chunk of time at a more sanitised pool environment (86 out of 132 resorts have pools).  [ADDENDUM October 2020] In my first post, this comment referred to a common area resort pool, but a decade later, pretty much every resort has a main pool so this is no longer a distinguishing feature.  What is a distinguishing feature is whether you want your OWN private pool at your villa.  This villa feature has skyrocketed in popularity to the point that fully half of all room categories now include a private pool.
  8. Any favourite activities? – The old myth (and mystique) about the Maldives is that there is nothing to do.  Now with over 120 resorts, there is something for everyone and virtually every activity and pastime are catered for.  If you have a particular interest or hobby like kite surfing, painting or cigar smoking, finding the resorts that offer these will get you right to a short list of places that will offer these special treats for you.

The answers to the first 6 questions typically will get you down to a manageable shortlist through the Maldives Complete Resort Finder. From there people use question 7 as a tie breaker or just surf the Maldives Complete Profile section to see which property most captures their fancy.

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,