Got back a few days ago from a delightful stay at this property for 4 days, as part of a journey around the subcontinent.
My partner and I flew in from Bangalore since we could maximize our time on Oneworld airlines this way. We took the Indian Airways flight from BLR after a ~6 hour layover in the (shockingly nice) new Bangalore airport. After a few hours reading the paper pre-security, we hopped our flight to Male.
Once landed, we were met by the W rep and driven in a special W van to the other side of the airport island. We were brought into the W cabana there and waited about an hour until our seaplane was ready, via Maldivian Air Taxis.
The Twin Otter ("twotter") took us and a few other couples further west towards the North Ari Atoll. We stopped for a few minutes at the Conrad, then alit to the W. All-in, the time on the seaplane was around 55 minutes. The plane seats about 12 passengers, so it was fairly smooth and not like a bush plane.
We touched down on Fesdu and were greeted by Goetzer (the GM) and other staff who took us around the island for a tour. We were told over email before we arrived that we would be granted an upgrade to an Ocean Oasis room, so we were indeed escorted to our (harbor view) Ocean Oasis. Inside the room they had a few small gifts to greet us, as well as the card offering the Platinum Amenity (500 points/local gift 1/local gift 2). I was pleased they offered this, as it seems hit-or-miss at Luxury Collection properties.
The room keys also featured "W the Card" branding, despite this now being discontinued. I was a member of this, so not sure if it was coincidence, old card stock, or special recognition from the hotel.
The stay itself was amazing. The snorkeling was superb, even just off our back deck. Going off the reef near the spa, we saw a few small pink sharks, three sea turtles, some squid, lots of rays and quite a few fish types I can't recall right now.
The meals were excellent, of course. The prices are rather high though - we spent around $200 each dinner with a glass of wine each and one entree. It's easy to go up to $400 if you get the whole bottle of wine! We mostly had local fish and lobster for each meal.
We didn't use it, but the gym looked rather nice as well. I thought of it as I walked to get cocktails at sunset
Overall, a superb stay. The Platinum recognition was excellent and exceeded my expectations. I took a peek at a guest manifest left out and they clearly noted in places my plat status and took appropriate care. Occupancy seemed pretty good - around 60-70% I think, so they weren't hurting for customers necessarily. We're already planning our next trip here!
Some pictures of the
W Maldives are here as well.