MaldivesFreak

Further to the recent discussion on upgrading, I think we can highlight a few important pieces of advice for those serious about securing a paid upgrade to a particular type of OWV:

1. The less number of villas in the category you want to upgrade to, the further out (from check-in date) you should try to secure the upgrade, e.g; there are only 2 PWVs and 2 SunWVs so if you specifically want that class/type of villa, the earlier you should secure the upgrade. Perhaps 3-6 months before check-in is a good idea. If you are after a SWV or a RWV for example, then 2-3 months prior should be sufficient.

2. The longer the duration of your upgrade, the earlier you should secure it, e.g; if you are planning on upgrading for say 1, 2 or 3 nights then 2 or 3 months beforehand would be sufficient. If longer, say 5 or more nights, then add a couple of months to that. The reason being that if your upgrade is not so short a time, it's not as easy for the reservations department to assign you a villa if the common duration of upgrades is, say, 2 or 3 nights. It's a lot easier to slot a 2 or 3 night stay into a villa booking matrix that already has a lot of 2 or 3-night stays than it is to slot a 7-night stay into that matrix. Just like when the ladies book a hairdo, if it requires them to be there for 5 or 6 hours at a time you aren't going to see a lot of availability/time slots on short notice.

3. The longer the duration of the upgrade, the more bargaining power you are likely to have, especially when you are paying up front or agree to the rate early. From personal experience, friends' experiences and reading both here and on TripAdvisor, it seems that the most common length of upgrade to an OWV is around 2-4 nights with 3 being the average. It would seem reasonable that if you wanted to upgrade 5, 6, 7 or more nights of your stay, you would have a better chance at securing a lower rate.

The above would apply to all OWVs but in particular the following classes; SWV, DWV, PWV, SunWV and possibly the OWVs on Rangalifinolhu as they can be split into smaller groups; RWVs (14) and FWVs (7).

If we list the villa types and overall numbers we can get a better idea of availability and just how difficult it is to upgrade sometimes:

Total number of rooms: 150
Total number of OWVs: 71

Total number of WVs: 28
Total number of SWVs: 12
Total number of RWVs: 14
Total number of FWVs: 7
Total number of DWVs: 6
Total number of PWVs: 2
Total number of SunWVs: 2

Key:
* OWVs in Sky Blue are on Rangali Island (smaller island)
* OWVs in Blue are on Rangalifinolhu Island (main island)


What do you think, people? Constructive criticism and input welcome. TIA.