This email response is very disheartening as it appears to be a blatant lie based on photos and the many documented stories. Conrad Maldives should just be honest at this point and their statement should be the following:

“We sold full access to the public areas of the resort for 12 hours to XX number of guests on 2/14 in order to increase revenue. Due to the negative response from our guests we have changed our policy and will no longer be offering access to the resort to guests who are not staying overnight.”

This is a response I could live with and think that maybe things aren’t going completely downhill from here. But this is not the case and I am certain that this is the end of this resort as we know it. For anyone planning a trip here I would really think carefully about all your other options before committing - things will only get worse.

Luckily we had already cancelled 15 of our 21 nights over 2019/20 festive season and switched them to the WA. We plan to keep the 6 nights for now at CM, but if availability arises at the WA then we are likely to switch to WA for the full stay.