I've stayed at the Conrad Maldives twice and just visited WA so I thought I'd weigh in on this question.

The first time I stayed at Conrad Maldives, it was my first visit to the Maldives and I was blown away by how beautiful the place was and the stunning sea plane transfer. Even though I was in "just" a beach villa I thought the whole experience was great.

Second time at Conrad Maldives, I was in an overwater villa (324) and I thought it was great that I could walk out hundreds of meters into the sea from my villa and there's just an endless horizon. The water villa experience was even better, though the second visit wasn't quite as amazing or "magical" as the first, because I had already seen all the pretty views and everything. And on the second visit the sea plane stopped at another resort on the way to and from Conrad, meaning it was basically a 90 minute transfer each way, and that's after waiting 1-2 hours at the airport on arrival. And my girlfriend and I both got a little bored during the second visit to Conrad, as she doesn't swim much, and we already went to Ithaa the first time and didn't want to do that again, and we had pretty much tried the restaurants that we wanted to, etc.

Nonetheless, I still love Conrad Maldives and I was a little nervous after booking at WA and reading some of the pre-opening posts here about lack of foliage, prices, etc. I was worried that I was going to show up at WA and immediately conclude "Sh*t, I should have gone back to Conrad."

But that's not the case. I loved WA and I'm glad we didn't go back to Conrad, mainly because we got to experience somewhere new and different. The base beach villas are stunning and have more private outdoor space than I've ever seen anywhere with huge decks, day beds, loungers, sitting area, pool, etc. You can walk out 40 meters or so from some beach villas before the drop off and that's pretty good, way better than the beach villas at Conrad.

If you have stayed at Conrad Maldives before, I would definitely recommend trying WA, unless you are very price sensitive and will be put off by the higher priced transfers and F&B.

If you have never been to the Maldives, and you have limited points/funds to spend, and you REALLY want to stay in an overwater villa and/or experience the beautiful sea plane transfer, then the 95,000 points per night at Conrad (76,000 if getting fifth night free) is a great choice too. I wouldn't consider a beach villa at Conrad though after experiencing it at WA, I'd consider that to me a major downgrade. I have seen though some intriguing cash deals for overwater villas at Conrad for like $600 a night, less than half the cost of a beach villa at WA, and if I were spending my own money, I'd definitely choose the overwater villa at Conrad if I could get it for less than half of the beach villa at WA. If it were a "money is no object" trip, I'd pick the WA.

Note that if your time is quite limited or you don't have a lot of patience for waiting around, note that you can get to WA in 75 minutes from when your plane lands at Male airport, whereas it may take 3-3.5 hours to get to Conrad if you're waiting for the seaplane and then you have to stop en route.

All the meals at WA were great, at Conrad I had a few disappointing meals. F&B cost is basically 25-30% higher for everything at WA. I preferred the breakfast at WA because you get the best of both worlds, the full buffet and ordering off the menu, all in one venue. Whereas at Conrad, you had to choose between the breakfast venue with full buffet (that's less luxurious and right near the activities area and often had kids running around) or the breakfast at Vilu, where you could order of the menu in a serene setting but then only a very, very limited buffet.

I also liked being able to ride the free bicycles around the WA, even though it's only the second time I've ridden a bike since I was a kid (other time was Xi'an city walls a few years ago).