Just returned from 2 nights at Waldorf + 5 at Conrad. A few things I noticed in case they're helpful for others (apologies if some of these are already noted). Happy to answer any questions folks have regarding either resort or comparison/contrast, etc

• Standard BVs are great in terms of beach access, dense vegetation outside, outdoor tub+shower, but the interior really leaves a lot to be desired. My opinion might have been different if I hadn't just come from the brand new Waldorf, but honestly the interior of the BVs were pretty disappointing. Quite outdated, old furniture, old electronics, etc. It also was not clear to me from the property's photos that the standard BVs are not freestanding villas, they're attached in a group kind of like townhouses, and there is little privacy on the beach side. Even on the outdoor bathroom side, there is visual privacy from the fence but you have neighbors very closeby that you can hear if they're talking/showering/etc. These really are better described as large hotel rooms/suites IMO than 'villas'. I suppose we could have paid the $500/night to upgrade to the DBV, but then we got something about 5x better than a DBV at the Waldorf (Reef Villa) with $0 upgrade cost / as the standard room type, so the value that represents in comparison is questionable
• Upon arriving, concierge told us that there were no reservations available for dinner, literally at any restaurant, for the duration of our stay (!). It wasn't made clear to us in any comms from the hotel that restaurants had to be pre-booked well in advance. Thankfully she put us on waitlists each night and several of them did clear, but this would have been a big problem otherwise. They appear to be drastically restricting capacity for whatever reason because each time we ate at a restaurant for dinner there were plenty of empty tables despite this 'completely booked' situation. She mentioned COVID but these are open-air restaurants so that doesn't make a ton of sense; she also mentioned that the resort expected the newly-renovated buffet to be more popular for dinner (perhaps hence many other restaurants only opening a few days/wk). Maybe they're having staffing shortages?
  • We had dinner at Atoll buffet that first night upon arrival due to the reservation issue, which was a horrible value. Buffet was just as expensive as full meals at Ufaa, Mandhoo, Sunset Grill, etc, all of which were drastically better experiences. Ufaa in particular was awesome. Definitely would recommend avoiding the buffet for dinner. Breakfast on the other hand was excellent. The front desk staff was nice enough to refund the buffet charge upon checkout.
• I found the drinking water situation to be unbelievably irritating. Waiters will sometimes give you 'Conrad water' / 'house water', sometimes not, sometimes rudely argue about it. Maybe this is an American thing, but I really see no reason to constantly buy bottled water when they're serving the 'Conrad water' at breakfast in the buffet area w/ cucumbers (but sometimes not at your table...). One particularly egregious example was that one day they passed around water w/ cucumber by the pool for free, but if you ask a pool server for tap water they couldn't possibly give you that... I just don't find it to be luxurious in any way to deny guests something simple like this in what is clearly a money grab. The pool area at minimum should really have access to drinking water.
• General property maintenance issues - pool umbrellas had rips in them, paint needs to be fixed up on various buildings, Quiet Zone pool which is a stunning setting overall nonetheless had tons of missing pool tiles, the thatched roof of several buildings (incl our BV) is patchy or even completely bare chicken wire, etc; these wouldn't be a big deal but with the rates they charge we really expected better
• Food is very close to being as expensive as Waldorf, comparable price for the seaplane/yacht transfer, so honestly in my opinion the only benefit of Conrad vs Waldorf is the more natural feel of the island (since it isn't man-made). Service, food, transfer experience, and of course quality of the villas are all in a completely different league at Waldorf. Even Waldorf's house reef was much better than we expected for a man-made island. I am just not sure I could justify returning to Conrad w/o significant improvements at these food prices when the WA exists if we're talking a points redemption stay.
• Jetpack is awesome! Highly recommend checking it out
• Transfer experience - Conrad lounge seemed surprisingly outdated to us, did not have sufficient AC, food was very basic. The wait for the seaplane was several hours; contrasted with WA picking you up in their yacht directly in front of the airport with zero wait for essentially the same price I have to say this is a disadvantage of the Conrad (location is not something they can control to be fair, but it really does impact your stay). After a long flight or multiple flights, the last thing you want to do is sit around for hours in a mediocre lounge without effective AC

The above might sound harsh, but for the prices I think Conrad could be doing much better in the areas noted. It is a beautiful set of islands and a few minor property + service improvements could make a big difference.