Originally Posted by
joecool1885
People balk when I rank PH over WA, but I've been commenting in reddit forums and FB of late when people talk about Maldives resorts, and I say pretty much exactly what you did: the service at W.A feels like service from a high end resort. The service at P.H feels genuine and personal. The whole experience at P.H felt genuine and personal. W.A is a pinnacle of luxury, to be sure, but it's lacking the Maldives magic.
My personal take:
PH>WA>Conrad>St Regis.... and I say that even spending nights in the Stella Maris Villa and JJAE.
(Conrad vs WA can be a tough comparison too though, because they're just so different.) Easy to put St. Regis on the bottom- they are blatantly for-profit first and for-customer second.
For complete transparency, I might add the following: our personal host at W.A was nice and effecient, but her service felt fairly forced. We had superior interactions with Ahmed (front office manager) and our server at breakfast.
At PH, we rarely interacted with our personal host. Based on our needs and plans, it wasnt really necessary. However, the GM (Nik) and front office manager (Mohammed) frequently were out and about connecting with guests. Our interactions with them were the kind that made us want to return.
Even as we waited for the outbound plane in Kooddoo, one of the staff members took us around the island and talked about Maldivian life. This was the genuine Maldives experience, and W.A (for all its greatness) couldn't compete.
This is interesting. I almost booked the PH for our stay later this year but went with WA in the end.
The biggest sway for me is something that hasn't been mentioned, so perhaps isn't an issue for most, but it was yacht transfer vs seaplane. We've done seaplanes in the past but you've got the faff of going to the little lounges, then waiting for whatever schedule you're on, then a thunderstorm rolls in and you're delayed, then you get on and they're cramped and they stink of fuel. It's just not what we want to be doing after a long international flight. They're great to experience, but honestly unless we absolutely have to and there's no alternative, we're not keen on doing any more.
Walking straight out onto a yacht just feels like it will suit us better.
Note: I'm aware the PH can be done on a domestic flight and 30 minute speedboat, but even that just felt long on what is, ultimately, a short trip where we want to do nothing but chill out.