My wife and I just returned from a 5 night stay at this resort and had a fantastic experience. In fact, we both rate this as our best Maldives experience, surpassing both the St Regis and W properties, which we have stayed at before.

We were looking on May 29 for a location to do a last minute vacation and had largely settled on the Maldives but were debating which resort. With 350,000 points remaining in my account it was looking like a return to the W was the best option. To my astonishment, the Ritz dropped to 320,000 points for 5 nights which I simply could not believe. With the base rate at approximately $2500 per night, I calculated a return of nearly 3.5c per point (even after deducting the boat transfer) - almost certainly the best use of Marriott points I have ever achieved.

As the St Regis was previously our best stay in the Maldives, I've summarised below how we felt the Ritz compared below as this seems to be a frequent topic.

Rewards Value: As both resorts are essentially under the same pricing (until full dynamic pricing next year) this is a clear win for the Ritz. The base Ritz overwater villa is leagues ahead of the St Regis Garden Villa. I would argue to compete with the Ritz overwater villa you need to receive a minimum of the Panoramic Overwater Villa at the St Regis.

Pre-arrival preferences: Despite booking with less than 2 days notice before arrival, the resort noted our preference for an unobstructed ocean view and snorkelling. We were positioned exactly in the middle of the sunrise overwater villas with a reef directly in front of our villa. At the St Regis, despite asking for a Sunset Overwater Villa as far away from the Whale Bar as possible months in advance, we were allocated the closest one to the Whale Bar.

Villa: The hard product was truly excellent, although smaller than the St Regis overwater options, the design more than compensates. We much preferred the pool, particularly as it looks directly out onto the ocean. Everything was in great condition at the Ritz, whereas the St Regis showed some wear and tear (particularly on the outside). Another important aspect is privacy, a great number of the regular Overwater Villas at the St Regis overlook other villas. The Ritz design minimises this (as does the W).

Air Conditioning: I noted during my stay the reports of damp building up next to the air conditioning. We had no such issue, but as we are people who prefer cool temperatures we took care to keep the balcony door shut and used the shower as the 'airlock' a previous poster mentioned. At the St Regis we found our windows would become coated in condensation obstructing the view, we faced no such issues at the Ritz. The air conditioning itself was good enough for our needs and whisper quiet.

Food and Beverage: We felt that the food quality at the Ritz was consistently better than the St Regis, particularly room service. However, there is considerably less range. Also, travelling to the adjacent island for Arabesque via the ferry was a little inconvenient. So I would call this even.

Butler Service: Eddie, our butler at the Ritz, was excellent. He understood the purpose of our stay and also used the information I shared to customise our experience. Once I explained we had previously stayed at the W and St Regis, he used those for comparision of what we should expect - particularly the latter, where he used to work. As we had an early check out at the end of the stay, he very graciously organised our final breakfast via room service and comped it for us. Our St Regis butler was extremely robotic in comparison and occasionally attempted to upsell activities, although he did provide great support when my wife fell ill.

Snorkeling: This is potentially the biggest weakness of the Ritz. I very much appreciated our butler's candour on this when we arrived, he acknowledged that the Ritz reef is not yet at the standard of either of the previous resorts visited. I still enjoyed snorkelling, but only saw tropical fish. In contrast at the St Regis and W, we snorkeled with a turtle and witnessed countless reef sharks.

Spa: We received complimentary 12 minute spa treatments as part of the June 1 anniversary celebration at the Ritz. They graciously let me donate my slot to my wife so she got to enjoy 24 minutes. She rated it highly, but we both agreed that the St Regis spa has a better offering. The St Regis has an inifinity whirlpool, Sauna and Steam Room. The Ritz Spa doesn't have any of these and for reasons I wasn't clear on their sauna/steam room was at the other end of the resort.

Elite recognition: As a Titainum, I did not receive an upgrade at either resort, but we booked the villa category we wanted. The Ritz offered 20% off breakfast and 30% off lunch at arabesque, alongside 2 free cocktails per stay. There was also a Bonvoy members reception on Friday, with free drinks and canapes. The St Regis offered the usual breakfast, but there was little else in the way of elite recognition that I recall. I would say that free breakfast still trumps the other benefits, although the Ritz is clearly putting more effort in here.

Nickel and Diming, aka the small costs: This I think is a really important difference to stress between the resorts. At the St Regis, at every turn we were being charged for everything. Water at restaurants (we elected not to awkwardly bring our own water with us and did not see a single other guest doing this), soda and biscuits in the room. In contrast at the Ritz, all restaurants serve you complimentary water from the same bottles you receive in the room without fuss. Additionally you have the free minibar (the same perk as when we stayed at the W).

So, in summary we felt that the Ritz won out in terms of rewards value, meeting pre-arrival preferences, the villa, air conditioning, butler service and the small costs. The St Regis is better with regard to snorkeling, the spa and elite recognition. And I consider food and beverage a tie. Therefore, overall we consider the Ritz our best stay.

Of course, this is all subjective - but I hope it will add a data point for those comparing. Ultimately, all three resorts we have stayed at have been fantastic. If I was looking to go to the Maldives redeeming Bonvoy points, I would recommend a split stay between the Ritz and St Regis (5 nights each) as the way to experience the best of both worlds. If you are budget, or points constrained (including if you cannot upgrade from the base Garden Villa) swap the St Regis for the W.