Flyertalkers,

I am sitting on the sundeck of our OWV and as the weather currently is not so sunny as to be expected usually during mid December, I am happy to provide you my review until now. As Hilton Group was publishing several times on instagram that Amingiri is there "new flagship resort" I have high expactations on this hotel.

The occupancy currently is around 50% meaning there are currently around maximum 125 guests - the hotel has 107 rooms resulting to approx. 250-300 guests maximum. More or less around 40-50% of all guests arre currently diamond members - so do not expect to be treated as someone special here just because of your loyality. All restaurants are open - but as Beach Shark as well as Origin have a limited offer of meals, you will eat at main restaurant Habitat (or in villa dining) in case you do not want to have something special.

Rooms:
Everything is brandnew and therefore the management tried to built an up-to-date resort e.g. having a pool in each room. I think there are enough pictures to give a feeling of it and therefore I only like to point out that we are staying at an overwater villa with an even number - looking to wide sea and nothing else. When you are not lucky or the hotel is full, it can also be pain in the ...: some villas (no matter which category) will have a look on a nearby other resorts and an under-construction island(!!) which is very shabby from my point of view. Based on comments, there should be also a resort to be built while this island was used for worked during building the Amingiri and one company owns all of the around land. Additonally, some villas have a look to Male capital city and the industrial side(!!) where a bridge should be built and therefore the harbour will be much more nearer at the hotels like Amingiri in future. For us it is a perfect stay - we really watch just to the sea but when I am thinking about spending 1,600$ per night to watch at Male or to the island, I would be very disappointed. In a nutshell, I strongly recommend to avoid

- overwater villas with odd numbers like 501, ..., 535 (as they are facing north additionally there is mostly no sun on the sundeck from lunch time and onwards);
- beach villas with odd numbers 301, 303, .. until 321;
- big beach villas with odd numbers 201, 203, 205, 207, 209;
- all other beach villas and overwater villa suites to be checked for Male view.

Be aware that overwater villas with even numbers facing south are beautiful but have sun during the whole day - but currently no umbrellas on the deck(!!!). We asked for it but nobody takes really care - so we find unfortunately the only eco-unfriendly solution by opening the villa sea side front glasses, placing in the sunbeds and in let the AC run... :-(! No good solution and no help from hotel management.

Breakfast:
It's really 1++ superb. When you would say you 're dissapointed - I would like to ask what's wrong with you. They offer for all different nations a wide range of fresh food. Just order your kind of egg, your asian food etc. and they are trying to make your dreams come true. Fantastic!

GEM (guest experience manager):
One staff will be responsible for you during the entire stay at Amingiri. In detail, you will have a whatsapp group with him/her and he/she is going to arrange everything for you. It sounds like a butler service but in fact I have to say that sometimes he was not on time (as we are Germans this is a very important behavior for us) and overall he was very friendly, but not all time helpful. Compared to other resorts and staff I think this is somehow Maledivian like - they make it to present their full understanding of your desire but they are only solving your issue when you put pressure on them... so, I would say it's fully OK but it was not like to be at Waldorf Astoria etc. (of course) meaning it was in a nutshell nothing special - but quite nice that there was just one person taking care of you.

Btw, the staff all is experienced. Hotel management hired them from other resorts and most of them come changed their employer and come here. Regarding your tip question, as far as I know the local Maledivian employees in the resort have a well-paid contract and therefore it is not like in the US to give e.g. 10% tips. But this is just my feeling and understanding being second time on Maldives (2021/2022).

Diamond status:
We got no upgrade from our OWV with pool to a higher category. There was a bottle of non-alcohol champagne (my wife is pregnant) together with fruits and cakes in our room on our arrival day. Furthermore, the turnover service did leave us new different cakes more or less every evening (three tasty pieces). The diamond happy hour takes place currently from 3 to 4 pm at SIP lounge - as the number of seats are limited and currently there is a very high number of diamond members be there 15min ahead of time. The staff is very friendly. How does the happy hour works? Different to other Hilton resorts, there is not really a beverage list. You just order what you like to drink (e.g. Gin with passion fruit) and you will get it! Furthermore, a mocktail and cocktail of the day is served upon your order and you will get some nuts as well. In case your dream cocktail or drink would be not included, they ll let you know. In a nutshell, this happy hour offer and the staff is both very excellent!

Last but not least, overall it is quite nice here but I hope that it is not the real "flagship resort" of Hilton Group.
We do not regret to spent our days here but for next time Maledivian holiday we will try another resort.

Cheers,
Marcel

PS: pictures will be posted soon. Time for swimming now.