Originally Posted by
ChocolateFactory
We arrived yesterday and I guess we probably would like it if we hadn’t stayed at the St. Regis before.
But as we have stayed at the St. Regis, I’m rather annoyed by the hotel and I’m already considering leaving early. To be fair, cash rates at the St. Regis are 3-6x of the PH rates, but for someone staying on points, this is largely irrelevant.
- The transfer from Malé is ROUGH. It has nothing at all to do with luxury. The St. Regis picks you up in a Bentley and takes you to their private lounge. The PH puts you into a run down lounge where I didn’t even dare to eat or drink anything. There are no alternatives nearby either. Luckily I had some beef jerky in my bag.
The engine of the speed boat died three times during the half-hour transfer in pitch-black darkness. The sea was very calm, so it didn’t feel scary, but I don’t think this should have happened.
- The hotel is definitely showing its age. It’s still well maintained, but they probably should have bought a new mattress a while ago, for example.
- The diving/water sports equipment at the St. Regis is top notch. Our diving instructor was joking about how ridiculous it is that they use top-of-the-line equipment for novice divers. The most expensive brands, all brand new.
By contrast, for example the life jackets at the Park Hyatt are really showing their age. I’m sure it’s only cosmetic, but the colors have faded etc.
- Not to sound snobby (we’re staying on points),, but the clientele is very different. I would expect both hotels to be mostly booked on points, but the St. Regis clientele was a lot more exclusive. It seems like most of the guests at the PH are typical package holiday tourists, probably sharing rooms on a cash rate.
- But what really grinds my gears is the cash grab that is their F&B offerings. Prices are about 2x of what we paid at the St. Regis and the selection at breakfast for example is a fraction of what the St. Regis offers. They also limit a-la-carte orders to two per person for Globalists.
Twice a week, they run a BBQ that runs $300 per person or so, during which they close all restaurants, so the only alternative is in-room dining. This alone is making me consider cutting our stay short.
It seems like they’ve burnt through several GMs over the course of a couple of years.
If I had to guess, I’d say they have severe economic issues.
Edit:
I think it really depends if you’re staying on cash or points. I don’t think I’d be willing to pay the exorbitant cash rates at the St. Regis. The cash rates here aren’t that unreasonable.
It’s still a nice hotel and the service is good.
Different strokes I guess. Stayed at both last February. Liked them both, but not sure about your two food complaints/observations. First, we spent about the same at both (stayed at both for 5 nights) - there was a BBQ, but the restaurants were still open, so not the case for us (or our friends who were there in September last year). Second, I laughed out loud when you complained about the Park " limit(ing) a-la-carte orders to two per person" at breakfast. Seriously? With that buffet? I eat a LOT and never felt like anything other than stuffed after breakfast, which we thoroughly enjoyed, btw. Not sure I could choke down 3 entrees, but, again, different strokes.
Regarding the dive shop, I loved it - equipment was all great and I got my Advanced Open Water cert. Would happily dive with them any time.
I would agree, however, that the two resorts are VERY different.
Here's my review from last February, some of which syncs with your perspective, some of which is wildly different. Again, different strokes and YMMV. I also will paste in my answer to a question about Park vs St. Regis at the very end here:Just returned from a heavenly 5 night stay here followed by 5 nights at the St. Regis. I am a Lifetime Globalist (was Lifetime Diamond before that...) which I believe played into our stay.
Happy to answer any questions, but I'll just say our stay was spectacular. We were originally slated to have the base room for 2 nights followed by 3 nights in a a sunset overwater. We were upgraded to a Deluxe Beach Pool Villa. It was amazing, and the perfect way to start our first trip to the Maldives! In fact, my wife loved it so much we asked to extend our stay there for 3 nights, then 2 nights at the Sunset OVW, which they happily agreed to give us. The room was great, but the pool was amazing. We were outside for the entire 3 days we were in this room. The beach was very close, and in addition to the sunbed chairs in the pool and the floating bean bag type chairs, we had chairs on the beach. Most of our time was at the beach or in the water. When we got hot, we'd go in the water then our outdoor cabana. Showered outside every day which is really a cool feeling.
Obtained my Advanced Open Water certification with Ruben at the dive shop. He is a great guy and a terrific and patient instructor. Plus the diving was out of this world, especially the drift dive we did off of Dhaandoo, where he found several massive sea turtles resting in their little caves and then several large grey sharks while using our coral hooks. Just an amazing series of dives and a great experience in gaining more scuba skills. Can't recommend highly enough.
Everyone probably knows this, but the house reef is out of this world. We did a night dive on the house reef which was awesome - shrimp, lobsters, a shark, etc. plus bioluminescent plankton! Snorkeling during the day was also pretty awesome. At the sunset overwater, I literally climbed down the ladder and was greeted by a small sea turtle less than 10 feet away from me munching on algae. Plentiful fish and healthy coral everywhere, which is not the norm at most Maldives resorts.
The team here is extraordinary. I was concerned reading some of the posts about Nik leaving, but I can say that the new manager, Kristofer, reached out and we spoke with him multiple times. He embraced and reacted quickly to feedback. For example, walking around the island is awesome, but it is much tougher at high tide because you are pushed to rocks in a few places instead of sand. My wife suggested to him that they post the tide times at Blue Journeys on the chalk board. They started doing it the next day. He also did other things for us that made the stay very special.
The nightly Globalist cocktail hour was also awesome - the appetizers they provided and the cocktails were wonderful. My wife loved one of the salad creations we tasted. Kristofer spoke to the chef and she was able to have that same salad for dinner that evening. Every day, all three of the appetizers were different and were not menu items and we found that the chef would happily whip up variations of those and regularly ordered stuff off menu. Vinod at the bar was great, friendly and remembered our names and cocktail preferences after the first day.
Also loved the breakfast here. They have both "western" choices, but I really favored the Maldivian options. Great way to start the day, especially the Mas Huni, tuna with coconut and peppers wrapped in a flatbread cone that they'd make at your table.
Happy to answer any questions anyone has.
Thanks for the report! My question is how does it compare to the St. Regis?
Very different vibe. The Park Hyatt feels like you are on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. We'd spend half a day after breakfast at the beach outside our villa and not see another person in 4 or 5 hours. Like not even out on the water. We loved it - it really set the tone for our vacation and made it feel like we were as far away as we were from the real world.
The St. Regis felt more like a large resort - more people, much larger island, but you see people regularly. We walked around the island at the Hyatt 3 times. I don't think you could do that at the St. Regis.
Regarding food, both were very good, though the St. Regis definitely had more choices. Treatment as an elite felt better at the Hyatt (nightly free cocktail and appetizers, constant recognition, champagne in the room a couple of different nights, gifts, etc) vs. the St. Regis. No upgrades, required to leave our room at noon, etc.
St Regis has a HUGE edge if you have to spend several hours in Male - their new lounge is excellent. Overall - Loved them both, will likely return to both in 2025.