Originally Posted by platbrownguy

We just finished a 5-night stay here. (Me + wife + 3yo son.) This was our fifth trip to the Maldives since 2018 and our third trip to Hadahaa. Prior stays were here (2018), W (2019), Vakkaru (Sep 2020), and then here again (2023).

I had the St. Regis booked for this trip but I read that there was a new GM at Hadahaa so we decided to come back here instead (our stay here last year was great in almost all respects, but the manager at the time, Kristofer Quadros, was frankly not good to the staff, and it was a little disconcerting to be there with an obvious tension in the air). The new GM at Hadahaa, Anshul Sharma, is truly excellent, was highly visible, and was revered by the staff. Morale is like night-and-day better as a result.

Other than that, thankfully, everything else was essentially the same as it ever was. As reported elsewhere, breakfast now includes a do-it-yourself cocktail stand with one option per day (screwdriver, bloody mary, tequila sunrise, etc.). But beyond that, it's the same magical place that is undoubtedly the most special place my wife and I have ever been to, and it is always our answer to "what's your favorite place on earth." After this stay, I can't imagine spending any Maldives days anywhere else.

I edited the wiki a bit, mostly because it advertised that Hadahaa is not family-friendly. To me, it's quite the opposite: literally dozens of staff on the island knew my kid's name (the icing on the welcome cake even said his name in chocolate), and whatever he wanted, it magically appeared. He wouldn't even ask for things, but someone would come up and say "hey do you want a mango smoothie" and bring him one, or some new beach toys, or offer to take him for a buggy ride. They even let him (yes, a 3 year old) drive and (pretend to) almost crash the buggy. He was delirious. The journey is not for everyone, and I get that people quibble about the prices or about paying for a kid's bed or airplane/speedboat transfer. But if I had to work 50 years to spend another week here, I'd say sign me up. I hope this place never changes.