escape4

A villa with an underwater bedroom was considered as part of an early stage of the project, but this room type no longer has this feature.

Got early quotes from the hotel:
Beach Villa $2.1k, Grand Beach Villa $2.3k
Reef Villa $2.3k, Grand Reef Villa $2.5k
Overwater Villa $2.5k, Grand Overwater Villa $2.7k

At that price level expectations are going to be very high. This is materially in excess of most competitors including the St.Regis Maldives which I visited a few months ago. I am looking forward to try WA in October.

I am curious what points redemptions will be. This property is going to be by far the most expensive in the Hilton portfolio (as far I as know) therefore I would not be surprised if Hilton lifts the 95k points cap, unfortunately.

pineapple_09

Hawkeyefan

Wozza2404

It's a new resort, so they'll be keen to get people in the hotel and leaving reviews. I'd imagine availability will be OK for the first 6 months whilst they get sorted. Then it will dry up.

escape4

They have several options. They could offer only one room at 95k pts and the rest being premium awards. Or they could offer only premium awards, becoming the first Hilton property to do so. Or they could have a new cap higher than 95k (even for standard rooms) being used only for this resort (at least at first). Or they could offer several rooms at 95k pts for the first few months to draw traffic and then become more stringent later on.

mikewhyatt

Anyone have experience staying at a brand new hotel in the Maldives? Considering this vs the Conrad. My only concern is I have not been snorkeling often, and would like to see at least a good variety of marine life. Will the construction greatly impact that? I know its a though question to answer but maybe someone has input.

MaldivesFreak

You could try the St. Regis thread here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...er-thread.html
From where it (the resort) opens (sorry, not sure which page that bit is on) you can read about the service issues encountered due to it being a new resort and also lots of sneaky tactics by the resort; like outright lying to guests in a number of areas, peeving off guests and potential guests no end. I seriously doubt you'd have those kinds of issues at the WA. This is being done intentionally by the St. Regis management for the sole purpose of earning as much money as humanly possible, aka greed. There are also a few pages about tipping and the ridiculousness of trying to bribe your butler. It's quite entertaining. Have a read just for that.

As for the snorkelling, contsruction = destruction; so forget about a new resort's house reef for the first few years as there will be almost nothing compared to other resorts or snorkelling / diving sites nearby (which you could easily take trips to if you wanted to stay at a new property). Having to go off island, however, just isn't anywhere near as convenient or pleasurable as going down the steps of your own OWV and snorkelling around it. That's not to mention the cost of those excursions. The Conrad has a really fantastic array of marine life but the WA will have almost none by comparison. The St. Regis is still below average and won't be anywhere near as good as the Conrad for years to come as it's only been just a little more than a year since opening.

Having said all that, the Conrad is postulating a closure of one of its islands this year (but leaving the main one open) to replace all the OWVs on that island so you may want to take that into consideration. There has been quite a bit of talk about it on the thread recently if you want to take a look: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island {MDV}
I suggest searching that thread with 'sell', 'new' & 'owner' as keywords within the last 6 weeks to get to the starting point of that conversation.

Best of luck!

pineapple_09

MaldivesFreak

I've started a wiki. Feel free everyone to add pertinent info as it comes in.


Yes, they do have a lot of options. Will be interesting to see how Hilton USA play this. Also agree with @Wozza2404. Should be discounts and incentives and plenty of availability for a few months at least.

escape4

^

MaldivesFreak

Added some more prices to the wiki. They are for July.

mikewhyatt

I'm so excited for this resort, but even if they open up reward rooms and I am able to book before my honeymoon, who knows if I will be able to swing the F&B costs.... $2k+ per night for the base room I would imagine F&B / activities prices will be fitting..

escape4

The first 100 potential guests to contact the hotel in advance will get a guaranteed 2-category free upgrade. For example if you book the basic room (Beach Villa) then you have the choice of staying in the Grand Reef Villa or the Overwater Villa.

mikewhyatt

Where was this noted?

escape4

I do not believe this is noted anywhere. I was informed when I contacted the hotel by e-mail.