soy

I was here about 10yrs ago and really enjoyed snorkeling the house reef. Am now planning to go back but am concerned by some comments upthread about bleached coral. Has it really deteriorated that much in recent years, or are we just talking about a 'relative' decline from what it once was ?

flyingmusicianlax

Went snorkeling yesterday between Rangali and Mandhoo Island and yes, it's pretty bad. Maybe a spot of black coral here and there, but otherwise looks fossilized. All brown and grey and white. There ARE some water adventures you can do here that I'm told will take you to vibrant coral areas, but I did not sign up for them.

gnomey

MaldivesFreak

That's the one. Anything with that label is local.

MaldivesFreak

More disappointment with the cost-cutting and general stinginess at Rangali: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...li_Island.html
I wonder if Stefano thinks the comparatively small amount of money saved here and there is all worth the bad PR Rangali is getting of late.

ab_initio

It did in my case but as others have observed it's not "supposed" to.

ab_initio

Checked out a few days ago, didn't receive any and didn't think to ask or remember the tip upthread about tipping the housekeeper.

Carl Christensen

lhrhappy

All of the coral in the house reef is dead and bleached. Go for the aquatic life instead. The water is still teeming with it. Huge schools of colorful fish, tortoises, sharks, morays, etc.

It wasn't my favorite, but it's because I prefer fattier fish, not because there was anything wrong with it.

Sounds like sticker shock combined with a couple minor service misses. Overall still a place I would choose enthusiastically.

harrisk7

MaldivesFreak

Come on, that's not sticker shock. This is sticker shock. He was there 5 years ago and admits you gotta pay for it. You could argue that the $12++ rice was sticker shock (even though there was no sticker ) but I too would feel pretty ripped off and nickel-and-dimed if I were charged $12++ for a bowl of rice.....that wasn't even listed on the menu! That's just ridiculous. They ended up comping champagne which cost 50x more than the measly 20c for the bowl of 'imported' Sri Lankan rice which they marked up 6000%. I mean, really. Why not just give the rice for free? Why treat a Diamond member like that? After all it costs basically nothing. You're only going to either pee off Chinese who will never come back to the resort again anyway (as they do, so no loss), or lose out by peeing off a loyal Hilton member - in this case Diamond but it could be any member - who has earned hundreds of thousands of points at your chain to be able to stay there 15 nights and who might not ever return or might even change brands if he encounters enough of it. It happens. Charging almost $15 for rice is not how you keep customers loyal to a brand nor keep them coming back to the same property, no matter where you are. Over the long term the loss is almost always going to be greater than the small gain that you would get for the occasional bowl of rice that you sold to an unsuspecting Hilton member that didn't check his bill or didn't complain because he thought it would be silly to do so. That I can guarantee.

Anyway, what I was referring to was the spa treatment (no excuse whatsoever to not reduce the price accordingly.....cheapskates), the bit about the resort starting to show its age (hence when prices go up and the condition of the hard product falls below par, people are entitled to get a little peed off, especially if you are paying cash in high season), and especially the last paragraph, which emulates almost verbatim some of the complaints in the last 40 or 50 pages of this thread (since Stefano (new GM) took over);

It's pretty sad when Hilton members go to a Conrad and don't get the Conrad gift, when no effort is made to say "Sorry, none in stock. Have a drink on us!" and then read that people who tip room boys get the gifts. Sad indeed.

We first visited 5 years ago too and I can say that yes, the prices have gone up visibly (especially the spa) and the resort is definitely squeezing too hard and it's being felt by too many loyal to the property and to the brand. Just like yourself I wouldn't hesitate to go back. Aside from all the wonderful things about the property that are, how should I say, non-cost, non-squeeze related, the reason is that we are treated better and better every visit. Not only in passing from staff we do not know, service from staff we do know and other areas, but given more and more complimentary this, complimentary that, bigger or extra portions of food and that's just to name a few. And even if we were to visit tomorrow, knowing how the place is being run like it is with less of this, less of that and $15 bowls of rice , I'm a hundred percent confident that we would never ever feel the big squeeze like others do, never be pressured to do this tour, that excursion, book this or that special dinner event, nor would we ever be charged for rice if we went to Ufaa. We would still be brought grilled fish at Atoll without even asking for it even though it's no longer on the menu.....and so on and so on. In fact I end up spending more because of the generosity of the staff that the resort makes more money off me than if they were to do the opposite. And I'm not alone in thinking - and spending - this way. There are plenty of others who feel and do the same. This is something Lyle (previous GM) was very aware of. For the sake of Hilton and FT'ers alike, Stefano really needs to rein this crap in and reverse this very displeasing trend.

alanslegal

Talking about bowls of rice; we were at the Conrad Bora Bora three weeks ago and were charged US$7 for a bowl of rice (we ordered two bowls at the time). There was no price on the menu for it but heck they decided to charge it anyway. Anyway the rice service was extremely tiny, I would guess the portion size of a small tea cup - definitely felt ripped off in that instance.

This I quoted on the Conrad Bora Bora thread where everything is excellent at that property, except the chinese restaurant which was highly disappointing:-

MaldivesFreak

Looks like a high protein, high fat, low carb diet it is then. At least at Conrads, LOL.

passionforhotels

Coral bleaching happened across the Maldives in 2016 due to the rise in water temperature. Thus, corals at shallower levels were affected, but reefs in deeper waters, or in locations where cooler water from depths was constantly cooling it (eg: reefs on the edge of deep water channels) fared better. Unfortunately this means that by definition most house reefs (whether resort or inhabited island or deserted island) struggled in the bleaching as by definition they tend to be in shallower water. Anything below 5m or subject to cooler water currents is doing better.

tom-schmitt

House reef at the Park Hyatt Maldives looked much better than the Rangali reef, even in shallow water. Maybe the coral bleach wasn‘t as bad so far south.