MatthewLAX

Sitting in my villa here now. It never rains more than a few minutes at a time--weather is beautiful outside right now.

Don't worry about the weather.

Football Fan

Except yesterday .

roder

Glad to hear! We'll be there shortly.. sitting in the lounge in MLE waiting for our flight to the island.

StudentExplorer

Though the last two days have been beautiful out!

beachfan

Thanks!

I'm also headed there for early next week.

ual902

Park Hyatt or The Conrad? I have enough points for both.

joecool1885

You might've just answered you own question. I'm doing both in April. 4 nights PH and 5 Conrad. Yeah, it's 2K+ for 2 people for the transfers, but I think it'll be worth it for the different experiences.

ual902

Now $2K for the transfers, that I'm not sure about.

joecool1885

It is kinda crazy. 500pp++ for each hotel. We spent less cash on our business class flights overseas (albeit using a ton of miles).

callmedtop

I stayed at the Park Hyatt Maldives for 7 nights around New Year's Eve. I tried to resist doing a traditional trip report as that has been exhausted here many times over, but I do feel that my experience was somewhat different than that of what most people here have reported, so I wanted to share some of my impressions.

As a whole, I went into the stay with somewhat low expectations, considering the fact that while Park Hyatt is certainly a fantastic brand that I am a big fan of, it is not, in my opinion, truly world-class. It is really a fantastic points redemption, but anyone who is paying rack rate at this hotel is out-of-their-mind crazy considering the competition nearby (unless you're an avid snorkeler/diver, maybe).

That said, I came out of the stay more impressed than I thought going in. The resort itself is absolutely beautiful, the service was better-than-expected, and overall, I had a good time here. It would really be a hard sell to justify paying $2-$3K / night for a FS, Cheval Blanc, etc. stay if you have the Hyatt points to spare.

I've organized my takeaways by topic, and they are a random "stream-of-consciousness" collection of my thoughts / impressions. They don't cover all elements of the hotel and our experience, but things that I wanted to highlight that I don't think have been fully discussed on this thread and reviews I've read.

Accommodations

• We were double-upgraded at arrival from a Park Villa to a Water Villa, which was incredibly generous (before the PM's come streaming in - no, we didn't do anything special to get this, and we found out about it at check-in. I believe it was because it was during the holiday peak time and the hotel was at 98% occupancy). Unfortunately, after reading this thread extensively, I was actually gunning for a Park or Pool Villa, since I was worried about the air conditioning, but our butler said that nothing was available until the last two nights of our stay (and agreed to switch us then). I was disappointed that he didn't even offer us to stick with the original Park Villa, after I made it clear that I didn't want the Water Villa, but I didn't want to push it, as I was very grateful that they did upgrade us.
• The Water Villas are incredibly hot. I never got the temperature below 25 degrees, and for all five of the days we spent in Villa 43, the A/C unit broke down for 1-2 hours, bringing the room to a scorching 31 degrees. When I brought up this issue to our butler and the hotel staff, it was somewhat condescendingly brushed off, citing the "eco-friendly" aspect of the resort. A maintenance guy did come to our room once, but of course, he showed up once the A/C kicked back into gear. I could deal with 25 degrees (unhappily), but 31 is absolutely unacceptable.
• The Water Villas are not a 5-star accommodation - period. The rooms are very worn. I understand why this is the case (the elements present a big challenge), but its inexcusable if they want to charge $2K / night rack. The panels to cover the windows were extremely difficult to open, and two of the panels were in fact inoperable. A repairman fixed one of them, but not the other. Either way, this is irrelevant, because in order to keep the room temperature tolerable, all the panels need to be closed basically all day. This made the room incredibly dark, and my SO and I actually found the room cave-like and depressing. This sounds dramatic, but it really was a big bummer to sit in the dark - the lights are not nearly bright enough. That said, the bathrooms are magnificent, and snorkeling directly off the villa was truly excellent.
• The Pool Villa was a completely different experience. For one, the A/C was fantastic. Most importantly, however, the room was bright, airy, and felt much more new than the water villa. I truly regret not staying in the pool villa the entire trip, even with the snorkeling from the water villa. The Pool Villa is my recommendation for staying here, and it really is a fantastic room.
• I should mention that one night after it rained overnight, I turned on the Pool Villa's indoor shower, but was then distracted by my SO who called me from outside. When I returned 5 minutes later, the entire bathroom and even parts of the main room were flooded with 2" of water - my guess is that the overnight rain caused something to happen with the plumbing, and the drain got plugged. This overflow occurred within 5 minutes of my stepping outside, and was very unpleasant.

Food & Beverage

• Overall, I would say F&B quality was average, not great. This pains me to say, because the executive chef Pankaj is truly a fantastic, personable guy and I believe a great cook in the right environment. My interactions with him were truly a highlight of our stay, so I encourage all guests to make sure they get to know him.
• The breakfast buffet is underwhelming. I recognize the hurdles this hotel has to go through to get supplies, etc. but that doesn't change the fact that fruits were not particularly fresh, the pastries were never anything to write home about, and the humidity caused the buffet breads to go stale during breakfast hours. Breakfast entrees were by-and-large the highlight of the F&B show.
• Food as a whole was overly oily and not very flavorful, from fish to pasta to Asian dishes.
• Meat at the Island Grill was fantastic.
• Prices were very reasonable for F&B considering the location. I came in "under budgeÂ�t" by a huge margin without even trying to.
• Apparently there is a coffee bar on the Water Villas jetty where coffee and pastries are served every afternoon. No one told me about this, and I found out from Pankaj (the chef) on our last day.
• Sundowners were very pleasant and the canapes were a nice pre-dinner snack. Highly enjoyable.
• On our last night there (and our anniversary dinner), we dined at the Island Grill. The dinner took 2.5 hours, as the kitchen staff lost our order and didn't do anything about it until I said something an hour into the meal. Service recovery was excellent in intentions, but flawed. They rushed out our orders, but brought me an inedible well-done steak instead of medium-rare like I ordered - apparently the waiter heard me incorrectly when we re-placed our orders. Pankaj did everything he could to make it right, but ultimately, I went back to our room having just eaten French fries and a side salad because I didn't want to wait any longer for him to start from scratch. I know things happen, but ultimately this was a very disappointing way to celebrate our anniversary and end our stay. No amount of service recovery (which again, Pankaj handled excellently) could have made this better.

Service

• As a whole, service here was good. People were clearly trying hard, even if things weren't perfect. A few people really stood out, and that reflected well on the entire staff. There's a bit of an "island time" philosophy going on, which isn't my cup of tea, but its certainly decent overall.
• While our butler was nice, I don't really understand the purpose of their role. Every morning during breakfast he would come to our table and linger for at least 5, often 10 minutes, making very awkward small talk. Other staff members did the same thing at other meals. I get why they do this, and in theory it is nice, but ultimately: 1. It is awkward, especially with the language barrier and their not-perfect English language skills, and 2. I came here to be remote and enjoy time with my SO, not to spend 20 minutes every day chatting with staff about how much we love the island, how well we slept, etc. They weren't trying to upsell us on activities, which was great, but the smalltalk really became tiresome. Other guests we chatted with during our stay agreed. It sounds like not a big deal, but it was to the point where we were actively avoiding running into certain staffmembers to avoid an unwanted interaction without being rude.
• Housekeeping and turndown service was excellent, with a nice mini-dessert served every evening. However, one of the welcome amenities, a jar of olives that we never ate, was never cleaned up, and by the time we left the island it was growing mold. It was pretty gross and I expected slightly more attention to detail.

Activities

• Like many have said, I highly recommend the back of the house tour. It does give insight on why it is very difficult for this hotel to have the same standards as a "normal" property, and why the room, F&B, and activity costs are what they are. We also did a kitchen tour with Pankaj and this was probably the most memorable activity we did.
• Fishing was probably the most fun we had on the island, and my SO caught a monstrosity of a fish that was then cooked up for dinner. Pankaj treated us and cooked it in 5 different ways (sashimi, steamed, fried, grilled, and curried) and we had a feast, along with a few friends we met on the boat. A really memorable time.
• We are not PADI-certified, but we did do the "Discover Scuba Diving" activity which I highly recommend for those who want to try diving, but don't have the time to get certified (or wanted to test the waters - literally - first).
• I can also highly recommend the spa, which gave me one of the best massages of my life. My only regret is that I did not get more treatments.
• The sunset yoga classes were nice, but very very informal. It almost seemed like the teacher was randomly assigned to do the class based on them not having anything else to do during that time window. Other people in the class seemed equally unimpressed, although my SO absolutely loved it.

Would I return? Probably not, but mainly because there are far too many new places in this world to visit, and I don't think the PHM earns a place on my list for a repeat stay - at least, not within the next ten years. If I had already checked off the majority of my travel bucket list, then yes, I'd probably plan on returning in 2-3 years, as long as they remain as a redemption option with Hyatt Gold Passport.

Well, I ended up typing much more than I originally planned. Hopefully it provides at least some new insight to people planning upcoming trips. Happy to answer any questions anyone may have.

m0hamed

Agree with all your points but why didn't you just tell the butler you didn't want to chat over breakfast? I've done this politely when service had been over zealous. It's an easy fix. I'm afraid they are doing what they are told they have to.

joecool1885

Thanks for the review! A previous reviewer who mentioned the temp in the water villas was the catalyst for making me consider Conrad Maldives instead. Ultimately we decided to do both, and I can't imagine not trying out the WV at the PH, but it will make me think hard if they offer to upgrade our first two nights from PV to WV for free as well.

apsprincess

"The Water Villas are incredibly hot. I never got the temperature below 25 degrees, and for all five of the days we spent in Villa 43, the A/C unit broke down for 1-2 hours, bringing the room to a scorching 31 degrees. The panels to cover the windows were extremely difficult to open, and two of the panels were in fact inoperable. Either way, this is irrelevant, because in order to keep the room temperature tolerable, all the panels need to be closed basically all day.The Pool Villa was a completely different experience. For one, the A/C was fantastic. Most importantly, however, the room was bright, airy, and felt much more new than the water villa."


Hi there- thanks so much for your review! I have read different trip reports and the temperature issue is starting to really worry me. As looking at current reports, it is already 31C, and by the time we get there beginning of February it will be warmer I think. Do you think it's not worth it at all to stay at the over the water villa just to see what it's like (we are there 4 nights, 5 days, so could split it 2/2 between pool and over the water villa).

Wondering what people on this thread think, so it seems such a waste to go all the way to the Maldives and not experience one of the over water villas. Although we're booking on points, it's very unlikely we'll ever go back, so I want to make the right choice, but I also don't want to be sweating buckets all day and night.

lotrbfme

I was going to both in my honeymoon but decided only PH. Why?

Taking too many planes and mooving too much from hotel to hotel. There is no service from PH to Conrad. They have to bring you back to the main island and then send you to the other hotel. You pretty much loose a day on that plus $1000 (which we used for upgrades on PH)

The PH is more secluded and unique specially for a couple. Conrad looks a little bit more like a family resort, it is much bigger than PH.

callmedtop

Ultimately it is a personal decision, but I will say that other than the snorkeling, I was very unhappy with the WV. SO dark and drab with the window shades closed, way too hot for my oersonal taste, and the room itself just FELT old.

If you think you'll always regret not staying there, then do a night or two. But let me put it this way - I would pay the upgrade fee they charge for the water villa to NOT stay there in the future.

Obviously there is a bit of "FOMO" (fear of missing out), but that's up to you. If you can handle warmer temperatures, then it's probably an easier decision.

I know I sound dramatic about the temperature - and my partner WAS comfortable tempature-wise (other than when the AC unit actually broke down) - so this is very much YMMV. That said, this is the first hotel I've been to where the A/C quality was actually a major deterrent to my enjoyment.