Martellus

Honestly, just call the resort for a question like that - they'll be able to answer that question immediately.

sm71

Yeah, I asked the resort via email a few months if the second bedroom only had an outside entrance and they said yes. Therefore, I figured that this villa type wouldn't work for us.

But, yesterday I found the floor plans online (as well as a video). Based on the floor plans and video looked like they may have been incorrect or misunderstood me. I contacted the hotel again to confirm and they're looking into it. I figured I'd ask on here in case anybody has any first hand experience with it.

lerasp

all glass sliding doors can be locked. sorry can't be more help. we just returned from our stay. we stayed in a regular beach pool villa and all doors that lead to outside - wood and glass can be locked. the glass doors if locked can only opened from the inside (there's a little flap you lift up/down to allow the door to slide). while theoretically kids could do it, i highly doubt they would be able to 1) figure it out if you don't show them and 2) have the strength to open the sliding door - it's pretty heavy.
the wood entrance door opens with a regular key.
we saw one family with smallish kids - about 5-7yo but that's its. there were two families with teenagers.
be advised there's almost nothing suitable to little kids - no kids club, no kids menu. they do maybe one or two short-ish activities per day for kids but that's it. Food - highly advise to be on all-inclusive for kids as there is not much kid-friendly food (by american standards - don't know what your kids are used to). There's always chicken, steak, fish etc for lunch and dinner but paying $50 for a dish your kids will take two bites from is ouch...there's also nothing in a way of snacks - just things you can order from room service but are like regular dishes (appertizers, mains, etc). at breakfast, there's not much you can take with you for later - an appple and an orange.
happy to answer any other questions. but i would think twice about taking small kids to this resort.

lerasp

We just returned from spending 7 nights at the property. We stayed in Beach Pool Villa. Here are some thoughts and happy to answer any questions:
- Beach Pool Villas - it's not clear from booking process, but there are two types of locations - those where the pool and outside area is completely enclosed by trees and those where the pool and outside deck faces the beach openly. We preferred to see the beach/sea. For those, the best are villas 1 and 25. The rest are almost fully enclosed. Villa 1 is most open to beach but is right next to arrival jetty with potentially more traffic. We stayed in villa 25 that is on the opposite end of the island with rare traffic in front of the beach but one extra coconut palm blocking the view.
-Manager is Kristoff (don't know last name). I'm not impressed. The only times we saw him was at arrival when he said hello and on departure as we were loading into the boat. For a small property as this, this is unacceptable. At departure i tried to give him some feedback and he had no interest in listening, just yessing me to death. For that alone, i will not return to this hotel until there's new manager. This is some of the feedback I was trying to give him if he bothered to speak with us:
- Guest engagement - there's none. Every department is functioning well, but it's all on automation with no imagination. For example, we had a period of 24 hours of solid rain (not kidding). All activities except spa assume good weather. The hotel did nothing extra. There was no attempt to create any kind of guest interaction or activities that would make the day go by quicker. They could have done things like - cocktail class with bartender, cooking demonstration, reef talk with naturalist (or even dive staff), literally anything to get you out of the villa. make an extra yoga session somewhere covered, or some happy hour specials at the bar or the spa, etc.. But nothing at all.
- yoga: there's daily yoga in the morning at 7:15am and only twice a week at sunset at 6:15p. Why can't they have daily yoga two times a day or alternate every other day morning and evening? The whole point of vacation was to sleep in and I loved doing yoga in the evening.
- there's no "calendar" of events available. every time I ask, the answer is talk to your host, except the host forgets to tell about things i need to know. Just make a calendar and put it on a website if you don't want to print it. Things like yoga, weekly bbq and maldivian night buffets, excursion timings/schedules. We find out those things by stumbling into them or asking specifically. Again, for a hotel this size (50 rooms), this shouldn't be happening
- bathtub is not functional. That's the only conclusion I can make and it's by design, not something being broken. Bathtub is huge, the water runs very slow so it takes forever to fill up, during which time it gets cold. In addition, the hottest water that was available to run the bathtub was colder than the hot water in the shower right next to it, which tells me they limit the mixing. best I could do was a lukewarm water that was too cold to sit it. disappointed.
-gift shop is very very limited. almost no sundries, most of space if devoted to bland Villebrequin bathing suits. I needed a new rashguard and was willing to pay, but they only have them in plain black. no small souvenirs with "park hyatt" logos - just tshirts.
-housekeeping - i'm a broken record but at property with only 50 rooms, housekeeping needs and can be invisible. Our first morning we got woken up with a bang on the door at 9am! when we said we are still sleeping and to come back later, they asked what time? I don't know - later! yes, our fault for not putting DND in our jetlagged state, but that's not good housekeeping. Every day it was a negotiation as they wanted to know exact time to come. The only place we can be is either in the villa or somewhere around central area. just coordinate with F&B team - if they see us at breakfast, then they can go clean the room.
-costs: I know it's maldives and high costs are expected, but also at this level of hotel I expect not to be nickled and dimed at every turn:
1) non-motorized watersports. You get snorkel gear for free and regular kayaks are free. however glass kayak and stand-up paddleboards are $20/hr. Not a big cost but why? it's more the hassle of finding someone to give it to you, signing for it, etc. just seems petty.
2) breakfast - generally good but at this level, i would expect at least one glass of mimosa or sparkling wine to be included.
3) maldivian night buffet - i was looking forward to trying maldivian food. there were only a couple of dishes on the regular dinner menu. There is weekly Maldivian night buffet (it was on Tuesday night). However, the cost is $219 ++ (22%) for total of $267 per person. This is ridiculous even by maldivian standards. Most of food is curries and salads, with fresh fish grilled (salmon, tuna). They include lobster and that ups the price but i didn't see how it could possibly be worth that. I think making it so expensive is a disservice to maldivian culture. The regular bbq buffet (also with lobster) was $189++ ($230). I see no reason for the difference.
4) small thing but we stayed at W maldives a long time ago and they had ice cream freezers throughout the island. It was such a nice little touch - you are sitting on the jetty watching sunset and you can grab an ice cream. There's nothing similar to this here.

other thoughts -
the house reef and diving are truly magnificent. The dive team is great. House reef is a treasure - sharks every day, tons of fish and very healthy coral. This is not the place for Manta Rays and Whalesharks - there are no regular spots for them and dive team sees them on occasion passing by but it's not a regular occurence. But we saw tons of huge turtle on dives, lots of other fish and sharks every snorkel/dive (mostly black tip reef sharks but they have a few others as well).

I loved the Beach Pool Villas - beautiful design, well made and perfectly maintained. The pool was a very good size and beach was right there.
Surprisingly there is no jacuzzi or hot tub anywhere on the island. After my failure with taking a bath, it was windy and chilly and i wanted to warm up - there's nothing.
Also missing - fresh coconuts. WHY!!??? from prior reviews, they used to be available with breakfast and at the bar, but now not a single one anywhere. this is on an island literally filled with coconut palms.

Happy to answer any questions. We were two adults. I wouldn't bring kids here - we saw a few teenagers who were diving with parents and that's about the youngest I would consider. Lots of other hotels in maldives that have better facilities for kids.

Battleship

Are Nic and Jisun gone? They were both fabulous last winter when I was there.

tonyhartphoto

Yes, also interested in this question. Exceptional team. Nik seems to still be posting on Instagram from PH so I'm guessing perhaps he was away for some holiday?

lerasp

haven't met anyone by that name. Were they management or something else? Kristoff (manager) said he's been there for two months as an excuse to some of my comments above.

tonyhartphoto

When we visited in late August, Nik was the GM and Jisun was the Operations Director.

LeonS

We were at the property for a week a couple of weeks ago. Booked with points + Globalist status.

• We stayed half of the stay at a Beach Pool Villa (complimentary upgrade) and the other half at an Overwater Villa. We truly loved both.
  • Only caveat of the Overwater Villa was perhaps that the AC did not cool down the space at night as much as we wanted it to. Also, be aware that the sound of the waves might be loud -if you are a light sleeper-.
• Condition of the resort: I had read that it was outdated somewhere, but honestly we thought both our Villas looked stunning. The main area with the main pool looked flawless. The main beach seems out of a travel brochure. 10/10 for us.
• Location: the island is really cute, and the house reef is out-of-this-world. Best snorkeling I have ever seen in my entire life.
• The resort was only about half full. It felt extremely private and quiet. The day we were leaving, we saw more people come in.
• Weather: it rained some days, but overall the weather was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. I was expecting New-Orleans-in-summer kind of humidity, and far from that. I wouldn't have minded a few more sunny days -but there's a reason this is considered the low season and we were able to enjoy it at a reduced cost-.
• Activities:
  • the Dives are very expensive (compared to what we pay to dive in Mexico, about 8x more expensive per dive). Charging $30 per person for diving gear per dive is a lot. If a couple goes on 2 dives in the morning, that's already $120 just to rent the diving gear.
  • We did the Private Island getaway, where they take you to an inhabited island and leave you there for a couple of hours with a picnic. This alone was ~$800 after taxes and gratuities. We liked the experience (nice reef for snorkeling) The food they gave us was very simple. For the price, we would have appreciated if they had thrown in there a cheap bottle of sparkling wine or champagne for us to drink, but no: any alcohol would have been extra. The Private Island was also notoriously filthy: TONS of trash. It looks like the Hyatt staff might have cleaned up the immediate surroundings to the location where they place the picnic area, but no more.
  • I also agree that they could do a little more of an effort to have complimentary activities like Yoga every day.
  • Also agree that they should make it easier to view schedules for the available activities. I guess they want you to have to interact with your host "for a more personalized experience", but I would have loved to have printouts with the stuff to do or an online site to check.
• Food:
  • the breakfast buffet was not impressive, but the a-la-carte menu was fairly comprehensive. However, they don't change their menu, and after an entire week it gets repetitive. No alcohol included in the Globalist breakfast.
  • I don't think we had lunch any day: we had copious, late breakfasts and later the evening canapés. Waiting for dinner was not hard at all, we were barely hungry by dinner time.
  • The dinner menu prices are abusive, and the quality was not particularly impressive. Here again, I don't think the menu changed, so after a week got repetitive.
    • This was for me the biggest con of our entire stay: crazy expensive, average dinner food, and zero options to eat elsewhere of course. In a way, it made me feel a little claustrophobic.
• Service: everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful. 10/10. I was personally a little overwhelmed sometimes by our host: I understand their function, but there were times when I did not want to be interrupted in the middle of breakfast by them for a check-in. A more discreet, passive system would have been of my liking.

Overall, a memorable stay.

joecool1885

Nik and team really promoting their WTA "win".
Now frankly, of the four resorts I've been to in the Maldives (W.A, St R, Conrad, PH), the PH is my favorite. But I'm also not stupid.

Maldives hosts places like Four Seasons, Soneva Jani, Gililankanfushi, etc. Is PH really the best?

Moreover, if you look at the WTA page, there are well over a dozen "awards" for the Maldives, including: "Leading Luxury Resort", "Leading Luxury Island Resort", and "Leading Resort", among others. Given that they are basically all on islands, calling the W.A the "Leading Luxury Island Resort" and the St Regis the "Leading Luxury Resort", says something to me.

Draw your own conclusions, but personally these awards appear to be bought and paid for (or you pay to be considered, and then everyone wins). I just wonder how much I'd have to pay to get my own award category 😉

agtprvctr

Long time lurker here, hoping for some advice from the group. I'm Hyatt Globalist and generally love most of the Park Hyatts I've been to around the world - I've always experienced way above and beyond service, esp. at the urban PHs. We're looking at doing our honeymoon next Feb/Mar in the Maldives, and given my affinity for the brand, Park Hyatt Maldives jumped to the top of the list. That said, I a review from ThePointsGuy in Mar 2020 about the property being a bit dated/unkempt/not luxurious feeling and also an underwhelming review a few posts back about the service and wondered if it's still a good choice. From reading the most recent few pages here, though, it seems people are generally happy with the property? We are into snorkeling and scuba diving, so that's a point in the PH column, but not at the expense of underwhelming service and dated furnishings. Did they take the opportunity during the pandemic shutdowns to renovate?

Given the crazy surcharges and meal prices, economically it makes the most sense to stay at the PH using my Globalist perks (didn't see any Alila award redemptions), but the honeymoon is a once in a lifetime kind of experience, so I don't want to settle too much either. I have Marriott Gold (useless, I know) and Hilton Gold (does that get you free breakfast in Maldives properties?) from having the Amex Platinum. What other properties should we consider? I have a healthy # of Amex points as well that could transfer to Hilton, Marriott, or redeem via FHR. It sounds like among the chain hotels, the Park Hyatt, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, and Conrad are all top contenders? Are they mostly comparable? I've put in a bit of effort trying to read through the last few pages of the master review threads for each, but there's a lot of info to digest. I will Any insights will be appreciated!

joecool1885

Pretty sure the only recent developments were the opening of Koi on the water villa jetty and the addition of the Presidential Villa (would love to try that place!). When we went last year, the rooms hadn't been renovated since our 2016 visit.

Been to four resorts in the Maldives: Conrad, WA, St. R, and PH. Obviously PH isn't in contention for most luxurious property, but IME, they exemplify the PH Slogan, "Luxury is Personal", and atop of this, the island is far more incredible than the others.

I'm a broken record here because I've said it a dozen times upthread, but PH offers the most genuine Maldives experience. It's tranquil, intimate, soothing.
In my book, PH is better than WA, which is better or equal to Conrad, which is better than St. Regis.

Obviously, WA offers the most convenient and luxurious experience of them. It's marred by close proximity to Male, and everything there is overpriced (Obviously all of Maldives is overpriced, but its 2nd worst offender of the 4), Food variety is alright, but for all the luxurious and ambient dining choices, our favorite pick was a simple Steak Sando at the ledge.
The property there is also quite a bit expansive. Fun to adventure around, to be sure, but also gets a little exhausting/redundant when you're headed to some of the spots.
The rooms though are spectacular, and you can easily spend a lot of time lounging/swimming/dining there. Easily the best base rooms of them.

Conrad has it's own type of magic, and it blew me away to watch the Manta's at night. Their food selection is off the charts and reasonable in price. Ithaa is a must-do-in-your-life type thing, even if the food (at least at lunch) is just okay.
TBH, it's the one I've been to least recently (PH and Conrad 2016, WA 2020, St R and PH in 2021), and I think they're not quite as generous as they used to be to elite members, but it was a high-bar to begin with.
Many of the villas there are more recently renovated than PH, but PH has solid space between every one of their villas, and many entry-level rooms at the Conrad are rather close to neighbors.
Additional pro of the Conrad is convenient to go Whale Shark snorkeling, which is nearby (pretty sure it's seasonal, though, and even then it's not a super high success rate to see them). I also thought, at least based on what I experienced back then, that they have the most well-rounded excursion list of them all. I'd note that because of this, they're probably the most family friendly of the resorts listed. While it didn't feel "busy", relative to the other properties I listed, it was.

St R: my disclaimer is that if you've never been to the Maldives, never tried those other places, and end up with the right staff on duty, you'll likely still have a grand time here. In fact I enjoyed my overall stay (helped that a family member chartered Norma, and that I found an exceptional Cash+Points upgrade rate for the JJAE).... BUT, this is a Marriott property, and as most of us who've played the hotel game for a bit figured out, their Customer Service leaves much to be desired.

My family spent more money here than the other three (excess of 30K for 4 of us), yet not ONCE during our stay did anyone other than our butler check in on us. And our butler, while well intentioned and a decent guy, was grossly unprepared to handle our family--- which consisted of my wife and I, my sister, and my aunt, all who wanted to share some experiences and do some things on our own. To say it was a clusterf would be generous.
I also felt more nickeled-and-dimed here than at any of the other properties. I didn't have a ton of time to try the restaurants, but the food we did have for private dining experiences was mediocre. Breakfast, OTOH, was terrific. My experience attempting to get my points credited with Marriott after the stay led me to abandon Marriott. (I won't say never again, but I'm a lot more guarded now).

Anyway, at WA we had an Front office person check in with us, and he even comped us an upgrade to a Grand Reef from Reef for 8 of the days we were there. Conrad had a guest services department, and we had someone check in on us while we were out eating.

And Park Hyatt---- Nik (GM) and Mohammed (Front Office Manager, I think?) were a phenomenal pairing and engaged with us on multiple parts of our short stay. While we had a bit of a language barrier with our host there, it was really rather irrelevant because of how interactive those two were.


So, go to WA for luxury, go to Conrad for Adventure, and go to PH for the genuine Maldives tranquility and intimacy. And if you end up at a Marriott, you'll probably still have a good time. Only other thing Id say is that an ideal situation would be to spend 4-5 nights PH and then 5 nights at either Conrad or WA. Split stays are fairly common, and gives you a good opportunity to taste what each place has to offer.

Park Hyatt is my #1 Hyatt hotel (followed by GH Kauai and PH Vienna) out of around 85 properties.

agtprvctr

Thank you so much for the incredibly thoughtful and detailed reply! I’m glad to hear that the things I love most about Park Hyatt in general are present in the Maldives as well.

AntiGameZ

I just returned from a 4-night stay with Alila and a 4-night stay with Park Hyatt.

All nights were booked by points. I contacted the property for a paid upgrade. So we ended up at one night at Beach Pool Villa and three nights at Sunset OW Villa.

Arrival
Took a domestic flight from Male. PH team greeted us upon arrival and sent us to the speedboat. Loved the welcome drink and snacks offered on the speedboat.

Butler
Butler was nice, and thanks to the Alila team, she already knew our preferences and proceeded accordingly. She sent us the next day's event calendar every night, answered our questions, and made reservations. She magically showed up when we were in the restaurant or just finished water activities, asking us for feedback or offering a pick-up.

Room
We stayed at villa 25 and villa 49. Looks like OW villa occupancy were low, and I thought we may have secured a paid upgrade with less. And my guess was correct. We learned another guest got an on-site upgrade with 30% less.

The rooms are in good shape and large. OW villa has a huge bathtub. However, the villa's water heater can only fill it in ~50%.

PH didn't have free fruit sent to the room. We got a complimentary bottle of prosecco on the day of arrival and daily free sweets.

Wifi was like 8Mbps for download (~650ms ping) and 6Mbps for upload (~400ms ping). Coverage near the beach area was poor. I missed two calls from my butler.

Food
I purchased half board for 125++ pp. As a globalist with free breakfast, it is not a good deal. But we knew we would consume a lot of non-alcoholic drinks. So that's fine. We got a break even.

For breakfast, we can only take two courses per person. The menu stays the same every day. The quality was good, and they offered complimentary prosecco.

The bar served decent cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages. Globalists also offered small bites during 5-7 pm.

Dinner is by course: one appetizer, one main, and one dessert. The dishes were delicious, and we always asked for some Maldivian chillis to add some spicy.

Activities
Blue Journeys (the name of the water activities center) were awesome. We took private snorkeling, discovery scuba diving, and iAqua (underwater scooter). They have plenty of equipment, professionals who care for guests, and a beautiful underwater environment. Next time I would skip snorkeling and spend more time in scuba.

iAqua was just for fun and a little bit hard to handle. But eventually, we had fun.

Departure
Our flight was ~9 pm at Male airport. We left the hotel around 1:30 pm. It would be great if we could left later, 4 pm checkout, huh

After we arrived Male, the PH team greeted us and helped with luggage check-in and boarding passes.

Almost every dollar, excluding taxes, was accounted as eligible spend.

joecool1885

I'm gonna ask the obvious question....