jlcchien

Totally agree. Things have to improve not only to justify bearing the Park Hyatt name but also to justify the kind of price this place is asking. I hope to see improvement soon.

francophile

Do people really use TripAdvisor as a source of information? It has the relaiability and credibility of Yelp

A quarter of the posts on TripAdvisor appear to have been written by the property's own marketing department, saturated with glowing compliments and breathless praise that could have been written by a seasoned fabricator with a bachelor's degree in marketing from a third rate university.

Another quarter of the posts were written by the property's direct competitors. Reading these posts conjure an image of the writer foaming at the mouth while composing these spiteful posts dripping with vitriol

I find the Luxury Hotels forum here on flyertalk a much more reliable source of information and opinion on high end properties:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxury-hotels-220/

ainternational

+1. IOf I'm going to the Maldives, and spending good coin to get there, with high expectations that it may be the once in a lifetime chance to go (purportedly the isles will be gone in a decade or two due to rising sea levels), then I'm going all out. Even with 500K HGP points, I would pass on using them and look for the best property on the islands.

You only live once..

ma91pmh

And you are going to base your decision to go or not to go on two reviews on a public and often exploited web site?

ainternational

To whom is this post directed at? Assuming me, absolutely not. I have other trusted travel services which I pay for more impartial (subject to individual judgment) reviews.

But like everyone else, I base my decisions on my own research. There's not much other choice than going and trying it out yourself, which for obvious reasons isn't often practical. Site inspections on random atols in the Maldives are a bit difficult to come by for the casual non travel professional.

Grichka

Welcome to the "information overloaded" century, did you just notice that phenomenon on trip advisor? I see it everywhere for everything!
We have never had so much information and this information has never been so unreliable and therefore in absolute need of constant cross checking.
Which is why one has to use several sources, always.
Doing so in the case of the Park Hyatt Maldives, there are clear and reliable information like air con not working well.
If you want to pay 1000 dollars for a room under the maldivian sun with a so so air con, be my guest.
I say Hyatt should fix everything first and then raise their price to whatever level they see fit but charging 1000 dollars for approximate service is a disgrace.

By the way, Hyatt management answered to one of the trip advisor review.

Grichka

1) Cross checking information from several web sites (including the current thread!!!) shows that this place needs some serious fixing before charging 1000 dollar + a night.
2) Hyatt management answered with appologies to one of the review on trip advisor so I guess that is an indication of some issues raised by legitimate customers.

So yes I'd rather know in advance and avoid spoiled holidays.

Grichka

Maldives is a very special place.
Each hotel is a separate island.
If you are on the wrong island, if you have unsolved frustration with the hotel service, management, food, room, service etc...., you are stucked there until the last day of your trip. No escape.

Checking the island you will end up on is of utmost importance. especially for this kind of budget.

roder

I know there is a lot of Trip Advisor hate on FT but let's be honest. The A/C and overall condition of the property (especially the OWB) are pretty consistent from review-to-review. The more recent ones have been particularly negative in regards to service. This is very common when Hotel's change ownership.

If anyone, Hyatt or on this Forum, thought the transition of this property would be seamless, they were mistaken. Hyatt needs some time to whip this property into shape. But in the meantime, they need to be honest with themselves and change an appropriate rate for what seems to be a property that needs some renovation and staff changes.

RichardInSF

I haven't been to this hotel in three years, but during the time I was a semi-regular visitor there, the hotel seemed to be almost always in the throes of struggling with a new management team.

ainternational

Exactly.

Which is why I would opt for the best of the best and forgo American chain properties when visiting such an exquisite and once in a lifetime location.

holtju2

No you are not. You can always shorten your stay and move to another island. Couple of years ago I was staying at the Hilton property there. The reservation was for 6 nights. After two days I decided to leave because it just wasn't something for me and quite frankly didn't like the place. Flew out the next day.

texmanufan

The hotel opened in 2009 thus is only two years old. Something doesn't add up with your comment. You were a semi-regular visitor up until a year before it opened?

scented

Having stayed at some nice hotels and resorts like the George V or Amankila, I'd say the Park Hyatt Maldives is an excellent hotel, no doubt. We stayed there 5 nights in June and had a blast. Everyone at the resort went out of their way to make sure everything is fine and reassured us that some tired-looking parts of the resort would be refurbished up to the Park Hyatt standard very soon. Well, there are some spots which are in desperate need of renovation (especially around the pool, cleaning the pool would also help a lot) - but in general the hard product is very nice and stylish. Loved the design. Service was very attentive, daily chit chats with the GM (Pierre), a personal host who not only showed us around, made reservations and took care of little details, but also made us feel very welcome. Maybe it was due to (very...) low occupancy but it was much appreciated, better than any other Park Hyatt we stayed at. Housekeeping is twice a day including turndown and you can tell them when you want your room to be cleaned. F&B was one of the strong points of the hotel, menu and quality was top notch, just the breakfast selection was quite limited and it took them like forever to serve it. One of the restaurant managers also told us if there's anything we would like to have not on the menu we should let him know - so I guess they're flexible (based on the availability of ingredients). We paid 2 nights and used points for the other 3 nights and our bill still came out to ~5,000$ but we felt it was worth it. No FHR rates yet, Centurion travel service wasn't even able to book standard rates. Give them some time, we feel it will be (and already is) one of the best Park Hyatts out there. Oh, and go snorkeling with Arabella (resort's marine biologist), their 'house' reef is magical. We weren't even charged for that. ^^

Grichka

Not as easy, especially if you are with a familly of several (let's say 5 changes of plane bookings etc.....) and have planned such costly vacations carefully ahead.
This is not like a week end in Rome, it's a remote and very expensive destination.
By the way, for those who do not intend to scuba dive, half of the interest of the place will be missed.
For those who do intend to do it, this is absolute paradise.