Dec 7, 2018, 8:29 am
Last edit by: razflyer
Post #515 is an EXTENSIVE review w/ pics. Link
Food menus: Kitchen, In-Room Dining, Fire, Fish
Prices may change (sometimes substantially) so not necessarily up to date.
Excursions and activities pricing
Food menus: Kitchen, In-Room Dining, Fire, Fish
Prices may change (sometimes substantially) so not necessarily up to date.
Excursions and activities pricing
W Maldives [Master Thread]
May 14, 2019, 7:38 am
#631
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: RDU
Posts: 735
Have anyone had trouble regarding points added to your account after reward stay here? I only received about 25% of what I should have received. Email sent to [email protected] and I hope they can give me enough points. What was surprising was they added the points just 2 days after my check-out.
May 14, 2019, 8:31 pm
#632
Join Date: May 2019
Location: TYO
Programs: Marriott Plat, JGC
Posts: 2
May 15, 2019, 11:46 am
#633
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 13
Getting points to post correctly - it has been said previously, and I want to add one more data point to it. Call Marriott if posted points seem low for award stays. They are calculating your spend on local currency while your folio was charged in USD.
Hopefully this will help others. This forum has been very helpful to me!
Hopefully this will help others. This forum has been very helpful to me!
May 15, 2019, 10:36 pm
#634
Join Date: May 2019
Programs: Marriott
Posts: 8
We recently stayed in 106 and loved the location! It was much more private compared to some of the other beach villas due to the density of palm trees and vegetation surrounding the unit. You couldn’t even really see the patio from the beach. We felt very secluded.
It was on a very nice stretch of beach that was close to the good snorkeling near the spa, and far enough around the bend from the welcome jetty that we weren’t staring at people coming and going. This was one of the few villas we saw that had palm trees providing shade directly over the beach. This is totally a personal preference, but I’m a sucker for sitting in the shade of a palm tree, instead of relying on umbrellas.
It could have been due to the way the neighboring villa had their beach chairs positioned, but we also had a disproportionately large chuck of the beach to ourselves. This section of beach also recently had sand redistributed back onto it so the erosion wasn't an issue. As far as sunsets, you won’t be staring straight at it, but we always headed to SIP to catch the sunsets anyway which has an amazing view.
I’ll definitely be requesting this unit again if we can save up enough points to go back!
May 15, 2019, 10:37 pm
#635
Join Date: May 2019
Programs: Marriott
Posts: 8
Wonderful Beach Oasis units
We recently stayed in 106 and loved the location! It was much more private compared to some of the other beach villas due to the density of palm trees and vegetation surrounding the unit. You couldn’t even really see the patio from the beach. We felt very secluded.
It was on a very nice stretch of beach that was close to the good snorkeling near the spa, and far enough around the bend from the welcome jetty that we weren’t staring at people coming and going. This was one of the few villas we saw that had palm trees providing shade directly over the beach. This is totally a personal preference, but I’m a sucker for sitting in the shade of a palm tree, instead of relying on umbrellas.
It could have been due to the way the neighboring villa had their beach chairs positioned, but we also had a disproportionately large chuck of the beach to ourselves. This section of beach also recently had sand redistributed back onto it so the erosion wasn't an issue. As far as sunsets, you won’t be staring straight at it, but we always headed to SIP to catch the sunsets anyway which has an amazing view.
I’ll definitely be requesting this unit again if we can save up enough points to go back!
May 19, 2019, 9:21 am
#637
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 1
Hi everyone
I have one more question. I tried to use points redeem the room, but when I clicked the rate details, I saw it stated:
"Holding Your Reservation.
We will need a credit card prepayment to reserve your room. To ensure that you receive this special rate, we will charge your credit card a prepayment of 4451.86 USD when you make your reservation."
I am a bit confused as I am using points to redeem the room, why do I need to prepay USD 4451.86? Or does this only mean the hotel will hold an amount of 4451.86 USD on my credit card for guarantee but not really charge any actual amount to my credit card?
Does anyone have the same situation too? Did the hotel really charge an amount to your credit card when you redeem the room?
thanks.
I have one more question. I tried to use points redeem the room, but when I clicked the rate details, I saw it stated:
"Holding Your Reservation.
We will need a credit card prepayment to reserve your room. To ensure that you receive this special rate, we will charge your credit card a prepayment of 4451.86 USD when you make your reservation."
I am a bit confused as I am using points to redeem the room, why do I need to prepay USD 4451.86? Or does this only mean the hotel will hold an amount of 4451.86 USD on my credit card for guarantee but not really charge any actual amount to my credit card?
Does anyone have the same situation too? Did the hotel really charge an amount to your credit card when you redeem the room?
thanks.
May 19, 2019, 12:43 pm
#638
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
Given the terrible state of Marriott central customer service these days, those missing points may have better luck reaching out to the property directly, or to the Flyertalk Lurkers.
May 19, 2019, 8:32 pm
#639
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 77
Really long review, mostly photos
I think everyone covered it quite well already, but here's my detailed review with a crap ton of photos! (no seriously, you'll probably want to let it load for like 15 min before you come back to view it)
Trip Report: W Maldives | DEM Flyers
Trip Report: W Maldives | DEM Flyers
May 20, 2019, 9:19 am
#640
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: RDU
Posts: 735
If the reps posted the points on the phone for you, did your spend YTD update accordingly? I tried that path initially when I had trouble with points posting, but it seemed like she was just going to give me some customer service apology points, rather than actually fix the posting, which I assume wouldn't have given me credit toward spend. That's only particularly important if you are aiming to meet Ambassador for the year, though. There's also a very high chance that different phone agents may handle it differently.
Given the terrible state of Marriott central customer service these days, those missing points may have better luck reaching out to the property directly, or to the Flyertalk Lurkers.
Given the terrible state of Marriott central customer service these days, those missing points may have better luck reaching out to the property directly, or to the Flyertalk Lurkers.
Jun 3, 2019, 11:52 am
#642
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: AUS
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 51
Thanks to all who participate in this thread. My wife and I just returned from 7 days at the W. It was one of the best vacations we have ever taken. The reviews that have been posted are spot on. The occupancy was around 40%-50% during our stay and for the most part we had the pool and SIP and Wet bars to ourselves. I guess most people just stay in their villas during the day. We took our chances with a booking in May with the weather and we did have 3 of the 7 days with rain most of the day. That still didn't detract from the stay.
We ended up with about $1,200 in F&B for the two of us for 7 days. Breakfast was included as a Platinum and we never felt the need to eat two other large meals after eating breakfast. We are not big drinkers so that helped keep costs down. We typically had a cocktail in the evenings before dinner at Sip when the DJ was playing music. I felt bad for her most of the time as we were the only ones there most evenings.
Because of the low occupancy we were able to meet and get to know quite a few of the staff. It was very interesting to hear about life for the staff on the island. All of the staff are away from their families for most of the year and only get to go home for short periods during the year. I will be glad to answer any questions anyone may have.
We ended up with about $1,200 in F&B for the two of us for 7 days. Breakfast was included as a Platinum and we never felt the need to eat two other large meals after eating breakfast. We are not big drinkers so that helped keep costs down. We typically had a cocktail in the evenings before dinner at Sip when the DJ was playing music. I felt bad for her most of the time as we were the only ones there most evenings.
Because of the low occupancy we were able to meet and get to know quite a few of the staff. It was very interesting to hear about life for the staff on the island. All of the staff are away from their families for most of the year and only get to go home for short periods during the year. I will be glad to answer any questions anyone may have.
Jun 4, 2019, 9:27 pm
#643
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: USA
Programs: Alaska MVP, Marriott Lifetime Titanium (United Silver), Hilton Gold
Posts: 779
Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you book on cash or points? Did you receive any sort of an upgrade? I've got a beach villa booked for a stay in September and am trying to figure out whether to try and arrange a paid upgrade for part of our stay in advance or hope for the best as a LT Titanium.
Jun 5, 2019, 6:35 am
#644
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: AUS
Programs: Marriott Platinum
Posts: 51
Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you book on cash or points? Did you receive any sort of an upgrade? I've got a beach villa booked for a stay in September and am trying to figure out whether to try and arrange a paid upgrade for part of our stay in advance or hope for the best as a LT Titanium.
Jun 22, 2019, 2:20 pm
#645
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA Gold, UA Gold, HH Gold, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 342
is there no longer a distinction between ocean/lagoon villas like there used to be? recently booked a stay here and didn’t even have the option to book the spectacular lagoon villa. just fabulous overwater oasis. the map on the marriott website says the same, just one type of “standard” OWV.