TerryK

Seriously? So, restaurants are empty most of the times as only 10% of guests will eat there. It is virtually impossible to have outside business for hotel restaurants there.

hoteltraum

I just got home from a stay at the resort. Great service, friendly staff, really great island!

TallestHotelInJapan

Nice to hear such a great feedback. That makes me looking forward to visiting this hotel in July.

BulaRae

Hello:

Does anyone have any fairly recent (past year or so) experiences using points and being Platinum? Were you upgraded to a Water Bungalow or Ocean Villa?

Thanks

maza918

Hi guys,
I'm a Platinum member and used points to book a room at the Sheraton Full Moon for 2 nights beginning of April. I've read that many PLATs have been upgraded to Overwater Bungalows but was wondering if this will still be done if you made the reservation w/ points. Also, anyone have experience or suggestions with confirming this upgrade request before the stay? Or would it be better to email the hotel directly and ask for the pay to confirm upgrade option. I'd like to save as much money as possible but don't want to end up staying in a standard room and miss out on the overwater bungalow experience. I'd appreciate the help especially from anyone who was in the same situation.

Thanks!

chanp

Can anyone comment on the current up charge to the villas? It was 113.50 per night w tax 2 years ago.

Thanks!

maza918

Does anyone know the General Manager's (Ursula Schoefl) email address?

ecosse3

I'm a plat and have stayed there twice using points. Both times I booked my first night in the water bungalow (had to be done via phone with SPG) and all remaining nights in the cheapest (least number of points) room. The SPG person I spoke with had suggested this and said that it would be unlikely that they'd make me move, especially given the light load at the hotel the times I was going. And sure enough, both times I stayed in the same water bungalow the whole time. (3 days and 5 days). Good luck!

maza918

Thanks for the response ecosse3. I just left the resort and am happy to report that we were lucky enough to receive a complimentary upgrade to Water Bungalow. I was quite nervous taking the risk but it paid off. Depending on the season of visit I think your idea of booking the water bungalow for the first night is a great idea.

supatight80

My best friend and I are spending a long weekend at this property mid next month. It'll both our first time in Maldives and as what i gathered from reading this thread, it's nothing that fancy...But it's not like im on a honeymoon nor romantic getaway. But primarily to de-stress and unwind. So we are technically not here to splurge.

Given the our trip is not some sort of special event, should we still keep our expectations low to avoid disappointment? And as others have mentioned that food is very, very expensive. So how expensive is expensive? Were staying for 3 nights and was wondering how much each of us should budget for just dinner and a few drinks (free buffet breakfast as plat. benefit and no lunch). Is it also true that bottles of water is complimentary and not just 2 per day?

And does the property participate in make a green choice?

I just booked at the property @ spgescapes last night and didnt get a chance to read this thread. Appreciate the feedback from folks that have stayed here recently! Thanks!

Edit: Is 100-120$ doable for dinner and a drink for 2 pax?

chanp

I think your budget for dinner is possible, but cutting it close. I think 200 a day for dinner is much better, if you want to enjoy (bottle of wine). If not, then hit breakfast late, bring tin cans of Tuna for a lunch and keep dinner to a min. We found ourselves having drinks as the sunset and then went to dinner. You will have a platinum get together with the manager one night too, make sure your trip falls on that day and you can drink for free.

supatight80

Thanks! Ok ill let my friend know how to much budget. The tuna idea is a great idea too just in case we get hungry during lunch/afternoon

Starwood Lurker

There is nothing internal that would lead us to believe that they do.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

supatight80

In property now. Plats get compli. Upgrade to overwater bungalow. To be on the safe side, i booked my first night using SNA. The remainder nights were upgrades to the best avail. room in the upgrade pool(overwater bungalow), so didnt have to change rooms the 2nd day. If you encounter any issues re. upgrades for plats, look for Rochelle..She introduced herself as in house spg champion when i called if i have to change rooms the 2md day. Ursulla doesnt work here anymore but there's apparently a new GM.

Round trip transfer is 120$ net pp. Compli. buffet breakfast for plats + 500 pts. (Booked rate on spg escapes room only)

Alcohol and dinner is not as expensive as folks say it is. Meaning it's roughly the same price as any category 5-6 starwood property worldwide. Ex. 75cl minibar wine is 50$++. Large vodka 35$ ++. So prices are not over inflated from what i can see.

Dinner for 2 approx. 100$. Lunch i would assume would be the same. If you want buffet dinner, would be 84$ ++ pp.

Breakfast is buffet with a lot of choices from western to eastern and indian. Starts at 630 a, to 11 am.

Recommended for a nice long weekend getaway. Resort was full last friday but it still seemed quiet. And property does not participate in make a green choice. But you do get 5 compli. bottled water daily.

jatmit

Just returned from a very relaxing 5 night stay at the Sheraton Maldives! We were staying fully on points. The weather was unfortunately rainy our first day, but it turned around after that, with occasional very short spurts of rain and was overall sunny and beautiful!

I think it's important to go with the mindset that this isn't the most luxury of resorts - so don't have those expectations! However, it is a beautiful destination and an amazing deal on points - I would absolutely recommend it!

Rooms and Platinum Upgrades
We were initially using suite night awards but, after the reviews here, decided to cancel them and hope for an upgrade to an overwater bungalow. I wouldn't recommend this, as a few days before our arrival all of the OWBs suddenly appeared as sold out for our first night - likely given out as upgrades. I would suggest using SNA to secure your room. Our first night, we were in a beach front cottage. This was actually nice due to the outdoor shower and bathtub, which was fun.

We got lucky after talking with the front desk (they were super accommodating) and they moved us to an OWB after our first night, for the remainder of our stay. The OWB was a HUGE upgrade. It's not that the room is any nicer, but the level of privacy is very hard to beat outside of a villa-type room at a typical property. Snorkeling from our room was amazing (free snorkel gear is available for all guests). We saw rays, small sharks, and a ton of colorful fish. The coral wasn't great looking, though.

We anticipated having to pay tax/resort fees even though we were on points but surprisingly did not!

Food

We spent ~$200 per day for two people including minibar, drinks, shisha, lunch and dinner. We drank and ate whenever and whatever we wanted, and felt this price was super reasonable.

Feast- As a platinum member, we received free buffet breakfast at Feast. We had to choose between that, 500 points, or a local gift. The breakfast is ~$27 pp, so it's a good deal. There are a lot of options but the food is basically the same each day and there wasn't anything particularly impressive. Free was nice though!

We did not try Feast for dinner, given the average breakfast. It's about $84pp for different themes each night and sometimes moves to the beach where there is also live music. It was too windy at night during our stay so we didn't witness this.

Sand Coast/Anchorage Bar - We ordered from Sand Coast a few times to eat lunch at the bar. The pizza and burger were my favorites, but nothing was a stand out. The portion size is also very variable- the california wrap was sized like a tiny snack. Most of these dishes were ~$20-25. Drinks were about ~$15 and they had a special of three beers for $14. Shisha was $15.

Anchorage Bar also hosts a nightly Social Hour from about 6:00-8:30. 3 pours of wine or champagne for $15. There's also a happy hour at Drifters, a sports bar, but it's a bit gloomy in there and it's just 20% off all drinks.

Beach Bar- Further down the beach is another bar that also has a daily lunch bbq from 12-3pm. Mostly the same drinks. We tried the bbq and weren't very impressed. The corn on the cob was super dry and oddly chewy. The chicken was very scrawny and dry.

Baan Thai- This was the best of the restaurant food. The entrees were ~$30. Appetizers were ~$10-15. Very good noodle dishes, although the chicken was a bit dry. We ate here a few times.

Sea Salt- We didn't try. Didn't seem like the type of place to try steaks or seafood given the quality we'd seen. It just didn't feel like good enough value.

Room Service-The room service menu is the most extensive and has very tasty Indian food and I also loved the Lentil Soup. It was also nice to sit out on our terrace overlooking the water in the OWB to have dinner.

Service
The service was pretty good. The bartenders and staff were all very friendly. Sometimes it was a bit spotty (e.g., hard to get staff's attention, took 15 minutes to bring us our check, bartender forgot I'd asked him to call the spa while we waited 20 minutes before realizing we had to remind him, guest services always called 5 min after room service was delivered to ask if it had been delivered-which interrupted the meal). Overall though, I'd set my expectations that this wasn't the most luxury of resorts in the Maldives, so I was pleasantly surprised enough!

Other SPG & Platinum Perks
On Wednesday, they held a cocktail hour for SPG members from 6-7pm at the Drifters Sports Bar. There were free drinks and hor d'oeuvres and the guest services staff, along with the GM Jean-Louis, mingled with the guests. We learned that they think very highly of platinums- they were very aware of our past travels and had apparently told the staff to give us anything we wanted, and quickly.

They are also building a Ocean Villa Lounge that platinums will have access to, with a private pool and typical Sheraton Lounge amenities. It was supposed to open in July but likely won't be done until September - sounds fantastic! After the lounge is complete, they are building a Check Out lounge where people with late flights can hang out, shower, change, etc.

Overall a great stay and I would recommend to others. Hope this review helps shed some lights on your questions as you're planning!