Starwood Lurker

I was able to find this statement published on February 7th:

The Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation –
Statement 7th February 2012

The MMPRC wishes to communicate with all their friends, partners and colleagues that today at 1300 today (Male time) President Mohamed Nasheed resigned. This was due to local political issues and to avoid further confrontation he stepped down in the interests of peace and the nation.

We wish to reassure our industry colleagues that no resort, or tourist has been affected by this unusual event and that any-one intending to come to the Maldives on vacation can be reassured that their holiday will not be affected in any-way. The Maldives is unique for its one island one resort geography and guarantees that no guests should be part of any local political issues.

On the same day, Starwood representatives in the Maldives stated further:

The Vice President Mr. Mohamed Waheed has now been sworn in as the President of the Maldives and all civil disturbances have ceased.

There are no disruptions to our guests at either Sheraton Maldives or W Maldives. The airport (located on a different island to the city of Male’), continues to operate as normal and both our resorts are transferring guests between the resorts and the airport with no disruption.

Hope that helps.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

karenkay

I'm not at the property, daiseee, but know someone who works there...I've been told by my friend that everything at the property is fine and operating normally, which dovetails with what Starwood Lurker posted.

alanslegal

IMO I would not fly from LAX all the way to MLE and stay at this Sheraton. As yoonny comments after your post, this is just another run of the mill resort that lacks any character, romance or value. I would spend my money in Hawaii or the Caribbean if I was based in the USA however if your heart is set on the Maldives then head to one of the more secluded resorts that require a sea-plane to get to eg. Conrad Maldives maybe? Even the W if the budget could stretch that far. If your still keen to stay at the Sheraton Maldives, then I'd kindly suggest one last time that you fly to Fiji instead (eg. LAX-xxx-NAN) which is much closer, stay at the Sheraton Fiji and have the same resort experience there at half the cost.

yoonny

I agree 100%. Flying that many hours and incurring all the costs to get there just to stay at Sheraton would be foolish (whether paying cash or redeeming points). Everything about the resort is very average and you have to convince yourself that you are actually in Maldives because there is nothing exotic about the place. You have man made beaches, dead corals, lights blinking in the horizon, etc. The hotel probably has to charge more for the rooms as they don't derive as much revenue from the restaurants, bar or other services as the hotel was supposedly fully occupied and I observed very little activity in restaurants/bar, etc. I feel for the management as they try to set up special events and themed dining options but very little to no participation by the guests.

Conrad Maldives, however, is truly wonderful and worth the cost and time to get there.

3rdworldresident

will be there in mid october this year for 2 nights (cash&points) before transfering to W.

is it worth to try?

holtju2

As others have already pointed out there is really nothing special about this property. Stayed there in August for few nights using promotional awards after leaving Park Hyatt.

Save the money and go to some resort that is closer or use double the money to get a "real" Maldivian experience at the Park Hyatt. Personally I am NOT a huge fan of the Conrad. I have stayed at both of these.

holtju2

I think that I already posted this earlier in the thread, but when I was there back in August the resort clientele was predominantly Chinese. Not sure if this goes year around. Saw them bringing their own food to the bar etc.

yoonny

That's what we did before transferring to Conrad and I don't regret doing that due to our long flights/layover from NY to MLE via Dubai. For Sheraton, at least you know you will get to the resort promptly via boat once you arrive at MLE. We were so tired on arrival, we slept pretty much all day and night so the lesser cost of Sheraton kind of makes it the right choice for the first day or two.

For seaplane, they only let you know the time of your flight the day before. So you have the risk of waiting many more hours after your long international flight(s) to get to W via seaplane. If you consider Sheraton just as a transfer hotel and don't set high expectations, it is a fine property. Plus you will appreciate W a lot more after staying at Sheraton.

yoonny

Agreed. Whether it's Park Hyatt, Conrad (I am a big fan), W, Four Seasons or other high end resorts, spend the extra money and don't regret not doing so.

And yes, it appears the official languages (in printed materials such as daily activity schedules) at Sheraton are English and Chinese as the latter makes up a big part of hotel's guest population.

schley

In the middle of a 2 night stay, but wanted to give some impressions:

1. The speedboat transfer is nice and quick. After getting off the plane we were in our hotel room in 50 minutes.

2. The full buffet breakfast at feast was above average, but not quite a LeMeridien BKK or PA to put it into perspective for those Thailand properties that have outstanding buffet breakfasts.

3. I think the offering of excursions is ok but if I was staying here for more than 3-4 days I would want to do something else. They have a rotation of activities per day and we were not able to book everything that we wanted due to this limitation.

4. Did the island escape to the "uninhabited island" which is to say that technically no one lives on the island but there is a snack bar, bathrooms, and other permanent structures there. Other hotels also bring their guests there for the 110 bucks the Sheraton charges it isn't worth it. You can stay at the Sheraton and use their beach and have a better lunch IMO.

5. We upgraded to the OWB before arrival for both rooms and was offer 250 per night per room. I took it as we didn't want to get stuck in a non OWB.

6. The AC is not sufficient at all. Needless to say the entire bathroom doesn't have any AC at all. It is very hot and uncomfortable. I would love to talk to the engineer of the OWB layouts who left out air vents and returns in the bathrooms. If it saves money that is money not well spent IMO. I waiting for my key as we couldn't take it another night. The toblerrone bar in the room was melted for crying out loud. That is a pretty big indication that it is too hot.

7. Did the sunset dolphin cruise and 50 is steep, although we did see numerous pods of dolphins. You are on the boat with about 30 other people.

8. Had Baan Thai first night and it was very good. Did Sand Coast tonight, which was not up to the Baan Thai. We wanted Sea Salt but that is only open Tues,Thur,Sat which we overlooked and were left with the Sand Coast.

9. The spa was very good IMO. Nice locker room and private outdoor whirlpool, sun chair area. They have a relaxation room after with tea and dates. The treatment rooms open to the ocean with accordion doors and was very private. Not cheap but worth it IMO.

10. Just got moved from 142, which was hot and in 132 now. It is noticeably cooler

11. The dive shop, euro divers, was a pleasure to work with and their dive guides were very helpful and experienced. Would use them again.

I like the staff and the ambiance of the island is actually pretty good for it is only the resort.

BTW we were offered and upgrade to a water villa for an additional 100 a night and the water suite for 200 a night. The water suite was usually 350 supposedly but they were offering it for 200 upcharge. This was from an OWB. The water villa was alittle bigger but the water suite was really nice. If it was my decision I would have jumped on that but I was with 3 friends and couldn't get a unanimous decision.

Overall great use of cat 6 cash and points if you got the upgrade for free to OWB. The breakfast is good and with that now being standard for plat amenity a very good use of points. If I had the 10 suite upgrades in my account I would target this property to get an OWB. However the no AC in the bathrooms really is a flaw for this western traveler.

naparima

And I thought I was hard to please.

For those who thought it was soooo expensive etc ... well if you're on cash/points or promos ... it can't be that bad. If you're on a budget, then you shouldn't be drinking at this property or eating that much :P

For the complainers ... well if this property is sooo average ... then why even bother posting here ... since I'm sure your standards are just too high for the average flyertalker ..

Note : This isn't pointed at anyone specifically, but have we all travelled so much, that we lose perspective on good things/places etc? To complain and nitpick about things at this hotel -well there has to be other things wrong in general ....

<end of late night rant>

ma91pmh

I'm wondering whether it is worth a one night stay here on our trip in October. We are getting in on the late SQ flight which arrives at 10:10pm en route to Park Hyatt Maldives. We would not get to the PH until about 3am, so I am a little loath to pay 22k miles for a "night" when arriving so late. Am thinking can come here, have a nice breakfast and then head back to Male to continue to the trip in the morning. What do y'all think? Is the speedboat transfer free?

AJLondon

Speedboat transfer was about a $100 when I was there in Nov.

If you are looking to save on the 1st night, look at a hotel in Male instead.

Keyser

speedboat transfer $100 per person round trip....

ma91pmh

thanks folks. so with c+p it would basically be $350 +8k for an overnight here. or $500 + 16k for two nights and maybe check out the local diving first thing on the first day, but by all accounts this place is not impressive enough to not be heading to PH for