This is going to be a long review but I wont apologize for it because it is the very least I can do to somehow give just a little back to a resort and people that deserve the very highest of positive feedback.
I stayed here with my wife for 9 nights late June in to July 26 initially booked to celebrate our 30th Wedding anniversary but the trip became much more than that and I will never be able to thank all the staff involved enough. All were fantastic but I have a few to single out, only because we spent more time in their company or because some extra special aspects need an extra special mention. I must stress though, that every member of staff we met or were looked after by at any stage of the Holiday, were all super polite and very helpful.
8 weeks before we traveled, my wife had a serious accident resulting in a Head injury and other complications with fatigue and her eyesight, which very nearly put the trip at risk. I reached out to the Hotel way in advance mainly because of this and was looked after by Faiz the Reservations Manager. He was nothing short of the most helpful person I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with in any customer service situation and his patience, speed of response and kind reassurance I don't have enough words to describe. He totally salvaged what was a worrying situation for us about my wife travelling, what help she might need just in case, particularly in between flights and also with location of room and arranging airport help in advance on arrival. Without him, this trip would likely have been cancelled and without him, we would have not had the amazing holiday that we did.
We were two hours delayed leaving London Heathrow BUT because of Faiz pro- actively providing me with the whatsapp details of the NH Collection guys that would be meeting us at Male Airport, we would otherwise have missed our connecting Domestic Flight which would have entailed a very long wait for the next one and with no guarantees that there was space! I was able to reach out via wifi messaging on board our BA flight to Shivaz the NH Airport Assistant Manager and supporting him was Nabeel, to advise them that instead of arriving with nearly 3 hours to spare we would in fact have less than one hour! Shivas was brilliant, got my passport details, got us checked in whilst we were still in mid air with BA , organised a porter for luggage to meet us and made sure the wheelchair was definitely there. I could concentrate on my wife, whilst Shivaz was in control and whilst i was panicking, he was not! Maldivian Airlines kept the flight for us 10 mins late because of Shivaz and his communication and the Airline were also excellent. Shivas was equally brilliant on the return leg.
We were helped again once landed at the local airport in Kaadedhdhoo with a wheelchair, our luggage followed shortly after, then a buggy to take us on a short ride on to the final leg by boat to resort, which was only 15 minutes. A super helpful guy whose name I did not get, mainly because we were half asleep but he was a shorter guy who also joined us both ends on the boat. Many thanks to him. A lovely welcome at the Arrivals Jetty after a mammoth overall journey and then Murooj introduced himself to us and he was our 'go to' contact on resort for anything if we needed him, easily contactable by whats app. Murooj is very switched on, very calm and patient and was always available and even told us when he had a day off, yet still said to contact him if needed. The thing that stood out most about Murooj was how focused he was if and when we talked to him, not distracted by anything else and totally professional , nothing false about him and a real genuine top guy.
We were located in Sunrise Beach Villa 306 which is where I wanted to be because of location for my wife and it was perfect. There are no guarantees with any room request but Faiz made it happen and also, it was extremely quiet at the Resort, in fact, if it wasn't for the excellent staff we engaged with every day, we would have had no one else to talk to at all!! We learnt so much from all the staff we talked to and i always made a point in engaging wherever possible, even walking to the end of the Arrivals Jetty most days to say hi to whoever was on shift manning that area. So, here are a few mentions about some wonderful staff/people, who frankly became our friends on this holiday and i cannot thank them enough for their service, time and knowledge:
Moni (Senior chef)- true gent who insisted in looking after me (and also the wife) with every breakfast, lunch and dinner. He knew what and how i liked my food and irrespective of the theme in the evening, off he would go and produce something different for us to try, particularly me with a bit of extra spice. He even arrived at the Pizza Station and then at the A La Carte (we visited twice) just to check that all was ok and to add his own personal touch with his other brilliant Chef colleagues. I had at least 4 of the best dishes I have ever eaten by a very long way, even the Pizza with extra touches on, was off the chart. The steaks at the Surf restaurant cooked to perfection and some of the curries and Maldivian dishes- I will never sample that taste again anywhere else. The only downside of all of this was the weight we both put on but hey, it was well worth it! We skipped breakfast quite a few times as we didn't want to spoil lunch, which was also A La Carte due to the Hotel being so quiet, so another lucky touch for us. However, the main buffet was superb so we would have been more than happy either way. Thank you Moni for all your hard work and lovely personal service.
Hassan- what a perfect gentleman, who helped make our Anniversary Meal so special. I learnt so much from Hassan and he was so happy to answer questions I had about the area, other reefs, the food, the location and he was so patient and had a great sense of humour. Thankfully we also saw him at main dinner many times and elsewhere throughout our stay and he always made a point in checking in on us. Never imposing, and it was always good to see him.
Lalit- main bar he mainly worked where he looked after us brilliantly, introducing us to some new drinks on occasion and just being a friendly and welcoming face, again always on hand to answer any questions. I always felt sorry for him and a lot of the Bar staff because there was no one else really to serve all day or evening other than us two! I never once saw ANY of these staff not doing something or wanting to help.
Satya- nearly always by the pool bar, super friendly and again such a lovely guy. It made you happy to to see him as he was always positive and so polite and super helpful and courteous with my wife (as were all the staff).
Febin- again mainly at the Bar and the theme continues with his professionalism, politeness and spot on service.
Nishad- mainly again at the Bar depending on shifts, could not do enough to make us feel welcome and looked after.
Sandeep- early on in to the Holiday whilst familiarizing ourselves we were looked after so well at dinner by Sandeep and he 'set the bar' for how we were going to be looked after from then on.
Ahad- younger member of the 'waiting' team who was way ahead of his years in terms of professionalism and demeanor and we learnt about his Wine studies and it was so nice to hear how positively he spoke about his employers and them supporting him with his studies and also his training. That didn't surprise us based on everything we experienced with service.
Dada- a super lovely lady who we saw i believe it felt like every breakfast and lunch and many dinners! Another person with great advice and knowledge and we learnt a little about her homeland too whilst she looked after us so diligently. Her food knowledge was excellent and she always greeted us by our names and wanted to make sure we had a table with a nice fan. We tried a few as we had full choice!
Kokky (I hope I have spelt that correctly) - This lovely lady who was always in her beautiful Maldivian attire greeted us most days in the restaurant, went out of our way to be on hand to help us, was so caring with my wife and her smile and natural kindness was so much appreciated. She always looked so elegant too and my wife felt so comfortable around her and they built up a nice understanding.
Shifaaz- Cant forget this guy who made sure that he got an England game set up on his phone for me to watch and he was able to watch it with me whilst i made totally sure that he was allowed to. We had some great chats about all the football and he kept me informed on all the results whilst also providing excellent drinks for myself and my wife. I am sure that we wont forget watching that game!!!! He also is very clever in making models out of bamboo leaves or small tree bits including a helicopter, birds and necklaces. Just a fun and courteous guy who also pointed out good photo opportunities like the moon coming up!
Parthian- also manly at the bar who was very happy for Shifaaz to keep me company watching that football game, as i wanted to make sure that was ok but asked him if Shifaaz could watch it with me, as he loved his football and he insisted. Parthian is very skilled in making great cocktails and my favorite of Pina Colada and the wife's Strawberry Daiquiri he had down to a fine art. These amazing people just work great as a team and Shifaaz jumped on other bar aspects at half time and again straight after whilst Parthian was on hand for drinks. To be fair, there were no other customers but Parthian was on full alert none the less and was busy tidying and staying on top of things. Teamwork at its best.
Gokul- excellent house keeping for our room to the point that we felt bad keeping him waiting on some mornings where my wife needed some rest. He was so keen to do such a brilliant job and he did throughout our stay and did a lovely flower arrangement on our bed for our anniversary. We felt guilty removing it later! He was always available if we needed anything extra and always made sure our mini bar was stocked and towels changed. Kept everything so tidy too.
Kishor- Guest services and another super nice guy who was always making sure that everything was ok and i particularly enjoyed my frequent chats with him.
Naufal- hard for me to describe what he does, as he had knowledge of everything and i called him Mr Everything!! Technical stuff, fish, sharks, Turtles, food, reefs, boats, football you name it. Great fun guy to have around and even took the boat ride back with us when we were leaving on his day off, when he was going to see his family for the day but shortened the time he was going to have with them to come on our later boat to be with us and even made sure we were checked in at the local airport. Also took some more time to explain about other areas that we could see from the boat and places that i had learnt about. Felt more like a friend seeing us off if we are honest!
I chose this Hotel based mainly on the reviews and my research about the House Reef and from someone we know who visited here a number of years ago and it did not disappoint. I saw and snorkeled with everything i hoped to with sharks (for the first time), Rays, Turtles, a ton of amazing coloured fish and even a ton of Dolphins swam past me! A lot of the staff have great knowledge about the reef and i managed to basically cover the whole South side of the reef by the time the holiday had finished by doing a bit each day. Mornings were definitely clearer. Sadly my wife was not able to snorkel because of her injuries but I had no issue in leaving her whilst i went on my own, as i knew that by the Pool she was in very good hands. She could not use the Gym either but we took a look and we felt it had everything needed and was lovely and cool. She also had a massage and said the Spa was excellent and the lady was very understanding of her injuries .She came in the buggy with me when i kindly received a lift, and was able to sit for a short while when i went off the walkway by one end of the Water Villas.
Its also worth mentioning that this was out of season and also in their 'rainy season' apparently but we only had rain on one day! I guess we were lucky but if you want to come at a very quiet time then late June in to early July is for you. If you want to meet other travelers/customers and want a more lively time then this time of year wont be for you but we didn't need anyone else, as we had the fantastic staff to engage with who looked after us to such a degree that we felt like royalty! They were all that we needed and were the people that we were lucky to meet and be looked after by.
There is nothing at all that we felt could be improved upon, the whole resort was spotless, our room was divine and modern (amazing really when you think about where we were in the world) , the food was on another planet, the choices were vast in our opinion, the beach beautiful and there was more sand on the sunrise side even at high tide. Main pool and bar area are lovely and the communication was superb as was the personal touches throughout our stay. However, the standout for us and real 'lifesaver' were the truly amazing staff. I will never be able to thank all of these people enough for what they all did for us at some stage every day. The memory of how they treated us and gave my wife such an amazing Holiday, following such a traumatic few weeks previously, will stick with us forever.
This was our first trip to The Maldives and whilst i appreciate that it is such a special part of the world and beautiful location, I still doubt that we will be able to beat this experience, Resort or service. I have traveled fairly far and wide for over 40 years but nothing has come close to what was provided before and during this Holiday.
A huge thank you from myself and my wife and I do sincerely hope that everyone gets the recognition that they thoroughly deserve that gets a mention here but everyone else we saw were always polite, friendly and keen to help irrespective. A top team of staff clearly managed and looked after well by Management and the brand. Its also worth noting that we never saw any member of staff being 'micro managed' or watched and we both felt that was refreshing, as that showed there was clear trust in the staff to let them be, to do a great job, which they all absolutely did. However, its still down to the individuals to act like they all did so naturally and we wont forget them and how special we were made to feel.
Thank you all so so much and I hope from the descriptions above that any of the staff that may read these reviews, will all know and remember who we are! Apologies also for taking a couple of weeks to put this together but its been hectic since we have returned. Special people do special things and we were very lucky to meet the biggest bunch of special people all in just 10 days. We had a whole host of these people waving us off and helping us again, kind of sums up how we felt when we arrived also. Special and appreciated!
We wish the brand, this resort and all the amazing management and staff the very very best for the rest of the upcoming seasons. You all deserve it. All the best too to all your families of which we heard a bit about during some nice conversations.
