Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, Maldives

We visited in March for 10 days to celebrate my husband’s 50th birthday. When we landed at Malé International Airport, we had quite a long wait for the speedboat to the resort. Once we arrived, check-in was fairly smooth, although we had requested rooms close to the rest of our party. When the room allocations were given, we realised they weren’t near each other, and despite asking if this could be changed, our request was ignored. In the end, we accepted it as we’d had a long day and just wanted to relax. When we entered the room, it wasn’t what I expected. It felt dated, wasn’t particularly clean, and had a damp smell. As it was our first visit, we initially assumed this might be normal. However, once we started unpacking, we opened the bedside drawer and found a box of Durex condoms left behind, which was quite surprising and clearly showed the room hadn’t been properly checked. We contacted reception via WhatsApp, and to be fair, they were apologetic and arranged for the room to be cleaned immediately. Although the room was cleaned, the condoms were still left in the drawer, so we ended up disposing of them ourselves. The island itself is very small. Swimming in the ocean wasn’t great in many areas due to the amount of coral and the shallow water. On the other side of the island, we did find two larger areas suitable for swimming and snorkelling, but for most of our stay the current was extremely strong, making it difficult to swim comfortably. The food was average and quite hit-and-miss. The resort had been advertised as offering à la carte dining, but in reality there was only one buffet restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all within fairly limited time slots. There were also two snack bars — the beach bar serving burgers and wraps, and the surf bar serving pizza. The seating areas throughout the resort were basic, uncomfortable, and looking quite tired. The drinks were disappointing and inconsistent. Trying to get served in the buffet restaurant during the evening was almost impossible, and when drinks did arrive, the glasses were barely half full. Unfortunately, many of the staff appeared unhappy and uninterested, and we found several to be quite rude, which wasn’t the paradise experience we had been expecting. The pool area also wasn’t particularly inviting. The pool itself looked dirty, the sun loungers had definitely seen better days, and overall the resort was in need of some TLC. This hotel was chosen by a family member who regularly visits different islands in the Maldives. After staying at one of the sister resorts the previous year — which they said was amazing — we decided to try this one as we enjoy experiencing different places. Unfortunately, they commented that this was the worst island they had stayed at in the Maldives. Read less

Check in was slow and arduous, we were seated whilst they took passports etc – but was very slow and a lot of waiting time, although they did provide a drink. The introduction to the resort was not great, it was more like we have sent a whatsapp message so read it and figure it out. Finally, they issued the key for the room but there were no buggies available so asked for us to wait. It had already been a long journey and the long check in wait so we just walked to the room, but there was no luggage for us at the room yet. The rooms themselves were dated and large gaps on the doors and insects due to this, although they say they fumigate each day. The rooms were dark with poor low lighting. There was a toilet, sink and shower outdoors. The air-con unit was leaking water which they had to fix a couple of times. The kettle was not working throughout the whole stay even though we raised it more than a few times. Wi-Fi was a hit and miss. We asked for a do not disturb sign and to leave it hanging on the door, instead they knocked and woke us up to give it to us. We had additional calls about obtaining our ID again, which had already been provided at check-in. There was a door to the adjoining room which we were not able to lock. It had a small wall hung flatscreen tv, but there were no channels as it said no signal – which was resolved once only for it to re-occur. The shaving razor was the cheapest multipack bic one, that had been cut into individual razor pieces and was ‘complimentary’ – nice if you want to be left with cuts everywhere on your face. We were there to celebrate a big double-digit anniversary so they did provide a bottle of wine (don’t drink alcohol- don’t know the client) and a cake. There was one pool by the main area near a bar and it had limited sun beds. There was a small gym area but the air con was always turned off so was too hot. The main restaurant had cuisine stations with different dishes each day, whereas most of the other food was pretty similar each time – so the food was generally the same each day with a few different themed dishes. There was another Sunset restaurant that had no spaces even when booking 3-4 days in advance so was a little pointless. Breakfast, lunch and dinner was within a 2-hour window each time. There was a sunset cruise that we booked onto via the rep only to be told there was no record at reception. When we showed them the message we were added on and this was actually pleasant. There was a dolphin cruise that was also included which was also pleasant – seems the things away from the resort were good. The resort was supposed to good for surfing. The resort lacked consistency, you could order a drink one bar and the same drink at another bar and get something totally different. Sometimes water was bought to the table in the restaurant, sometimes you have to get your own. Our transfer on leaving was for 5pm so we asked for a late checkout, we were charged 75USD for 3hours (until 3pm), which was not great given we still had to wait 2 hours in reception and the resort was at under 50% occupancy. There were no charges printed, it felt like the charges were just pulled out of thin air and manual form filled in. Whether that was the staff or if it was policy was unclear. We were then advised that although we had paid for late checkout, we were not allowed lunch at the restaurant – fasting it was then! The staff were the main thing going for the resort. Particular mention to Chef Puran Singh and the team as saviours of the resort. Isah on the Naan station within the Indian Pavilion. The cleaner for the Ocean breeze room area. If not for these staff and the Indian pavilion, vegetarian food was difficult. There were themed nights but it didn’t cover the food you would expect e.g. There was no pizza on Italian night. No falafels on Mediterranean night etc. Also, there was cross contamination as perving spoons and staff at stations not keeping meat and non-meat separate and not changing gloves (handling non-veg and veg with their hands). It felt more like a basic European resort with some basic entertainment. Not really the luxury wanted when visiting the Maldives. Not impressed with the place and the treatment at all. Unfortunately, not somewhere I would return or recommend. Having been Maldives previously and experienced what it can offer, this fell well short off the mark. Read less

We stayed in one of the over water units at the Adaaran Hudhuranfushi Resort for 3 days. We loved the peaceful isolation and the sense of nature surrounding us as walked down our back steps and swam in the pristine clear waters or when we walked to and from our unit observing the numerous fish swimming underneath the walkway. The Sunset Restaurant food and service was outstanding but at other times when we wanted a more relaxing meal or drinks the Beach Grill Bar. Our butler Toosh met us on arrival and made us feel very welcome. He drove us to our unit. He explained the setup of our unit and outlined all the services, activities and times of operation and provided his contact details should we need any assistance during our stay. Our unit was cleaned meticulously and restocked daily by Amijadhu who did it all with a welcoming smile. Read less