After completing our flights on Qatar Airways (review for flight #1 here and flight #2 here), we had finally made it to Male to begin our stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives!
When I got into this hobby ~10 years ago, the Park Hyatt Maldives quickly moved to the top of my list of places I wanted to use my points. I have had some amazing stays over the past 10 years. However, I knew that I wanted to take an all-out trip to the Maldives.
Thus, this trip happened. To be frank, the entire trip was planned around our stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives, so I was really looking forward to staying here.
For this review, I’m going to break this down into 4 parts:
- Introduction, Cost, & Arrival
- Park Hyatt Maldives Rooms
- Park Hyatt Maldives Food & Beverage
- Park Hyatt Maldives Activities & Service
Note that I won’t go over the departure, as it is the exact same as the arrival, but in reverse.
There’s a lot to go over with this resort, so I want to make sure I break it down well. So, let’s dive right on in.
Introduction
To start off, I will say that we had an absolutely fantastic stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives. The rooms were very classic and refined, the food and beverage were delicious, and the service was fantastic.
Most interestingly, it took us maybe 30 hours from the time we left Washington, DC, to the time we stepped foot on the dock at the Park Hyatt Maldives. As we were leaving, knowing we had a long journey back, we were already discussing when we might be able to go back to this specific resort. We absolutely loved it!
Particularly, we are fully aware that there were some learnings throughout our stay. For example, we had never stayed at a resort on an island like this. Even for more remote locations, we had the ability to easily get things at outside shops or the resort we were staying at could easily procure something.
That’s not the case here. Anything you need needs at least a few days until they restock items, as everything has to be delivered by boat…and as you’ll see, it’s not easy for that boat to even get to the item!
All that being said, we had some learnings which will make our next stay even better! I still give this resort a 10/10. The beauty of this resort, the impeccable service, and the delicious food make this my new favorite hotel!
Park Hyatt Maldives Location
The Park Hyatt Maldives is located on the Huvadhoo Atoll on it’s own private island. The Google Map is below, but you’ll need to expand out to really see where it’s located.
For a bit more context on the practical side, once you land in Male, you’ll need to take a separate hour-long flight aboard Maldivian Airlines and a 30-minute to 1 hour resort-owned boat ride to get to the island. (I’ll go over this trip in-depth later on in this post.)
It’s important to note that the island is one hour ahead of the capital of the Maldives, Male. Once you get on the island and connect to wifi, your phone/laptop/watch likely won’t update, so you’ll want to update that. I’ll explain tomorrow, but there is a master clock in every room with the correct time.
Park Hyatt Maldives Base Cost
Going to be upfront here: The Park Hyatt Maldives is not cheap, either in points or in cash.
We used points for this particular stay. As of publication, the Park Hyatt Maldives is a category 7 hotel, requiring 25,000-35,000 points per night.
For this specific 6 night stay, we used 210,000 World of Hyatt points. Given that the winter season is considered peak time in the Maldives (as the Northern summer season is the rainy season), we paid 35,000 points per night. We earned these primarily through our own hotel stays, Chase’s World of Hyatt cards, and Chase Sapphire/Ink cards. I additionally had to transfer some points from my wife’s account to my account to pay for the full stay.
The going rate for a base room for every night was over $1,000, so I got about 3.5 cents per point of value by using points, which is a great value.
Other Costs
There are also other costs involved that are unavoidable. First, as mentioned earlier, the resort is on it’s own private island. This has two implications. First, you have to pay for transport from Male to the island itself. As of this writing, this is $599 per person roundtrip. Once you book your stay, they email you within a few days with instructions, and they will book this roundtrip for you. They’ve done this thousands of times, and the process, described below, is seamless.
Second, when redeeming points, you are given the option to upgrade your room from the base room for for cash. The choices with prices as of right now are as follows:
- Beach Pool Villa: $319 per night (complimentary upgrade upon arrival, subject to availability, for Globalists)
- Overwater Villa (Without Pool): $701.80 per night
- Overwater Sunset Pool Villa: $1,020.80 per night
- Deluxe Beach Pool Villa: $1,212.20 per night
- Two Bedroom Beach Pool Villa: $1,786.40 per night
We lucked into a Beach Pool Villa upgrade for 3 nights for free, but we did upgrade ourselves to the Overwater Sunset Pool Villa for our final 3 nights. (As I’ll explain in tomorrow’s post, the pool isn’t the only reason you should upgrade to the pool overwater villa over the non-pool overwater villa.)
Thus, before we had even stepped foot on the island, we had committed to spending ~$4,300, which we had known when we booked this trip a year in advance. However, you can absolutely stay here on points for the required $1,200 in transfers and meals.
You earn World of Hyatt points on everything except for alcohol. The hotel didn’t play any games with points earning either. You even earned points on the transfer (which is better than earning points on Maldivian Airlines, I guess!).
Finally, note that all costs here include a 16% tax and 10% gratuity. I’ll go over the costs of food and optional activities in later posts. I’ll do my best to make sure to include those costs as well.
Domestic Flight within the Maldives
Right After Landing at Male International Airport
Like I mentioned earlier, it takes some time to get from Male International to the Park Hyatt Maldives island.
Upon landing, you are ushered through immigration and a light security line. If you flew in a premium class like we did, there is a separate line than for those who flew economy.
You then collect your bags right there. It is utter chaos, and I personally loved and hated it. That being said, the expansion of the Maldives terminal in 2025 will be very welcome, as it will hopefully include a better immigration and baggage claim experience.
As soon as you have collected your checked bags, you head out the door to see a wall of hotel representatives (hundreds!) with the names of most of the hotels in the country. You will look for the Park Hyatt Maldives sign, who is there to do a few things.
First, they will take your luggage for you and get you checked in for your domestic flight on Maldivian Airlines. Second, they will direct you to the domestic terminal lounge while you wait for your next flight. Finally, they will answer any questions and, barring no one else arriving for the resort around your time, grab you from the lounge when it’s time to board.
You get 30kg (~66.5 pounds) of checked bags for free from Maldivian Airlines per person. This includes any rollaboard bags you may have, as they won’t fit in the overhead compartment of your domestic flight. Any additional weight is $3 per kg, which I believe you pay directly to the airline (we didn’t go over, so I can’t confirm).
Additionally, the Park Hyatt Maldives representative will tag your bag with a Park Hyatt Maldives tag so that at the conclusion of your domestic flight, the next representative can grab any bags you have from the checked bag area.
A quick note on leaving the Park Hyatt Maldives: You will have a Park Hyatt Maldives representative with you the entire way on your journey from the resort to departure from Male International. Once you land at Male International from your domestic flight, you’ll have a representative walk with you through check-in, security, and up to immigration.
Male International Airport Domestic Lounge
After you are checked in, the Park Hyatt representative will take you to the domestic lounge, as you may have a couple of hours before your domestic flight.
Honestly, it’s not much to ride home about. The wifi is free, and, if you arrive in the morning, they have a small continental breakfast for you. I had some toast, a machine-made cappuccino, and my first of many Maldivian Cokes. The restrooms only had a toilet & sink, and there were no shower facilities at this airport.
I will say that, based upon my impressions, the chairs were incredibly comfy for a domestic lounge. They had couches that many people had taken to sleeping on and big chairs with ottomans that I could relax on easily.
Looking back, given that we each only had our backpacks with our tablets and a book, I would recommend to grab a taxi and head into Male itself if time allows. Even if it’s just paying the cab driver to drive you around, that could be fun. If you’re tired though, just hang out in the lounge. Set an alarm on your phone too to make sure you wake up if you fall asleep!
Maldivian Airlines Domestic Flight
Security opens up for your domestic flight 30 minutes before departure. There’s no need to be the first one through, as you have an assigned seat on the aircraft.
It’s a pretty easy security check, and you do not need to take off your shoes. If you’re a smoker, you can’t take a lighter in your carry-on.
Once you’re through security, you are in a small room with rows of chairs. This is the nicest domestic terminal in the Maldives, and the new domestic terminal will be fantastic.
They’ll call for you about 30 minutes before your flight leaves, as they board one flight at a time to make sure no one gets on the wrong plane, given that you have to walk out on to the tarmac.
There are a variety of different planes in their fleet, but pretty much all of them are turboprops, which is a neat experience. You will have to board and disembark via the stairs attached to the plane, so keep that in mind if you have mobility problems.
A quick note: You’ll get your flight information directly from the Park Hyatt Maldives about 3 days or so before you arrive. They pick the best flight for you based upon when your flight will arrive, leaving room in case your flight is delayed. One of the boat drivers told me that they fly from Male to 3 or 4 different airports, so you may arrive and leave from different airports by the resort. (We flew into Kaadeddhdhoo Island to arrive at the resort and from Kooddoo Island when we left the island, and, yes, I did have to look up how to spell these. No, I can’t pronounce them.)1
The Actual Flight
For this particular flight, we flew on a Dash-8 300. This was my first time on this type of little puddle jumper!
Once you are on the flight, you will take your seat and store your items (either above you or under the seat in front of you). The space under the seat in front of you will have more space.
If you’re in the first row on the right side, you actually face someone else, which was an interesting experience. On a related note, if you’re in any of these seats, you have to store any hand luggage above you.
We were given a moist towlette as soon as we sat down.
The seat was basically like a domestic US seat. For our particular seat, there was safety literature to the side. Also, there were AC nozzles & reading lights above. Note that the plane gets very hot, due to the climate and the fact that there isn’t really plane AC on these planes here.
Pushback and take-off were quick.
Once you’re in the air, they come around and give you a nut and dried fruit mix and a piece of chocolate, as well as mango juice or water (I got mango juice). The flight takes about an hour.
As you can imagine, the views of all the atolls you are flying over are absolute beautiful.
Our flight was relatively smooth. Given that it’s a small plane, the plane can be moved around on a rough day. On our flight back, there was some pretty bad turbulence, with, at one point, people were screaming (everyone was fine!).
We landed at Kaadedhdhoo Island Domestic Airport. After we landed, the plane had to turn around on the runway and pull up to the “terminal.”
We got off while our bags were offloaded and met a separate Park Hyatt Maldives representative. He grabbed our luggage and took us to a golf cart. It was just my wife and I, so he then drove us to the dock.
One thing of note: I guess I never thought about how, for the Maldivian people, most never use cars. They get around by boat and plane everyday. Some locals got off our plane and had checked boxes of food. Interesting note of what life is like for everyday Maldivians.
Boat Transfer to the Park Hyatt Maldives
After about a 5 minute golf cart ride, we arrive at the dock. There was one of the Park Hyatt Maldives resort boats waiting for us. They helped us in and loaded our luggage. We were told that the smoothest ride was at the back of the boat (which was true) and were handed life jackets to put on. We then began our trip to the resort.
During the boat ride, there was a captain and two Park Hyatt Maldives representatives.
Once we left the dock, one of the representatives gave us a cool towel dipped in lemongrass oil, a glass of juice, and some delicious cookies.
The boat ride took almost an hour. We passed a few islands, but not many. It was a fun ride.
Arrival at the Park Hyatt Maldives
The view when pulling up to the island is absolutely gorgeous. At that moment, you say, “I’m here.” At this point, I fell into a state of deep relaxation.
A customer relations representative was waiting for us at the dock. They welcomed us by name and opened a bottle of sparkling wine. We hopped on another golf cart and were off to see our first room!
Check-Out
While this is an intro article, there really isn’t an easier way to discuss the check-out process, so I’ll just put it here.
The day before you leave the island, your host (who will be described later on) will give you a piece of paper with your check-out schedule for the next day. It seems like they actually book your domestic flights that are most convenient for you, not the hotel, which is a great touch. Additionally, the day of check out, you’ll head to the main office, review your bill, and pay for your stay. It was a very seamless process for us.
Conclusion
It is my hope that I gave you a general overview of costs and the final process of arriving at / disembarking from the Park Hyatt Maldives. While expensive and tiring to get to, over the next few posts, I hope you recognize that it is well worth it!
What do you think about this so far? What questions do you have that I can answer about the Park Hyatt Maldives?
- This will also change how long of a boat ride you have to and from the domestic airport. Our boat ride when arriving took almost an hour to get to the Park Hyatt Maldives, while our boat ride while leaving was only 30 minutes. Do with that what you want. ↩︎
Interested in other posts in this series? Catch all of my reviews below!
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Introduction, Cost, & Arrival
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Beach Pool Villa
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Sunset Overwater Pool Villa
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Food and Drink
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Activities
- Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Service
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below!
Comments (2)