The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Review is part of the Trip Report: The $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World which covers 5 Continents, 13 Countries, and 17 Cities.
- Tokyo, Japan
- Melbourne, Australia
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Sydney, Australia
- Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Maldives
- Saigon, Vietnam
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Hong Kong
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Knysna, South Africa
- Durban, South Africa
- Mauritius
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Doha, Qatar
- New York, New York
- Helsinki, Finland
Find the nerdy planning here. Find the picture preview here.
Island breezes, world-class hospitality with no care in the world, that’s my idea of heaven.
At the Conrad Maldives, heaven, like good service, will have to wait.
Last Christmas as part of my $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World, I stayed at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island in a breathtaking bungalow that overlooked paradise. Looking out to the sea, everything was spectacular, but focusing my attention on the resort’s geniality, everything was average.
I hate to gripe about a beautiful place like Maldives so I’m going to keep the negatives to a minimum:
It started with the $500 seaplane that was delayed, then delayed, and delayed again with both the hotel and the seaplane company blaming one another for the problem. Then came the unannounced cancellation of happy hour for Hilton Gold and Diamond members where for one hour a day, literally everyone on the island would make a mad rush to the bar for complimentary drinks. The resulting anger displayed from hotel guests was a telltale sign of three things: 1) The prices in Maldives are ridiculous. 2) Everyone is a raging alcoholic. (The Maldives is one of 3 countries that does not allow the purchase of alcohol by visitors even at the Duty Free.) 3) Points travelers may be in a little over their heads even staying on points. Finally, and most notably, upon checking out, the hotel mixed up my bags with that of a Chinese traveler and but for dumb luck my passport was headed with him to China. (An interlude for obvious Travel Advice, keep your passport glued to you even while scuba diving.)
The hotel’s response for all of this was one of indifference and that’s putting it nicely.
But enough about them interfering with my blue heaven, let’s talk about the celestial Maldives archipelago:
<==Back to Maldives Seaplane – Onto Sheraton Saigon==>
Great pics, when were you there?
Thanks. Christmas 2014
LOL Christmas 2013
obviously my subconscious wishes it was this year
haha…just came back thought we might have been there at the same time
That is on top of my aspirational hotels list.. Thanks for the awesome pics!
It is a beautiful property.
Conrad and the similar hotels are an extraordinary rip off. It’s barely worth to talk about going on points, because you can count on spending without trying too hard $1000 every two days on extras – unless you want to be like the Chinese and fill up at breakfast and hide in your room all day! MUCH better to go the old school all-inclusive resorts. The best one is Rihiveli, which is run for French people mostly so the food is cheap. Old style bungalows, no bling, no a/c. Really nice.
No argument from me!
Could you please explain about the complementery happy hour cancelation. Was it just 1 night? Or for your entire stay? I have not heard anything about that on flyer talk.
It was just for one night. It was Christmas so they had a special party for that but didn’t bother to tell anyone that it was replacing the Happy Hour.
So all the thirsty guests showed up confused why no libations were being offered.
That sort of inattention to detail is the norm at this property.