WHAT A HOTEL AND HOLIDAY!
I travelled along with my wife and 5 year old daughter, Molly, for 15 nights in December 2023.
We arrived at Male airport to be greeted by a Angsana representative who escorted to the business class lounge at the sea plane terminal where we had wifi and the usual lounge food and drink provided. This was a very welcome stop after along flight.
We then took the 45minute sea plane, which was a great experience as we have always taken speed boats on our previous five visits to the Maldives.
We were greeted by the Hotel Manager Zahir, two representatives from their Sustainable Projects Team as well as their Food and Beverage Manager and the Senior Receptionist who looked after our room.
I had been in touch with the manager before we arrived to let him know of our upcoming stay, of our ten year anniversary that we were celebrating while there and our interest in their sustainability projects. The warm welcome Zahir and his team gave us was great to receive after a long journey. Zahir provided us with local food delicacies and drinks as we waiting for our room to be arranged and the team responsible for the sustainable projects on the island also kindly informed us of the programs they are running, such as coral planting (which we took part in ourselves later in the holiday) and the recycling of staff uniforms and other materials to do all they can too keep the wonderful islands as clean as possible.
Staff – Honestly an amazing group of people. It was great to see the General Manager was Maldivian and a very large proportion of the staff are too. The island is in one of the southern atolls and a lot of the staff seem to be from nearby islands, which had the impact of creating a real community on the island. We went night fishing and I was lucky enough to catch a fish that was about 15kgs. The next morning everyone seemed to know about it before I told them, so it really felt like a village atmosphere. Everyone is extremely friendly and professional.
The staff were all great but ones that really stood out for us during our stay were;
Zahir – an amazing General Manager who made us feel at home immediately and ensured that everything we needed was provided for. Everything on the island worked like clockwork and he was a real leader and professional!
Neil – The Assistant Manager – Very friendly, extremely experienced in hotels. In fact it turned out he was the food and beverage manager at my wife and I’s first ever holiday hotel together in Egypt many years ago. He was always walking the island making sure every detail was right.
Mushla – Manages the Kids Club that my daughter absolutely LOVED! Mushla looked after her most days while my wife and I went snorkelling. We always asked my daughter if she wanted too come, but she loved Mushla so much it was a battle to get her out of kids club. Thank you so much for looking after her so well. She still talks about you and wants to come back!
Ageel – Manages the Diver centre. Extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Worked tirelessly to ensure we saw whale sharks, manta rays, turtles and sharks and countless other tropical fish. I went snorkelling every day of the holiday and wish I could go right now. Extremely professional and has convinced me to come back and do scuba diving! I really appreciated every trip we went on and look forward to diving with you again. Smart guy!
Sylvia – Works with Ageel in the dive school. She went above and beyond to ensure that my 5 year old daughter got to see a whale shark on our excursion. The sea was very busy with other snorkelers trying to see it, but Sylvia was amazing in ensuring Molly was safe and had the space and time to see the giant whale shark without her getting scared. She ensured that my wife and I could see too, but looking after Molly so well really was phenomenal! She also showed my daughter her parrot which she loved!
Fazeel – Worked at the dive centre and took some amazing videos and photos of us swimming with turtles. Always looked after everyone on the daily snorkel trips.
Litu – Amazing waiter by the pool bar/a la carte restaurant. Litu was excellent and always had our drinks ready for us before we had even ordered and set up our lunch tables by the pool too. Really friendly, funny and ensured that my daughter was catered for. Thank you!
Ziwaan – Our waiter in the buffet restaurant for the holiday. Our table was always in a great spot and he ensured that my daughter had all of her off menu food requests (pizza, pasta, fried, ice cream of course!) catered for as well as looking after the adults really well too. Lovely guy.
Hathim – aka Apa – Brilliant waiter at the buffet restaurant who has an incredible talent for creating things out of leaves and flower. He created the most amazing displays on the tables as well as a crab made of palm leaves for my daughter than had to be seen to be believer (I have no idea how he did it!) as well as necklaces and other creations that my daughter loved.
Rohim – One of the lead chefs. Wow. What a great guy and he works so hard. Again, knew what we wanted every day at breakfast and got up extra earl yon our last day to make us our last breakfast when it was still dark. Great chef, hard worker and very friendly. Thanks foo looking after us so well!
Khalid – Room attendant – The room was spotlessly clear. He also decorated us with two beautiful welcome and anniversary messages on our beds (my daughter loved her one too!). Thank you for keeping us so well looked after!
Moosa Neem – Manages the gym. I have NEVER been in a cleaner gym in my life. I went every day and there was never so much of a spec of sand on there, which is near impossible on an island covered in it. He was always cleaning it and ensuring that everything was in the right position. He also worked in the water sports centre and helped us there too.
Ali – Photographer/dive centre support. Lovely guy who looked after us on the daily dives and excursions too.
Shibin – a great waiter at the bar who also looked after us very well.
Husain – the restaurant manager and huge Man United fan (like me) who was so friendly and ensured that everything was perfect for us in the restaurant. On our last night he asked one of his colleagues to create a table with the Man United badge and loads of flowers. The badge was the size of the entire table and was made with dyed pieced of rice. It must have taken ages. I did not get the chance to thank him in person as he worked n the water villas and we were going the next day, but a huge thank you goes to Nadeem aka, Totti, who must have spent so much time putting it together. It was incredible!
Agmal – Senior pool bar waiter. He is a huge Indian cricket fan and was always good fun too chat to and looked after us well!
Sustainability – I had read about their sustainability and resource project before going and it was one of the reasons why we chose the hotel. The demonstration and explanation of them was great to see and hear and long may it continue. Well done to the company for making these a priority!
Rooms – We had a Beachfront Infinity Pool Villa, on the sunrise side of the island. It was near the end of the island where you can walk about 20 steps and then be on the sunset side of the island, so it was a wonderful location. The room was spacious and very clean with full air-conditioning and satellite TV available, including Premiership football games and children’s tv, which came in useful.
The pool was a perfect size for us and my daughter basically learnt to swim in it. It was brilliant to jump into it after along day in the sea or in the main pool. It will be very difficult to go back to a room without our own private pool now!
Food – Excellent. Two restaurants; the buffet and the a la carte. They were both excellent and the quality of the food was never in question. The quality of the tuna in the a la cart/pool restaurant was probably the best I have ever had and I am a huge sushi fan. The steak and burgers were also great, as were the calamari and chicken wings. In fact, you can’t go wrong as the chefs are top quality. The staff always made huge efforts to get whatever my daughter would like, as kids can be fussy eaters, and she was very well catered for. Especially with her ice creams!
Pool Bar – This was a wonderful place to have a drink during the day or evening. The staff were always on hand to look after you had generally knew what you were drinking and delivered it before you had even ordered. Cocktails, soft drinks, non-alcoholic cocktails were all very well made and the beer was ice cold too. My daughter especially liked the chocolate milk that they provided as well as her peach juice, which has now become her favourite drink.
Main pool - The pool itself was beautiful overlooking the white sand and there were plenty of sun loungers, seats and tables for lunch available.
Snorkelling – daily trips to different parts of the reef were wonderful and lasted just over an hour. Saw turtles, sharks and countless tropical fish. Also saw a number of eagle rays and a couple of manta rays while out there.
On our return journey and Angsana representative escorted us through security, all the way to the check in desk. This was very useful, professional and made a real difference in our send off. Going 5 star makes a difference and it was noticed.
Thank you all and we can’t wait to return. Aiming to book for the same time again in 2024!
Matt, Claire and Molly
