My wife and I recently had the pleasure of staying at the Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa, a trip that was particularly special for us as it was an anniversary celebration. Our experience was nothing short of wonderful. It was a surprise trip for my wife. I chose the overwater villa with a pool for our stay, which offered exceptional privacy and beauty. Hilton's attention to detail in designing these villas was evident, with thoughtful amenities like a beach bag and yoga mats for use during our stay and bicycles to explore the resort. The true highlights of the villa were the breathtaking view, the luxurious infinity pool, and the direct, private access to the Indian Ocean (all of which are to be expected with such villas in any resort in the Maldives). It was my second time in the Maldives and my wife’s first. We were both blown away.
GENERAL
- The villa and the resort had an air of tranquility. If it was possible, I'd say I literally felt my blood pressure drop.
- Almost all resort properties in the Maldives are beautiful. I mean it’s hard not to be beautiful. But the Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort definitely exceeded expectations.
- The property takes up the entire island, so there is no “walking into the local town or city” or leaving the property for an exploratory jaunt, and rightly so as the whole essence of such a resort is rest and relaxation. Seychelles would be more suitable for those who love exploring.
- The resort as a whole is picturesque, beautiful and has a clean and airy feel. I would go with minimalist luxury if I was to describe the overall look. It opened in July 2022, so extremely new as far as resorts in the Maldives go.
- We stayed in an overwater villa with a pool and as the waters in the Maldives always are, immensely green, clean and unspoiled. Measures are clearly taken to ensure that nature remains as uninterrupted as possible. We had 4 regular blueish / teal fish visitors and 2 bird regulars.
- Our guest experience maker, Mozi, was very attentive, informative, kind, knowledgeable and jovial. He catered to our needs from making reservations to making buggy pickup arrangements picking us up in the buggy, etc. He made us feel like his only priority and villa even though he was handling multiple villas at a time.
- Everything was so personalized for our stay at the Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort. Other than Mozi, our guest experience maker, every staff member we came across was welcoming and friendly. We appreciated the level of care and attention to detail that each and every one of them bring to work. It is hard to miss.
- “No” is not a word heard here as these guys go over and above to attend to your needs no matter how small or large.
- It clearly comes across that Hilton looks after its guests and staff, holding both in high esteem.
FOOD / DINING / DRINKS
With regards to food, we enjoyed the daily breakfast buffet at Habitat. The options were, or rather, are pretty much endless, and having one’s breakfast with a view of the teal blue green ocean is quite something. The staff in each restaurant was very attentive and efficient.
One of our first dining experiences was at Aura where I had a Burger which was nice and juicy and a Wonton Noodle Soup which was delicious and quite flavourful. We also shared a Seafood Linguine which was tasty but cold. We made a note to have food served as they are ready rather than all together for next time.
We then stopped by at the Eden Bar for after dinner drinks. We had the following cocktails; a Singapore Sling for my wife which was as expected and one of the two house cocktails, The Dream.
We tried out the following items in the In-Villa Dining menu for a very late night / early morning dinner
- Caesar salad with prawns which was nice and crunchy.
- Club sandwich which was delicious but I would advise that the tomatoes be left out as they made the sandwich slightly soggy in parts due to the high-water content tomatoes used (it ought to be beef tomatoes or none at all).
- Seafood Linguine (with added cream) this was much tastier than that served at Aura.
For our anniversary we had the floating breakfast and had our anniversary dinner at Origin which offers the resorts sophisticated dining menu. Our meal was delicious and lovely.
We dined once at Beach Shack: however, it was a buffet, Beach Market Buffet, available that day rather than the usual a la carte menu. It was a spectacular buffet. I/we generally avoid buffets at resorts and or hotels but once in a while there are resorts and or hotels that exceed any and all expectations. I wholeheartedly recommend the buffets at this resort.
We usually ended our nights with a shisha at Aura courtesy of Shah, the shisha master.
I was made to understand that mixologists at the bars are award-winning mixologists. Unsurprising given that everything they made for us was delicious.
ACTIVITIES
In terms of activities we partook in the Fun Tube and Parasailing. Parasailing was fun as the view from 75 meters high was quite breathtaking. It was meant to be 100 meters but I, being terrified of heights, asked for a slightly lower height. I say the views were breathtaking but I have to include a disclaimer; I only opened my eyes on four occasions while my wife enjoyed the height and trip gleefully and with eyes wide open. We even saw three dolphins which was unexpected. The sub-oceanic team are great folks and I would recommend this to anyone visiting this resort.
A suggestion to management: It would be even more phenomenal if those partaking in parasailing were provided with GoPro fitted helmets or headbands or such given how unwise it is to take one's phone up with them. As it is, all the pictures that were taken were courtesy of Benjo using our phone (he did an awesome job by the way).
STAFF
The staff at the Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort, wow, what a team, what a bunch of amazing individuals. They truly made our stay spectacular and unforgettable. It could be said that great staff and service should be expected given the pricey nature of the resort, however, each and every person we came across seemed to radiate a certain calm from within with heartfelt smiles. It is clear that Hilton looks after its people and in turn, its people look after the brand and guests.
Thank you to the wonderful staff and crew; especially those behind the scenes, such as the villa cleaning team.
The following staff come to mind;
Ibrahim whom we never met but answered all questions I had via email
Visham, Janko, Meeks and Naaif at reception.
Karen, Nizam, Asif, Monlady, Om and Shaee, all of whom we encountered multiple times at the different restaurants.
Dipak the mixologist at Eden Bar and Aura
Kaptain and Shah (the shisha master) at Aura. Kaptain took me up on a table tennis game at Aura wherein I was reminded of how rusty my skills were.
Salaam from in villa dining
Oss who always had a perpetual smile on his face.
The sub-oceanic chaps; Aru (Fun Tube) along with Pulo and Benjo (Parasailing)
Special shout outs to Mozi (he's the man), Oss (he's Indiana Jones) and Karen.
Overall, the customer service that one receives here is unlike any other. You feel like every staff member's first priority at all times. They will always greet you, and ask you what you need. It is evident that they care about you, and will go out of their way to do whatever they can to ensure your stay is ultra-smooth.
As you can tell from all I have written above, there were and are many things to love about this resort.
TIPS / NOTES
- Almost everything requires some sort of advance booking and thus leaves minimal room for spontaneity, however, a 3 to 5 night stay should allow enough room for all that one wishes to try out.
- Be aware that with the Maldives being a tourism first country, taxes are a major source of income. Prices listed for food, drinks, services, products etc. exclude a 10% service charge and a 16% GST which is calculated after the 10% service tax has been added.
- The Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort is 20 minutes away from the airport, but the (Hilton in-house) speed boat to the property is a non-negotiable $300 USD per person (round-trip). This is substantially higher than average costs ($120-$150) for private speedboat transfers for the same distance. That said, given the luxury aspect of the resort I gladly welcomed the Hilton’s upscale transfer service.
