Gangehi Island Resort

We stayed at Gangehi Resort for 6 nights in March 2023. Our trip was moved from January after I broke my knee cap in December, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to snorkel, the whole purpose of the trip. However, the water was mostly calm and clear, and we snorkeled twice every day. There was swimming off the back of our villa, where they appear to be trying with some success to build a new reef. There is a larger beech area near the dining room where there are more fish to see and where the water is generally quite calm. In general the coral is hurting, but there are some beautiful and healthy soft corals. The entire resort can be walked around in only a few minutes. There are people working to maintain the grounds all the time. The villas are cleaned 2 times a day. All the staff we interacted with were friendly and hard working. The two who did the most to make our trip a pleasure were Nafla at the front desk and Rasheed, our waiter. Staff members seemed to come from neighboring countries, and those who interacted with guests spoke excellent English. Guests seemed to come primarily from Europe, especially Italy. We appreciated that there were no noisy activities that disturbed the general peace of the island. It was a lovely place to relax! The only thing I would change about Gangehi would be the use of so many plastic bottles. They charge for every bottle of water, even at dinner. Readily available water not in plastic bottles would be good.

We visited this resort from 22 nd to 26 th February 2023. We had booked 2 deluxe overwater villas and let me tell you that villas are awesome with all amenities like open shower area and villas directly opening into sea. We are pure vegetarian and the chefs don't know how to make vegetarian food. In the breakfast also only bread butter and fruits . How we survived for 4 days we only know. Most of the desserts also have eggs. Only 1 litre water bottle provided per day and extra 1.5 litre water bottle costs you 5$. Only Italian and French crowd so evening activities are centred around them . Resort is in south male so travelling time from Male airport is roughly 2 hrs by speedboat which is actually tiring. Boat timings are fixed at odd hours so please check with resort before booking else you will left with nothing to do at airport for hours just like us. The resort doesn't have either pool villas or the commo swimming pool so you have to go swimming in the sea which is sometimes not good experience. Frankly suggesting , this one is not for vegetarian Indians

I booked my honeymoon package via a travel agency for 4 nights and 5 days in June 2022. We spent two nights in Overwater Villa and the next 2 in Deluxe Overwater Villa. We were the only Indian couple during our stay. Let me explain in detail both Pros and Cons of this property. Liked Perfect location - One of the best islands in the Maldives. The room was so nice. Eye-catching location. Amazing seawater, very clear, a lot of fish. The overwater villa is a nice experience, both normal and Deluxe. Very nice breakfast with a range of food options. The food was great, and the restaurant staff was very polite and attentive. The island is very private, and you can really relax there Disliked My package included 2 water bottles daily, but they didn’t provide them until the trip ended and charged One liter of water $7 + VAT. The front office lady looks like the trainee didn’t care to fix the issues with the travel agency and their sales team. Vegetarian Food options - Almost nothing except vegetarian salad or lentil soup The Internet is extremely slow, no satellite TV Location is far from Male airport (We were told 30 min from the airport, but it takes 1hr 30 min one side via Speedboat)

I have a lot to say about Gangehi and would express my experience in detail with only intention to keep travellers aware of the facts and experience I had since Maldives is a place for lifetime experience and we would not want anyones vacation to be ruined after paying a hefty amount for the same. Coming to the point i have a very bitter truth to say about the operations team who is not only pathetic but terrible and disgusting at customer satisfaction. I had booked my trip between 17th to 21st dec 2022 to Gangehi resort for my anniversary celebration and the same had been intimated to the resort in advance as well. At initial inquiry and request at the reception we were assured to have the arrangements checked for a beach dinner or any other complementary service by the pathetic attendant Mr Manoj. However the same afternoon our request for complementary beach dinner was denied being a paid service but we were offered a complementary fruit platter and bed decoration on the anniversary day to which we agreed since it was a peak season already. Considering the importance of the day and destination we had an excitement to celebrate the special occasion and decided to go for paid dinner arrangements. The resort had a package of 260 usd (25k INR) per couple for the beach dinner with prescribed menu, however we did not want it since most of the items were not from our diet viz lobster, prawns etc. As an alternative we requested for the buffet dinner with the same seating beach setup for which Mr Manoj asked us to pay 100 USD (10k INR). This included a table, two chairs, heart shaped lighting around,a small open tent and the buffet dinner which already was in our package. However we happily agreed considering it was our day and we had no option . However the next morning when we went to confirm the booking (at this time the reception staff's ignorance towards us had already started) and time for the arrangements they denied our request and asked for 200+ usd for the same setup confirmed earlier evening giving us reasons for miscommunication regarding the setup. they informed us to give only a table and chair setup on the beach for 100$ with the same buffet dinner. Now the earlier setup image was confirmed and shown to us by Mr Manoj and the reception lady both to which they responded as a miscommunication between the duo. Till now we could clearly see the greed and hunger for money in their eyes and upon multiple polite requests from both myself and my wife reception staff did not pay heed to our concern even after promising the setup the previous night. Seeing that we did not have any option in the island they decided to ignore our request completely and expected we would agree to pay the extra 100$ however we stood by our side and decided not to fall for a 100$ scam trap and enjoy our own company along with the beautiful guests around. We expected the reception staff would be providing the complementary platter and bed decoration as promised by them as a surprise after the paid setup incident however to our astonishment they did not have the courtesy to do even that. This proved our conscience right about greedy Manoj and the team. The real surprises began the next day when the reception staff especially Manoj had started to completely see us as invisible greeting all the guests around except us. We decided not to spoil our mood for such pathetic people and refrained ourselves from the reception area however even on the day of check out we encountered a similar kind of approach from the pathetic guy. Wherein the reception lady very politely helped us with the exit formalities and got our final payment cleared Manoj had the similar pathetic expressions of ignorance and could not even take efforts to bid a good bye to the guest/us. And infact This was the same guy who had done a good welcome at arrival. I am completely surprised by the fact even after confirming certain thing, after multiple calls / requests from myself , my booking agency, resorts central booking agencies in male these pathetic people completely decided to go blind and deaf mode. In addition they run a hospitality business and carry the guts to display ignorance and attitude to their guests as if they are doing a charity in housing the guests after accepting thousands of dollars for the service. Rest for the scenery, ambience and kitchen staff were really beautiful however I would never visit this place with same pathetic front desk people even if offered for free. As they have already ruined my first marriage anniversary and i would not want anyone else to get their special days ruined as well.

Great location, snorkeling possibility directly from beach (2 main routes), tasty food - especially delicious fishes variation and desserts, helpful staff, very clean bungalow, nice orchids inside island, only prices of trips (e.g. local island Mathiveri) a little overpriced