Equator Village Resort

We were very excited to come to Equator Village during our stay in Addu. In advance we booked a room for day use for the three of us, which got confirmed by the resort.I was traveling with two local friends who wanted to show me their home island. Once we reached, reception was quite busy so they asked us to wait in the lobby. We were served a welcome drink (package juice) and the glass it was served in was already broken. Nevertheless after waiting for around 20 min, the receptionist was coming to proceed the check in. Surprisingly he was talking to us in Dhivehy even if it was quite obvious that I'm European, not a local. He rudely ignored my presence and explained my friends that we can't have 1 room for day use since unmarried couples can't stay in a room. Furthermore he explained that if I wanted to drink alcohol, I have to sit on a separate table. He offered that I can book a single room and my two guy friends can pay 20 USD for pool usage. After that he disappeared and did not attend us anymore. Those things could have been discussed before confirming our room, since resorts usually don't follow this kind of policies. We decided that we all will pay for the pool use only and went to reception for payment. He continued speaking in Dhivehy and was advising my friends that he will kick us out if we would not behave. Also he explained that we have to pay another 20 USD each to get beach access (even if a proper beach was not even existing so obviously we refused). We went to the pool area and were checking for towels. After checking with the bar staff, I went back to the reception to get towels for us. The receptionist told me he will check and I have to wait in the lobby - again. After 15 min he still didn't get back to me, only after I went to talk to him again, he told me there are no pool towels available in the whole resort. I asked for shower towels but he said those are not available as well, and that towels are not included in the pool package. Quite funny since I saw other guests coming with fresh pool towels to the pool side. It was quite obvious that he just wants to get rid of us. I told the receptionist we want our money back so that we finally can leave this place after all this waste of time - luckily he agreed. We've all been working in a 5 Star Resort in Maldives, have traveled within Maldives and I've been in 47 different countries but I have never experienced such a rude, disrespectful and unprofessional behavior like that. Every staff in a backpacker hostel or simple guest house knows better how to treat and handle guests and gets better training then in this so called "resort". After my friend left his honest review, the resort manager called us to apologize which we first appreciated but shockingly after a small talk he asked us to remove the review. For someone working in hospitality industry for years, this is quite unbelievable.

We arrived at the hotel in the morning and immediately noticed the reception was crowded, with the receptionist visibly busy. After a short wait, he welcomed us and asked us to sit in the lounge where we were served welcome drinks. However, we noticed that one of the glasses had a broken piece near the bottom, which was dangerous and could have easily caused an injury. As we were visiting for the day (two locals and one foreigner), we understood the hotel’s rules about locals not being allowed to consume alcohol. What was shocking, however, was the rule that if locals were seated with a foreigner, even the foreigner would not be served alcohol. This was a policy we hadn’t encountered at any other hotels in the Maldives. Another issue arose when we asked for a room to freshen up, as we were only there for the day. The receptionist informed us that locals cannot share a room with a foreigner unless they present a marriage certificate. This was beyond unreasonable. To avoid further hassle, we chose to pay $20 per person for pool access. Throughout the interaction, the receptionist was rude and unhelpful. He didn’t speak English, despite one of us being a foreigner, and he insisted that we could not access the beach without paying an additional fee—despite there being no proper beach in sight. It was absurd that they would charge day visitors for something that didn’t exist. We paid for the pool access and proceeded to the pool area, which looked nice. However, we couldn’t find any towels, so we returned to the receptionist. Shockingly, we were informed that day visitors are not entitled to towels. This was the final straw for us, and we requested a full refund, leaving the hotel immediately. This was by far the worst hotel experience we’ve ever had in the Maldives. The customer service was appalling, with the receptionist needing serious training on how to interact with guests. I would never recommend this place to anyone, and it’s a disgrace to the people of Addu and any foreign guests who visit. Avoid this place at all costs.

Such a great place to take a visit on maldives with a greate geographical location and the Best management and staff i have ever seen with lots of gratitude and specially the barmen mr.sugath he always startup friendly greetings with customers and he was such guy full of gratitude towards the customers

Stayed at the property from 19th-22nd September 2024. The place is nice, convenient and gives true village feeling. I have stayed there a number of times before too. But now stray cats have taken over the place. They are everywhere. More than once, I nearly stepped on cats laying in the middle of walkways. Often, I also found them sleeping on cushioned chairs outside my room. When staff leave new towels on those chairs outside rooms, I was reluctant to use them. Unless the management addresses the sooner, it can put off a lot guests.

We came on the 4th and it’s been 11 days now and still we don’t have WiFi in our room. We have complained and nothing happened. There’s no Medianet, it was disconnected and just today it got connected but tomorrow we are departing. There’s a very unpleasant and a rude waiter at the restaurant whose name is Ali. Many guests have complained about him and other waiters too have complained, but that waiter is always there to serve the tables even if he doesn’t know the very basics of serving a guest. We were told he keeps arguing with everyone. He keeps breaking glasses while serving guests, and never apologises, and once when a couple came to the table with their food, this particular waiter took their plates and told them, “this is not your table” and move them to another table, and it was clear that the guests were embarrassed by his behaviour. And we were served fresh juice in a cocktail glasses, and a lot of plates have small chips on them. And there are cockroaches flying around inside the restaurant. We have gone to many hotels but have never come across a place where we have seen individual staff dines in individual tables while guests are dining. In most of the hotels a table will be set for the GM and the senior staff a little far away from where guests dines. Once when we went to have dinner, one of the staff was sitting at our table which was setup for us for our trip, and even after complaining about it, nobody bothered to ask him to move to another table, and instead we had to go to another table. We are repeaters and probably this is our 8th or 9th time in this hotel. We come here not because the service is exceptionally good but because there aren’t many options in this atoll. And since we are repeaters and we are paying for the services, we expected things to be better, a lot better than this.