W Maldives

My wife and I just returned from an incredible stay at W Maldives to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and birthdays. We were fortunate to be some of the first to experience the newly renovated resort, which had just reopened after a major renovation. We stayed 8 nights in an overwater villa, which we booked with Marriott points. The renovated property is amazing. Everything seems to be brand new and the interior and exterior design is gorgeous. The buildings and rooms seamlessly blend with the environment of the island. The main pool (WET) is redesigned and expanded. The gym is also expanded and is well stocked with everything we needed for great workouts. Some construction work was still on going during our stay (March 2025), but it didn’t really affect our vacation other than some occasional noise in the distance and the fact that the Fire Restaurant was not yet open. The resort’s four other restaurants were open and the food was amazing. As other reviews note, the food is expensive, but we felt the cost was mostly justified by the high quality and the fact that you are on an Island and everything has to be shipped in. Also, as a Marriott Titanium member, breakfast was complementary, which helped defray the overall food cost. The relaxing breakfasts were a highlight of our stay with one of the most amazing buffets we’ve ever seen at a hotel. It was as if the chef took the best foods from around the world and brought them to the W for the guests to enjoy. We took advantage of complementary fitness classes (yoga, boxing, core, etc,) which were great and led by the talented instructors at FIT. Snorkel gear is complementary, along with stand up paddle boards and kayaks. So lots of reasons to get out onto the water. The house reef is amazing and we saw tons of fish, turtles and sharks while snorkeling and also while simply looking into the water from the deck at our room. But what really stands out about the W Maldives is the people who work there. I travel often and stay at hotels around the world. I’ve never experienced such warmth and friendliness from a team at a hotel. Within hours of arriving, everyone knew us by name. Everyone genuinely cared about providing exceptional and memorable service. The team delighted in providing little surprises to enhance our vacation and anniversary / birthday celebration. A huge thank you to Christian and his amazing team. Special mention to Cindy, Saha, Koke, Kai (who sent calamine lotion to our room when he noticed my wife had a sunburn), Chunky, Hussain, John / Aquaman (with awesome snorkel advice), Arro (thanks for chocolate wake up drink and Netflix recommendations at breakfast), Isse, who kept our room absolutely spotless, and the fantastic FIT crew of Mark, Tutu and Zarifa (thanks for the great yoga instruction)! The only problem we experienced the entire vacation was that we didn’t want to leave to go home. ;) We are already trying to plan a time for our return visit!

A couple of days ago we arrived back home from the Paradise at W Maldives and we can think about this Resort only with superb opinions. The place itself is amazing. The refurbished villas are really very beautiful, modern and top notch. We booked an overwater villa by Marriott Bonvoy , and as a Platinum member we hoped an eventual upgrade. At the arriving our guide, Aanis showed us our booked overwater villa, which is really impressive, but we were very happy, as he told we could choose a beach villa, if we wanted to. The villa No112 was showed to us, and we liked it immediately. The interior is far more better, than we saw on former pictures. The room is spacious and bright, the bed is very comfy, there is a lot of space to put the belongings. The new and huge smart TV is a pro, we could connect our devices , and see streamings in the evenings. We used the Nespresso coffee- machine everyday. Unfortunately there is no more W Mixbar, but they refilled our minifridge with soda and juices everday. The bathroom is huge and very nice. The shower is very good, the pressure and the temperature of the water is superb. We enjoyed the relaxing and calm sorroundings, the trees and bushes, and the very fine sandy bech as well. We enjoyed the pool outside, (which got a very new surface - not rough any more! ), the sunbeds beside the pool and on the beach. It was only minor negative, that sometimes snorkelers put their belongings on our sunbeds while they were in the sea, because the exit to the reef was near to our villa. I would recommend to the managemant to put something , ( e.g a bank or a table) for this purpose near to this point. We could enjoy the complimentary breakfast every morning. Every dishes are fresh and delicious, and the selection is wide enough. We are very thankful for the whole staff of the Kitchen, especially Celine, who took care of us very kindly, and Wasantha, who was very kind as well. We ordered some times the in-room-dining, which was always very fine and enough. We dined two times in the Fish Restaurant , both were delicious. Some info's about the mealplans: if You have complimentary free breakfast, you have to pay for HB 195 USD/pp/day, for FB 275 USD/pp/day and for AI 390 USD/pp/day. We didn't choose any of them. As our villa lays on the north side of the island, at 4 PM became a little bit shady, so we moved to the main pool, which is very beautiful. The new slide looks very trendy, we didn' try it. The jacuzzi is very fine, but if you look for a really hot tub, this isn't. The staff at the Wet Bar is very kind as well. We got delicious cocktails and even fresh cut coconut as well. Special thanks to Claire , who took care of us , and told a lot of interesting facts about the Resort. She organised for us even a behide the scenes tour , and we vere happy to check out, how the employees are living in the center of the island. Very thank to Amila and Harald, the managers. They were always very friendly and kind with us. We could make good conversations, especially on the Friday party for Elite Members. We'd like to thanks the superb work of Jambee, who was our housekeeper. He is a very kind man as well. It's very laudable how well organised the reception and guide at the Velana Airport and the Seaplane Airport. Fortunately at our arriving to Male we didn't have to wait long , almost immediately departed our seaplane to W Maldives. The seaplane flight was very smooth and enjoyable, however we could hardly see any islands, because most of the route took over the plain water. All in all we felt really very good, and we believe this was our best holiday ever. We would like to return definitely.

Dear W Maldives team, I hope our message finds you well. We have made safely home, back to Dubai and wanted to take a minute to send you our appreciation towards this incredible holidays we were so delighted to spend with you. The hotel is of course fabulous. We did not know the property before the renovation but we loved everything about it. The rooms, the restaurants, the food of course, the reef, the gym, etc but what made our trip truly unforgettable was the team. I feel emotional just typing those words but the warmth and genuineness of each and every team member is the true luxury we indulged in! It will be difficult for me to mention each and every talent that we met and made us feel special but I will just make an attempt because how can I not... So thank you to Celine for your sweetness, John (Ferash) for your local knowledge, Nihal for your kindness, Mani for your smile, Kai and Eham for whom nothing was too much, Claire, Chef Sunil and the rest of the Culinary and F&B for feeding us like royalties, Chunky for educating us on the property, Tendai to whom we are "Thankful", Mani the Photograph for capturing beautiful memories of our stay at the W and Tutu for keeping us on check daily!!! I am forgetting so many other from the Wet team for the fresh Coconuts, the recreation team too who took us fishing, and of course the "Invisible" Housekeeping team always looking after home away from home spotlessly. That's it, time to leave you and get back to reality. Thank you Amila for putting such a team of talents together. We hope to be back soon again but until then, take care all ! Bobby and Salma

This was our fifth stay at the W Maldives and it is a hotel that never disappoints. The renovations they have done are absolutely stunning and wonderfully thoughtful, while still keeping its W charm that keeps us coming back. The reef is unaffected, which was so great to see that it was very important to the hotel to maintain the natural beauty they are known for. The service is just as we remember it to be, which is above and beyond. Our trip is made sincerely elevated by the impressive service standard you receive here. We must thank Chunky, Claire, and Amila in particular for making our trip so special.

Although it was a short stay, it was a very enjoyable honeymoon! Ms.Dhikko san who took care of us was kind, gentle and a wonderful person who cares about her customers. Also, Mr.Mark, the fit manager, is a great guy! Thanks to him, I really enjoyed training every morning! Next time I want to stay longer.