Paradise awaits!
Finally, after our 32 hour travel marathon, we arrived via seaplane from Male at The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo resort and our overwater villa! While there are a ton of Marriott Bonvoy properties, and hotels in general, spread out across the country’s thousands of islands, we ultimately decided on The Westin. It isn’t as luxurious as some of the other properties but, for this trip, we were more concerned with relaxing and spending time together.
Since we spent four days here, I’m splitting this review into two parts. I’ll have the overall property and our stay up soon.
Booking
For this stay, we managed to book under the old Marriott Bonvoy award chart, before the dynamic changes went into effect and booked three nights in an overwater villa for 60,000 points per night. While I had plenty of Suite Night Awards and I felt relatively confident that we would get an upgrade to an overwater villa, I did not want to roll the dice as it was the boss’s only request. I still applied SNA’s hoping to score an upgrade to a villa with a plunge pool or the massive Westin Heavenly Villa. Ultimately, they were booked solid so I’m glad I went ahead and booked the villa. Nothing will deflate a RTW trip faster than an upgrade you thought was a lock not clearing.
Though we paid with points, the taxes and fees were quite steep as there was a $500 per person seaplane transfer as well as the local taxes and fees which is something to consider when planning a trip here on points or with cash though, all transfers here are expensive as the only way to reach the resorts are via boat or seaplane. The flights to/from the hotel to Male were coordinated by the hotel through Trans Maldivian Airways and they reached out to us to coordinate everything roughly a month in advance.
Location
The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort is located on Baa Atoll, roughly 70 miles from the capital of Male. Due to the distance, the only way to the hotel is via seaplane. Fair warning, the Maldives isn’t a place where you can pop into town or head out to visit a local shop. The hotels are all on individual atolls so once you’re there, you’re there.
Lobby/Check-In
When we arrived at the seaplane dock, we were met by members of the staff, and our concierge for our stay, Athyk. who took our bags and loaded them onto a golf cart.
It was a short trip over to the outdoor check-in area where we were invited to sit and given some kind of local juice drink. I don’t remember what all was in it, but it was delicious. Check-in only took 10 minutes and we elected to use the free breakfast as our welcome amenity, which was thanks to my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status. I’m not sure why you would choose anything else here with how expensive the food is. After check-in, Athyk took us for a quick tour of the property before bringing us to our room.
Overwater Villa
After the property tour, Athyk brought us to our overwater villa. We were assigned villa 111, which was a short drive down the boardwalk from the lobby. Outside the front door was a foot washing station to try and prevent the sand from invading the room.
Upon entering the room, you first saw the massive, floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the Indian Ocean. This alone made the 32 hours of flying worth it as this would be our home for the next four days.
Refocusing on what was nearby, there was a bar area to the left as you entered the room. The prices were expensive by normal standards, but were on par with what they would have charged at the bar. Across from this was another bar area that had bottles of water which were refreshed during our stay as well as a press to squeeze our own orange juice.
Past the entryway and mini-bar area was a dining table. Waiting on the table was a bottle of sparkling wine and some sweets which was a nice touch.
To the right was the living area which featured a desk, TV stand and two couches, one of which seemed to be able to make a bed. One of the coolest features of this area was the cutout in the floor that allowed us to look straight down into the water. For the duration of our stay, we didn’t see many interesting things through the floor but it was still a neat feature.
Opposite of the living area was the bedroom with the bathroom past that. The bedroom and bathroom areas could be separated by a sliding wooden wall if needed.
The bathroom was spacious and had a separate toilet room, walk in shower, stand alone tub and double vanities. The toiletries were ‘Heavenly by Westin’ branded.
Like the rest of the villa, the bathroom had massive, floor to ceiling windows overlooking the water. This made the tub the centerpiece, providing a great place to relax and unwind.
Behind the bedroom, connecting the bathroom to the entryway, was a long hallway that also served as the closet. There was a floor to ceiling window mirror as well as double wardrobes that flanked a long bench. While it was likely set up as a dressing area, we just used it to hold our suitcases.
Stepping outside, the view got even better. There was a massive, multi-level deck running the length of the villa. On the far left, against the privacy wall, was an outdoor shower and what our concierge joked was the ladder to the rooftop deck. Unfortunately for us, there was no rooftop deck and we just had a clothes drying rack instead. Near the shower was a stairway that led to a small, lower deck and the ladder down to the water.
On the opposite side of the deck were two chaise lounges as well as a patio table that sat two. We used both of these quite often during our stay. During our four day stay, we saw a lot of wildlife while relaxing out here, including a couple of black tipped reef sharks (one while in the water and one from the deck), an Eagle ray and a pod of dolphins.
Summary
Though there are nicer, and more expensive, resorts in the Maldives, the Westin is stunning! The room was extremely large and well appointed and the outdoor space was extremely private. We spent hours just relaxing on the back deck looking out over the water and listening to the sound of the waves. Though Marriott has made changes to their award chart, this is still a deal!
