Maldives : Accomodation

The review will be done according to rating system among the travellers that were included in the trips. Ratings was done according to 1 to 5 in which 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest.

1. Off Day Inn (Male)

Description : This hotel was supposed to be the low budget hotel in Male. However, we believed that every accommodation in Male is pricey due to the heavily dense population. Male is the capital of Maldives which means that every tourist that comes to Maldives will either spend at least a night in Male or stay for transit in Male before going to other island. Off day Inn is located H. Hiriyaadhoo Filigus Higun opposite the Majeedhee Magu. We chose to stay in standard room here.

Room size : The room size was bit smaller than we thought. It was similar to 2 star accommodation in Malaysia.

Location : 3.0/5.0 Location was near to male-airport ferry terminal but very far away if you want to go to villingili ferry terminal. The hotel was situated across a football field, thus not very noisy as compared to other hotel.

Price : 2.5/5.0 The price that was offered in Agoda MYR524.06 for 2 rooms inclusive of environmental tax and government tax

Cleanliness: 3.5/5.0 The room and bathroom was fairly clean but the cupboard has a weird purging smell. Toilet : 3.5/5.0 The toilet was clean enough. But the toiletries was not provided sufficiently. They only provided shampoo and bath gel in refillable container.

Facilities : 2.0/5.0 Good thing is they provided a mini bar, television and bed. The bad thing is the bed was stony hard and there was no kettle, the mini bar was not functioning and the blanket was the thinnest we had ever have before.

Staff : 3.0/5.0 Friendly staff and accommodating. Despite of language barrier, they will help to provide the basic necessity you need.

Food : 3.0/5.0 *based on breakfast given The breakfast served to us was continental breakfast. Bread was kinda chewy. Otherwise the food was OK. It was a decent breakfast.

Will I ever return again? I'll give other hotel a try next time.

2. Shadow palm (Maafushi)

Description: I would personally say that this is the best stay I ever had. Despite of this accommodation only has 4 ground floor room, they did one hell of a job in accommodation business. They treat every guest like their family and i mean it literally. The staff was extremely friendly and hardworking. The manager was the owner's son and he speaks very good English. They provide decent water sport activities at reasonable price. I will personally recommend this accommodation if anyone asks me where to stay in Maafushi.

Shadow Palm layout plan. See, they only have 4 rooms

Room size: It was spacious. The size of the room is similar to our room at home which is approximately 150 square foot excluding the toilet/bathroom space. 

Location: 4.5/5.0 The bikini beach is just behind the hotel literally less 20 steps away. The public beach would be around 5 minutes walking distance. The only downside was shadow palm is not directly facing the beach.

Price: 4.8/5.0 The price that was paid via Agoda was MYR 1053.78 for 2 room excluding 36USD (MYR 148.68) for environmental tax and government tax. We would expect less for the price given but yet it was the best stay we ever had. The room was spacious and given the location, i would pay more for this accommodation.

Cleanliness: 5.0/5.0 The room was well kept and cleaned. Most of the guest would wear sandals/shoe to their room and the staff will swept the floor from sand hourly. The bathroom was cleaned to the extent that you can lay down on the floor of the bathroom and take a nap.

Toilet: The toilet was pleasant and clean. Not only they have shower head but also regular tap for washing clothes and in our case, our food container each time we cooked. The bathroom was fully tiles.

Facilities: 4.0/5.0 The room was spacious and the furniture was taken care very well. There was a lot of room in the furniture. The make up cabinet was also big enough for a lady with a bag full of cosmetic products. However, they do not provide mini bar. They do provide hot water and basic equipment for ironing but it will be provided on inquiry basis.

Staff : 5.0/5.0 Staffs were all friendly. They loved sharing story and sometimes shared their food as well. You can just ask them anything if you want to know or to do and they will sincerely answer them. They can comprehend and speak English very well. As was explained in activities section, we were granted with free jet ski ride for choosing to stay there and the activities from the hotel provider. That was a lovely gesture.

Food : 5.0/5.0 Even though the most meal we had was breakfast and one dinner after back from night fishing. The breakfast was lovely. It was the continental breakfast you dream of, even if you went back to your hometown. And the traditional Maldivian breakfast of Mas Huni with Roshi (this will be explained in detail in food and beverage section), Mrs Azza is still going through the internet to seek its recipe. The baked fish we had after night fishing, all I can say that we ate to our heart content and our belly full that we slept soundly that night.

Will I ever return again? Of course!

3. H78 hotel (Hulhumale) 

 

Description : This is the hotel we decided to spend our last night in Maldives. It was the most expensive stay we had during this trip. The room we chose was sea view room which faced the Hulhumale beach.

Room size : 3/5 The room size was adequate but similar to 3 star hotel in Malaysia. The good part was the room was facing to the beach, hence the name; sea view room. However, I would not say that we had only partial view of the beach. Mr FZ had full view on the beach despite of both room  were sea view. The furniture was well put and organized. They provided us with a queen size bed, make up mirror and a coffee maker. No fridge or mini bar provided. Lol. It was the first thing we did once we were done check in, made us a cup of espresso out of the coffee machine. It stated that they only provide the espresso machine to sea view and suite rooms.

Sea view from our room balcony 102

Location : 3/5 It was located at the far end of the beach about 20 minutes walking distance to the center of Hulhumale and Hulhumale Hospital. The airport was 10 minutes drive from here.There was nearby groceries shop and a cafe named Asiana Cafe just 1 block away from the hotel.

Price: 2.5/5 I would say the price was kinda expensive for the hotel room. I believed this may be due to its location to the beach.

Cleanliness: 4/5.They kept the cleanliness well. No much issue on this part.

Toilet: Toilet was clean but the bath gel was provided in refillable container. However, I had issue with the shower and drain hole. The hotel seemed as if they did not have enough water pressure to supply to each room. We could not get the overhead shower to function well, and we were at the first floor. The drain hole was also not working so well.  We had to wait while bathing for the water to drain sufficiently so that it wont spill to the other part of the bathroom.

Facilities: They have cafeteria downstairs for breakfast. I have already explained regarding some of the features in the room.

Staff: Most of the staffs were Filipino's and they were super friendly. Their English was very good. Thumbs up!

Food: Their breakfast was OK, I think. They had buffet breakfast and many good selection of foods. We loved their yogurt in glass. We tried Mashuni there, although we prefer the one prepared in Shadow Palm more.

Will I return? If I am looking to spend more time in Maldives, I would definitely spend it on other island. But I would say that Hulhumale Beach is the less attractive beach in Maldives. I would not recommend to take any accommodation near the beach. By the way, the Island was not that big. Everything was in walking distance. I would try another hotel if I ever come to Hulhumale again.

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