The Residence Maldives at Dhigurah

My family and I were there for 16 days so what can I say. Firstly fantastic impression at the start of the trip very Efficient pick up from the small airport walk to the boat and welcome on the bridge at the hotel and reception all very nice. The hotel itself is very large well organised of course connected to the other hotel to which you can cycle or go for a very long walk. The most important plus points of the hotel are the cottages which, without exception, all have a private pool about eight metres long but quite sufficient and the fact that these cottages are spacious and very comfortable, and on top of that they are actually 30 metres from the ocean and you feel very private. If you would only judge a holiday by where you live then everything is perfect. The food is good but not spectacular. The service is very friendly but generally no surprises if you have been to the Maldives before.

I have the impression that this is a place with a lot of potential, but it is still four and a half stars and not five. There is a lack of such small elements which create luxury and prestige and it seems to me that the current hotel management is not able to achieve this. Among the absolute downsides I would include the completely missed opportunity to say goodbye to guests when you are treated like a sack of potatoes being thrown to reception and waiting for a boat and a plane - and all they can offer you at reception is water in plastic bottles. Nobody came to us after more than two weeks and asked us how we liked it, what comments we had, whether we would come back again - a complete missed opportunity and a bad impression at the end and a great contrast with the welcome so pompous.... Is it worth it to go here with big plane, national plane flight and the boat.. not now, not yet. The reception service is decent - not surprising with anything. Bicycles are available but it has to be said that most are in deplorable condition all parts are eaten away by sea salt and the bike seat collapses every time you try to get into a normal position. Among the biggest downsides, however, I would include the lack of beach cleaning and the large amount of rubbish that is in the Ocean. I am leaving aside the normal stuff from the flows which appears in the form of algae - I am rather talking about plastics, leftovers of clothes, cans and other human pollutants - and such stuff exists and lies discarded by the ocean near our cottage for five-six days and nobody cleans it up, then I think that it is the fault of the hotel and it has nothing to do with the image of the hotel and advertisements which promise paradise on the beach.

We went to the Residence at Dhigurah for our honeymoon, it was simply superb. Each villa has a private pool, which was perfect for us and our infant son, and we stayed in a sunset villa for a week followed by a lagoon villa for a week. The views from both were phenomenal, the villas were clean and furnished impecably. The food is sensational and considering you have access to multiple dining rooms and bars across Dhigurah and Falhumaafushi, you never get bored as can pick and choose where to have breakfast and dinner. As Maldives islands go, it's pretty expansive in that respect. Staff were extremely friendly, thoughtful, remembered what coffees and wines we were drinking with breakfast and dinner respectively, always lavishing attention on our infant son including getting him fruit and bespoke baby dishes directly from the chef. Overall, it was the best holiday we have ever been on, and we would love to return in future to reminisce about how wonderful our honeymoon was.