Bottom Line Review: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Long before we properly got into the points and miles world, my wife and I had been interested in visiting the Maldives. At the time that seemed like a bit of a pipe dream as we had no money, so we said we’d aim to visit the Maldives to celebrate our 20th anniversary and renew our vows (we decided that around the time of our 3rd anniversary to give a sense as to how long ago that was).

Last month we celebrated that 20th anniversary and spending it in the Maldives was a plan that came to fruition. In fact, thanks to hotel points and free night certificates, we were somewhat spoiled for choice in terms of which resorts we could book. We ultimately decided on an 8 night stay at the Conrad Maldives for a couple of reasons – the opportunity to stay in an overwater villa without having to pay a cash upgrade for the privilege of doing so and the chance to eat at Ithaa, the hotel’s undersea restaurant.

Staying here ended up being an excellent choice.

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Bottom Line Review

The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is a resort spread out over two islands connected by a walkway. One island is adults-only, while the main island is family-friendly. It’s easy enough to walk between the two, but you can also have a golf cart drive you around – particularly useful if it’s rainy during your stay like it was on a couple of days we were there.

Depending on which resort you visit in the Maldives, you’ll need to take a seaplane, speedboat or yacht to get there. For the Conrad, you take a seaplane which the resort arranges with Trans Maldivian Airways – you can’t book the flights directly.

As you might expect for islands in the Indian Ocean, it’s a beautiful location. There are several white sandy beaches, as well as a house reef you can go snorkeling over. The hotel provides you with complimentary snorkels and fins you can keep throughout your stay (get these at the water sports center), storing them in a bag with a strap to make it easier to transport around.

There’s almost a dozen different restaurants and bars at the resort, as well as the ability to order room service, so dining options are plentiful (albeit not particularly cheap). There are pools on each of the two islands, complimentary water-based activities like kayaking and paddle boarding, paid excursions you can go on (e.g. turtle safari, sunrise and sunset cruises, fishing, culinary classes, etc.), a couple of spas and more. I’d been a little concerned ahead of our stay that I’d get bored after a few days, but that didn’t happen at all despite an 8 night stay.

Service at the resort was excellent too as staff members were always very friendly and helpful. You meet your concierge/host upon arrival who’ll be your contact point for any specific requests you have during your stay. We communicated via WhatsApp, so it’s worth having that app downloaded on your phone if you’re not already a WhatsApp user.

Be sure to let the hotel know if you’re celebrating a special event. Not only were we celebrating our 20th anniversary during our stay, but it was my wife’s birthday too a few days later. In addition to our bed being decorated beautifully on both those days, they provided some cake and candles for her birthday and a special table for dinner the night before our anniversary (for our anniversary itself we ate at Ithaa).

Speaking of Ithaa, this is the resort’s undersea restaurant. It can accommodate up to 14 people for lunch and dinner, plus they have a visiting hour from 11am-12pm where you get light canapes and a glass of champagne or a mocktail. If you’d like the opportunity to experience this underwater restaurant, the visiting hour is the most budget-friendly option, or you can redeem 25,000 Hilton Honors points per person for that experience if you’d like to save cash. The visiting hour cash cost is $100 per person + tax & tip, lunch is ~$235 per person + tax & tip while dinner is $300 per person + tax & tip. I posted a review of our dinner at Ithaa on my own site, so you can check that out here for a more comprehensive look at that.

We booked our anniversary dinner at Ithaa and got extremely lucky as we were the only people dining there that night. That made the meal even more special, if for no other reason than it meant we didn’t have to watch Instagrammers in flowy dresses making heart hands while taking 17,354 photos and not enjoying the actual experience of being there.

Overall it was a wonderful stay, particularly getting to eat at Ithaa and staying in an overwater villa.

• Points Price: The Conrad Maldives costs 120,000 points per night when there’s standard room award availability. Where there is that availability, you can also redeem Hilton free night certificates which can be an excellent use of them.
  What makes points/certificate redemptions at this hotel so special is that you can book straight into a Sunrise Water Villa – an overwater villa. This is one of very few Maldives properties that let you do that (the Waldorf Astoria and several new-to-Hilton SLH resorts also provide that opportunity).
  We initially booked a three night stay with free night certificates and a five night stay with points to a) take advantage of the 5th night free benefit and b) lock in award availability. This was done about 11-12 months before our stay as I wasn’t sure what award availability would be like later on. About six months later we’d earned five more free night certificates (a mix of spending $15,000 on Hilton Surpass and Business cards, welcome offers and Aspire card renewal certificates). I therefore booked a five night stay using those certificates as there was still award availability and cancelled the five night stay booked with points.
• Cash Price: Cash prices can vary quite a bit, but they’re always on the high end. For our stay in the off-season (early-to-mid August), the cash rate was $1,100 per night including taxes and fees.
• Points Value: Very good. Any time that you can get more than 0.5cpp (cents per point) of value you’re doing well. At the Conrad Maldives, you’re generally going to be getting ~1cpp of value, or better if you take advantage of the 5th night free benefit on stays booked with points.
• Resort or Destination Fee: Not as such. For paid stays there’s a 10% service charge added on, but that’s not charged on stays booked with points or free night certificates.
• Hilton Aspire Credit: Although there’s no resort fee, the hotel is a resort. That means you can redeem the twice-annual $200 resort credit on the Hilton Aspire card at this property. I’m not sure if prepayment works; I asked about this as I was interested in using my January-June credits even though our stay wasn’t until August and the hotel sent me a link to provide my card details at a Bank of Maldives site. I wasn’t sure if it would code as an eligible purchase for those credits though, so I used them at a different Hilton property.
• Seaplane Price: As mentioned earlier, you have to take a seaplane to get to the Conrad Maldives. This gets added to your folio and costs $675 per person including tax.
  Side note: If you’re nervous about taking a seaplane flight, there’s no need to worry. It felt perfectly safe and my wife who’s scared of flying almost enjoyed the experience.

• Parking: Not applicable, unless you count the seaplane landing dock as parking. Either way, I can assure you that you won’t have to worry about any parking fees for rental cars at this resort.
• Sunrise Water Villa: We were keen on getting to stay in an overwater villa, so we booked a Sunrise Water Villa as those can be booked directly with points and/or free night certificates. This was a spacious-feeling villa; the bedroom featured a king bed, couch, desk, chair and armchair, while behind the bed was a mini-bar and walk-in closet. The bathroom was large with a bathtub next to the window in order to look out at the ocean while having a soak, as well as a good-sized walk-in shower with both rainfall and handheld showerheads.
  The pièce de résistance was the deck leading out from the bedroom. This had a plunge pool, sun loungers and chairs and a stairway leading down into the ocean.
• Housekeeping: This was provided at least twice a day if desired. There are switches on the wall by the door to indicate if you want service or to be left alone.
• Turndown service: Sort of. Housekeeping did seem to provide service in the evening if you leave your ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign off, although this seemed more a case of replacing towels, making the bed and leaving more bottles of water.
• Internet: Very good considering you’re on an island in the middle of the ocean. The connectivity and speed were both decent; in fact, it was much better there than the internet I’m on while writing this post at the Mainstay Suites in Fargo, ND. Wi-Fi is complimentary for all guests.
  In case you’re interested about mobile cell service, I had T-Mobile service at the time. When not connected to the hotel’s Wi-Fi I was getting 4G service when the weather was clear, but only Edge when it was very overcast and/or raining.
  Something else to be aware of is that some sites and email providers block traffic from the Maldives. It’s therefore worth having a VPN downloaded before your stay if you anticipate needing to work, access bank accounts, etc. just in case that proves to be an issue.
• Dining: There are many restaurants and bars at the Conrad Maldives. You can view opening hours, menus and pricing at this link.
  • Ithaa – this is the undersea restaurant which has a visiting hour, as well as lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner are at set times – 12:30pm and 6:30pm respectively.
  • Vilu – this is one of two breakfast locations, plus they serve lunch and dinner. Breakfast is mostly made-to-order, but there’s a buffet element with fresh fruit, pastries, cereal, etc. too. Vilu is on the adults-only island; I’m not sure if children are allowed here if all they’re doing is having breakfast
  • Atoll Market – this is the other breakfast restaurant which has a comprehensive breakfast buffet and is on the main island. I recommend eating at both restaurants early in your stay in case one is more to your liking
  • Rangali Bar – Rangali Bar serves lunch and dinner, as well as having a half-price Happy Hour twice each evening. This is probably the most budget-friendly dining option at the resort, but has delicious food too – I had the Nasi Goreng several times as it was so tasty.
  • Ufaa – an Asian restaurant on the beach
  • Koko Grill & Lounge Bar – this is on the adults-only island
  • Mandhoo Spa Restaurant – this is a restaurant in a pavilion over the ocean
  • Sunset Grill – also a restaurant in a pavilion over the ocean
  • The Wine Cellar – this is an underground restaurant, so a great place if you want dinner somewhere that you can escape the heat
  • In-Room Dining – useful if you want room service
  • The Quiet Zone – this is at the adults-only pool
  • Cheese & Wine Bar – this seems self-explanatory enough
• Gold & Diamond Happy Hour – From 4pm-5pm the hotel offers complimentary drinks and canapes for those with Gold or Diamond status with Hilton Honors. The drinks are fairly free-flowing, so it’s a great opportunity to imbibe without breaking the bank. This takes place at Ari Lounge which is next to Vilu restaurant.
• Club Lounge: None
• Spa: Yes, two – one on each of the two islands. We redeemed 150,000 Hilton points via Hilton Experiences for a two hour couples massage at Spa Retreat (the spa on the family island). This was incredibly relaxing and the two hours went by very quickly. This’ll sound weird, but be sure to check out the outdoor restroom if you do get a massage there.
• Fitness Room: Yes. There’s one on the adults-only island which was kept at a cool temperature and had bottles of water and apples. I think there might be one on the family island too, although I didn’t spot one.
• Pool: Yes – three. There’s the Quiet Zone on the adults-only island with an infinity pool, while there’s a family-friendly pool on the main island. Next to that family pool is a 20 inch pool for toddlers.
• Other Amenities: There’s snorkeling, kayaking and paddle boarding which are all complimentary. You can book all kinds of excursions like fishing, jet skiing, yacht cruises, guided snorkeling, scuba diving, etc. There’s a tennis court, as well as outdoor yoga and meditation pavilions.
• Welcome Amenity: Our villa had a bottle of prosecco, a fruit plate, macarons and chocolates waiting for us. I don’t know if all guests receive these, or if it’s because we had Diamond status
• Tipping: You can add tips to your bill when having lunch or dinner. For all other things you might want to tip for (e.g. servers at Vilu for breakfast, golf cart drivers, your concierge/host, housekeeping, etc.), you can add tips to your folio when checking out and allocate specific amounts to people. That was super-convenient, especially as it meant we didn’t have to carry cash around with us all the time.
• Service: Excellent. Our concierge/host Hussain was lovely, as were many other staff members like Rimah at Ithaa, Lai and Inttey at Vilu, Terrence at Rangali Bar and Philippa who did our whale shark excursion.
  The Conrad Maldives makes the checkout process nice and easy too. We were able to add tips for a bunch of different staff members/groups, plus we were able to split the cost of our stay across numerous different credit cards. We had five Aspire cards at the time of our stay (due to upgrading some no annual fee and Surpass cards a month or two before our stay), so we were able to put at least $200 on each of those in order to redeem the $200 resort credits. Some cards we put more on as we had a separate Amex Offer giving $180 back when spending $750 at Hilton Resorts. The front desk staff member didn’t give any kind of indication that doing all this was an inconvenience, whereas I’ve had a Fairfield Inn front desk agent roll their eyes at me before when asking to pay with a solitary gift card rather than the credit card on file.
• Pet Policy: Pets aren’t allowed.
• Location: The Conrad Maldives is a beautiful resort. Getting around is easy, with the ability to walk everywhere if you like or by requesting a golf cart. The roads/paths around the island are mostly packed sand (other than some raised walkways), so you can walk everywhere barefoot or in flip-flops/sandals.
• Elite Benefits: We had Diamond status and received the following benefits:
  • Complimentary breakfast – If you book a paid stay, breakfast is included in your room rate. If you book a stay with points or free night certificates, breakfast isn’t included by default. However, if you have Gold or Diamond status in the Hilton Honors program you get complimentary full breakfast at both breakfast restaurants rather than a food and beverage credit like you get at US-based properties
  • Complimentary happy hour – also for Gold and Diamond members
  • Room upgrade – we didn’t get an upgrade, but we were happy enough with our Sunrise Water Villa
• Would I stay again? Certainly, as we had a fantastic stay. Having said that, now that we’ve had a chance to experience Ithaa I might be more inclined to check out the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi instead. That’s a little more expensive points-wise (150k points per night rather than 120k points per night), but also bookable with free night certificates. There are a couple of reasons I’d be interested in visiting the Waldorf Astoria. One is that they also let you book straight into an overwater villa with points/certificates and the villas are both spacious – over 3,000 sq ft – and stunning. The other is that up until recently you could redeem just 100,000 Hilton points for yacht transfers to/from the resort, saving $1,000 which is what the cash cost is. That Hilton Experiences redemption option seems to have disappeared recently, so hopefully it returns.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Overwater villas – It’s fantastic that you can book straight into an overwater villa with points
• Location – It’s a beautiful resort
• Service – Service was excellent both at the resort and the communication leading up to our stay via email
• Aspire credits – You can redeem the $200 twice-annual Hilton Aspire credits here
• Ithaa – This was once the world’s only undersea restaurant. There are apparently other underwater restaurants now in other locations, but getting to experience this was superb
• Complimentary happy hour – For those with Hilton Gold or Diamond status, getting free cocktails, wine and beer for an hour is a nice touch

Cons

• Cost – Even if you book your stay with points/certificates, a stay at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island doesn’t come cheap. Seaplane transfers for two people come to a total of $1,350, while meals for two people will come to $100-$200 per night on the low end.
• Whale shark excursion – We paid ~$600 for the two of us to do a whale shark excursion. Although they did state ahead of time that there’s no guarantee that we’d see whale sharks, they didn’t inform us before the trip that it had been at least a week since they’d seen any whale sharks on these excursions. If we’d known that, we wouldn’t have wasted our money on not seeing them ourselves.
• Reef – Although the resort apparently has more marine life than many other resorts in the Maldives, the house reef is bleached.

Video

Here’s a video walkthrough of our Sunrise Water Villa:

Image Gallery

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