JW Marriott Maldives Resort & Spa

One cannot go wrong choosing this resort for a luxury holiday, situated on a beautiful, green tropical island with unforgettable turquoise waters. However, the most outstanding aspect, and the reason for us considering returning, is the world class staff. All make an immediate connection, learn your name, and make you feel so welcome, attended to, and appreciated until the very last minute of your stay! Our butler, Malla, was outstanding. Initially, we booked a water villa, but it did not meet our expectations regarding proximity to the beach and access to the ocean. We requested Malla to relocate us to a beachfront villa, and he immediately worked on this request. Within a couple of hours, we were in the beachfront villa, and he upgraded our package to ensure we had the best experience. He was patient in explaining the options and quickly understood our needs. Malla and his professional team provide a unique, personalized, and exceptionally attentive luxury experience. The breakfast team’s pastry chef, Dinesh, was exceptional, offering fresh croissants, fresh fruit, and yogurt parfait. The entire staff was always very attentive, warm, and made us feel welcomed. The Thai restaurant and cocktail bar, set in a treehouse, offered superb cuisine and great service from Reni, Anaahu, and Rohila. Chef Rohini and Chef Dinesh prepared a special lunch menu for our last day, Biryani, paneer, and amazing mango ice cream to name a few. The steakhouse offered world-class steaks, and seafood, chef Sameera we ate dinner at the steakhouse 5 out of 6 nights during our stay. Cocktails were a daily delight, prepared by amazing mixologists Ashraful, Satyam, and Kanishka, often enjoyed at the restaurants and in the main bar while witnessing yet another epic sunset. Morning yoga classes and HIIT sessions were a must, followed by relaxing spa treatments with top-notch massages. The villas were spacious and luxurious, each with its own pool and a piece of almost private beach. Importantly Bonvoy members, the benefits and amenities were very well respected! This is the only resort I’ve stayed at in this country, so I can’t compare it locally. However, I can compare it to other resorts across the world, including Grand Cayman Ritz, which I wouldn’t consider returning to as we didn’t feel as comfortable, and only some of the staff were as attentive and nice. We have stayed in other countries and other resorts comparable to JW, and I can say this resort stands on its own. I wanted to take the time to highlight a few people who made our trip very special and memorable: • Chef Dinesh: Chef Dinesh took his time to give us a tour of the garden, not only he went out of his way, but he also described all the different vegetables, fruits, and herbs grown and how they were used in the different restaurants. • Chef Sameera, Anaahu, Sovia, and Satyam: They surprised us with an unforgettable dinner, preparing a special dish native to Chef’s country. I can’t describe the feelings, and I literally cried with joy. • Sovia, Adam, Aalif, Lalit, and Shinaazm: They made every morning memorable with their smiles, joy, and attentiveness. It’s contagious. • Shijoh: The morning and evening instructor for some of the stretch and HIIT workouts. His attentiveness and kind spirit were invaluable. • The Spa Team: I was lucky to enjoy spa services a couple of days. It was one of the best massages I’ve experienced, with amazing products and techniques. • Reni: She was the sweetest server, knowing me by name every time. Even when walking around, she was always eager to greet everyone with her amazing energy and positive energy. Read less

We did not originally book our Maldives resort at the JW. Due to technically issues at the W, the management had moved our reservation to JW resort. We were very disappointed by this news, but arrived at this beautiful resort after a very long travel day. With low expectations, we arrived to this beautiful property and were assigned Najaah as our personal butler. He showed us around the property and villa. We ordered in villa dining for our first meal. This was our first introduction to the resorts dining experience and we were not that impressed by the burger and fish offerings. For the rest of our stay, we avoided ordering western food from the resort, which was a good move on our part. Indian and Thai food was very good, and we had one of our best steak dinner. Again, we had low expectations with food, but we were very surprised by the steak restaurant, perfectly cooked medium rare steaks that were very flavorful. We tried Maldivian options from the breakfast buffer and everything was very delicious. The chefs, wait staff, and all the workers there were so nice and service was top notch. But what made our stay at JW the most memorable was Najaah. He ensured we had what we needed for out stay, anticipated my needs and fulfilled them before I would even asked. My husband forgot his headphones in the room after we checked out and he had them sent back to us. I wasn’t planning to go back to Maldives since this was a bucket list trip, but I’m considering to go back just to stay at JW. Read less

Our stay at JW Marriott Maldives was absolutely incredible! A huge thank you to Malla, our wonderful butler, for arranging everything so smoothly over WhatsApp—his attention to detail made our trip effortless. A special mention to Satyam, the best bartender, who not only crafted amazing drinks but also took great care of us at the bar and restaurants. Kanishka made our poolside experience even better with his warm hospitality and attentiveness. And Cindy at Aaila, whose exceptional service and kindness made every dining experience unforgettable. The staff here truly go above and beyond, never saying no to anything and always making sure every moment is perfect. We can’t wait to come back! Read less

We had the pleasure of spending our Honeymoon on this island and although the vacation was extremely expensive it was one of the best experiences our life and worth it for our special occasion. We ended up spending 15٫000 USD for 5 nights which is an average of 3k per night. We opted for all included in food but still it was a price extremely high for our expectation. The staff has made the experience special, from our personal assistant Naawish to the chef who made specially handmade gluten free food for me, his name is Rohit. He made me experience for the first time in my life Prata and other Indian food thanks to his skill in making everything gluten free for me. There are 5 or 6 restaurants in the island so there are plenty of option for you to eat every day in a different place. They also surprised us during the stay with small surprises for our honeymoon like giving us special seating on the dock during our last night and few other small gestures that were highly appreciated. The island is gorgeous and I think it's quite private so you have so many time in which you have the beach all for yourself. We stayed in both Overwater Villa and Beach Villa and I recommend doing the same so you can experience both during the stay. There are few reason that made me give though 4 stars and not 5 and here are some of the consideration if you plan to stay here: - Missing points as Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Member: For some reason the points received after the stay as Platinum member are less than what I was expecting. I reached out to them and they called me and sent me various emails acknowledging that I have not received what I and they were expecting. Up to this day (3 weeks from my stay) I still haven't received the missing points. Unfortunately they after stay support hasn't not been great and this has affected the overall experience. (Hopefully somebody from their staff will read this and follow up from my emails) - this brings to the second point. All activities, photo shooting, Taxes, GST, seaplane are not eligible for Points. For us was 33% of our overall spending (only 9.8k out of 15k spent were eligible for points). That's a lot of points and honestly I wasn't expecting to miss so many points from the stay. - This island is extremely expensive. We have traveled a lot around the world and this has been the most expensive place we have been. be ready to spend way more than you plan. Between villa, food and other activities we had planned 2k USD a day but we ended up spending 3k a day. Anything you do is expensive, even something simple like Shisha that anywhere else would cost you 30$ here will cost you more than 100$ . We had some photos taken by the photographer and it cost 450 USD to have a digital copy of them. I was honestly expecting to have it included in the package since we spent over 15٫000 $ Read less