Alila Kothaifaru Maldives
September 2024
The Maldives has always been a bucket list destination. I finally had the chance to visit. There were so many resorts to choose from, but I settled on the Alila Maldives. The resort is quite new, opening in May 2022. Unlike other Maldivian islands, the Alila property was built on an existing natural island and is not man-made. From the modern rooms, beautiful beaches, and welcoming hospitality, this was definitely the right choice for a Maldivian holiday!
Quick Summary
Highlights: excellent service, modern villas with private plunge pools.
Lowlights: pre-arrival communication (or lack thereof)
Notes:
Pre-arrival communication: no direct communication after booking and no details about hotel transfer offered until asked. No seaplane confirmation prior to arrival.
Hotel transfer: smooth and easy process with the aid of a hotel representative. Transfer involves a 45 minute seaplane trip.
Room: the overwater villa is spacious and modern. When booking with points, a paid upgrade is needed to guarantee an overwater villa.
Food: high quality food and good number of options, though if staying for more than 3 days you will be eating at the same restaurants multiple times.
Beach quality: pristine white sand and crystal clear blue water. Beach erosion is an ongoing issue though; we were told the resort has had to import sand to limit the amount of erosion.
Beware of: mosquitos in the beach villas and inner island, though guests are provided bug spray and the island is sprayed every evening. Luckily, mosquitos are not an issue in the overwater villas.
On-island activities: house reef is average, perhaps due to how new the resort is. Poolside lounging has ample seating. Even with high resort occupancy, the island never felt crowded.
Hospitality/service: great communication with our assigned villa host, always available on WhatsApp. Anything we needed, she was able to accommodate for us, such as arranging housekeeping when we were out for breakfast and turndown service while we were at dinner. Everything felt specific to our needs.
Booking
I booked this room through the Hyatt website in December 2023. It cost me 80k Hyatt points to stay 3 nights. The booked dates were considered off-peak. Cash rates would have been approximately $800 USD per night.
A rocky start…
Despite reading on online forums that the hotel reached out directly to guests after booking to discuss transportation and room upgrades, I never received any communication from the hotel. It wasn’t until about 1 month before the upcoming stay that I reached out directly.
It may have been an anomaly, but it took a few days to hear back from the hotel between each communication email, and I was never able to get a firm confirmation about seaplane transfer, which the hotel was supposed to arrange. Luckily, it all worked out and there was an Alila representative waiting for my party upon arriving to Male Airport.
The representative walked us to the seaplane transfer counter and handed us off to another representative. After weighing our bags and checking passports, we got on a shuttle bus and transferred to the seaplane terminal.
Upon arrival to the terminal, we were escorted to the lounge to wait for our turn to board. Upon boarding, it was a 45 minute flight to reach the hotel resort. The round trip sea plane transfer was approximately $600 per person.
Incredible views from the seaplane!
After landing we were greeted by hotel employees who were awaiting our arrival. We were offered a welcome drink as well as a cold towel. Our villa host introduced herself, and after collecting our luggage, we got on a golf cart to be taken to our villa.
On the way there, our host gave us a quick tour of the island. The island is quite small - you can walk across it in about 10-15 minutes. The most remote area is the over water villas, which is where our villa was located. We opted to upgrade from the base room (beach villa) to the overwater villa before arrival for an additional $150 a night. We were checked in directly at the villa. Before she left, our host provided us her contact information so that we could stay in communication throughout our stay.
Sunset Overwater Villa
Our sunset overwater villa was located closer to the island than the others which were further out into the lagoon. While the ones closer to the island may off less privacy, it may be important to note that the water around the closer villas are calmer, which allow guests to swim right off the deck. The villas further into the lagoon had rougher waves, definitely not suitable for swimming, even with a life jacket on.
Our villa had a sitting area right off the entry way. Attached to this space is the king bed. Both the sitting area and the bed offer amazing views of the water through a huge sliding window, which leads to a back deck.
Further into the villa through a door is the restroom, which included a vanity desk, closet, a double sink, large bath tub, and spacious rain shower. The toilet is separated from the space by a another door.
The best part of the restroom is the huge sliding window from the tub and shower area, which allows for direct access to the back deck.
On the back deck is a sitting area with plenty of seating. The standout feature is the private infinity pool. Next to the pool is a overhanging net for additional lounging options. On the side of the deck is a platform with ladder for direct lagoon access.
In-room amenities include a coffee machine, bottled water that is refilled throughout the day, robes, and slippers. They also offer complimentary sunscreen and bug spray. Guests also receive 2 sun hats and a beach tote that they can bring home at the end of their stay. Of note, there are also 2 life jackets in the room - guests are asked to wear life jackets when swimming in the lagoon off the villa or when snorkeling around the island.
As the name implies, the sunset overwater villas have sunset views from the back deck, and even from the bathroom. Beautiful!
Dining Options
There are a few dining options on the island. Prices can be fairly expensive, as is typical at any Maldivian resort given the remote nature of the islands.
The main restaurant is Seasalt, which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is located next to the main infinity pool and the island bar, Mirus Bar. We dined here for dinner one night and had breakfast here every morning. Breakfast is a buffet with a separate menu for a la carte ordering, if desired. Hyatt Globalists do get complimentary daily breakfast, which includes the buffet and anything off the a la carte menu. The buffet selection is quite extensive and the options change daily. This includes a hot station with variety of asian and western foods, a live station where a chef will make fresh dishes, cold station with fruits, deli meats, salads, as well as a pastry station.
Dinner is from an a la carte menu and prices per dish range from $30 (starters) to $70 (entrees).
Breakfast buffet at Seasalt Restaurant
Umami is the Japanese restaurant, only open for dinner. Reservations are required. Our villa host was able to secure a table for us on our second night. There is a hamachi grill as well as a variety of other Japanese dishes. Prices per dish at Umami range from $30 for a sushi roll to $110 for Wagyu beef tenderloin. We ordered several sushi rolls, a sashimi platter, salad appetizer and beef tenderloin. The food was all fresh and tasted amazing!
On our last night, we had dinner at Yakitori Bar, which is only open for dinner. As the name implies, they service yakitori, which is Japanese skewered meats and vegetables cooked over a barbecue. You are also able to order various sushi and sashimi plates that they bring over from Umami Restaurant, located right next door. The biggest draw to eating at Yakitori is the location - the small intestine restaurant is right over the water and the walls are able to open completely for amazing views.
Other dining options on the island includes Pibati, which is most akin to a coffee bar, selling drinks and small snacks until late afternoon. There is also the Mirus Bar, offering drinks and light snacks.
Mirus Bar
Room service is also offered 24 hours a day.
The day of our departure, we were scheduled to leave on the first seaplane out of the island at 6:45am. Our villa host offered to arrange an early bird breakfast delivered to our room as Seasalt does not open for breakfast until 7am.
The amount of food provided was substantial, definitely enough for tide us over for the morning.
Hotel Activities
Though the island is small, there are still a lot of activities to do throughout.
There is a Dive Center where you are borrow snorkel gear at no additional cost to use around the island. The house reef runs along one side of the island. Depending on weather conditions, guests are able to snorkel anywhere along this, though guests are asked to wear a life jacket at all times as there is no lifeguard on duty. I did spend some time snorkeling throughout the stay and was lucky to catch a glimpse of baby sharks and a manta ray! No success seeing a sea turtle, though I was told from the employees of the Dive Center that the sea turtles around the island are quite shy. When you check out, you can leave the gear in your villa and housekeeping will return the items for you.
You can also rent kayaks at no cost to use around the island. Paid activities arranged through the Dive Center include chartered boat trips for snorkeling, dolphin cruising, and open water fishing (the chefs will cook whatever you catch upon arrival for you to eat).
The resort has one main infinity pool, located next to Seasalt Restaurant. There is ample seating around the pool. Perhaps it is because every villa has a private pool, but the main pool it was never crowded when we went. Towels available poolside to use if needed.
A few steps down from the main pool is a long strip of white sand beach with loungers and tables. Whether at the pool or the beach, we found the service quite good. We were always offered cold water and were also given cold hand towels and a small shot glass of juice to enjoy. This area also has a few activities for guests to enjoy, such as corn hole, ping pong, beach volleyball, and a large chest set.
The best part of this area hands down is the sunset views as it faces directly towards the west.
The Alila Spa offers massages, facials, and additional wellness treatments. Treatments needs to be reserved ahead of time and our villa host kindly helped us secure an appointment for a couples massage. The spa is located right above the gym in a treehouse-like setting. Being high up and into the trees was quite an experience, we saw a bunch of bats hanging around. The spa also has an outdoor netting area for guests to lay down, but the area doesn’t seem to be used often as there were a lot of spider webs when we went to take a look.
Would I stay here again?
Absolutely. This resort is a great value when redeeming Hyatt points. New, modern, luxurious with pristine white beaches and clear blue waters - the Alila Kothaifaru Maldives is everything a Maldivian vacation is supposed to be!