Raffles Maldives Meradhoo Resort 5 estrelas

We went to Raffles to celebrate our two years anniversary ~everything at raffles is awesome ~we truly enjoyed the food,landscape and the service here. Our butler Nattu is kind and warm~he went snorkeling with us as our tour guide～he is really professional~makes our experience really memorable~Next time we go Maldives ,Raffles will still be our choose.

It is a perfect journey. The airport pick up staff is very enthusiastic. The ocean view, facilities and food are amazing. Everyone on the island treats us nicely. I would also like to thank our butler Asma who accompanied us in our snorkeling trips. Without her help, we were unable to see such beautiful underwater world. She even got our breakfast packed at 4:00am in the morning because we must leave early to catch a plane. Thanks to her arrangement, we can have such unforgettable memories. I will highly recommend this resort and definitely visit again in the future.

Experience the wonder of this place! The breathtaking view and stunning sea colors will make you forget your long flights. Enjoy daily snorkeling and immerse yourself in the beautiful underwater world. The butler service provided by Yeajin and Yasir is exceptional. Yeajin goes above and beyond to fulfill all your requests. She provides daily activity information and offers helpful suggestions based on weather conditions. She ensures you are aware of the booking times for activities. Whenever you cross paths, she takes the time to engage with you, asking about your experiences and feelings. On our last day, Yasir took over as our butler and assisted us with a late check-out and moving our luggage. He even delivered a forgotten hat and two masks when we moved to another villa, showing their warmth and attentiveness. Airport Butler Uttu is also helpful, providing assistance with check-in and ensuring a seamless experience for domestic flights. The spacious villa offers high privacy, making it ideal for couples.

很完美的一次旅途， 四个晚上根本都不够， 我每天去snorkeling， 很多小鱼！ 谢谢Elena的泡泡浴和床上布置，还有Chinese speaking Effy， very kind and helpful！！ 很谢谢，希望有机会下次见哦！房间巨大，床有三米那么大！！ huge size！ and amazing view！！♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️the best resort in my life !!

I debated to write this review or not but decided it was too much of a disappointment and too far to go to experience this and I want others to think before they book. For some this might be a great place and I am trying to keep this as much non-opinion as possible but the fact is Raffles was just not for us (we like higher level of service, quality and food). Let me put that into some context. This was our 5th trip to Maldives and 6th resort so we have a solid point of reference – this is now 7 out of 7, or bottom of the list, since we left early and went to another outstanding property. Is the location lovely? Yes, and it was nice being that far south for once and honestly not much more trouble or time than a sea plane ride to many other resorts we have been to. There were much less/no planes and boats and the diving is beautiful with very clear water and unspoiled reefs (I am AOW certified so the experience was easy for me with just the Dive Master and I). The over water villas are in an amazing location and they are large and comfortable (bed was awesome) but it was a pain to always go back and forth to the main island by boat and several times we had to wait around for them to come out of their “back room” and get into the boat. Would I do it again – no. Also, upon leaving (and arriving) we sat in a fly infested local airport “lounge” that was not pleasant at all; dark dingy “lounge”. The entire domestic terminal and flight thing was much less smooth, easy and enjoyable than seaplane and boat properties. I do not want to go on for too long but to try and sum it up – it is over hyped online and in videos and they are spending way too much on their marketing to get people that far south versus on their training and guest experience. We fell for the 50% off coupons and we got what we paid for more or less. Their YouTube videos are lovely but the place is not what is depicted in those. Disrepair of the resort, even though they are trying, can be witnessed everywhere. The pier on the overwater villas is not level, they used pine 2x4s instead of teak and stainless-steel screws so it was lumpy, hard to walk on and badly weathered. The villas are weathered up to and including the grout in the shower was ugly and chipping out (see picture). The stains on the coffee table were gross (see picture). The handheld shower had almost no pressure. The over water villa restaurant where you come in from the main island by boat has three smoke exhaust stacks from their kitchen and they are black soot covered on the wall and ugly with roof paper flapping in the wind. Our biggest issue was the poor service (lacked that warm Maldivian people interaction experience we have had at all other resorts) and the poor food quality (understand that this can be a preference thing and some find it good but I am again comparing it to others). Pool service was terrible and had to go to the long bar to “get service” since the employees often times were on their phones or talking with one another. Not once did they check on us and the drinks were very average and they charged us double the price for double the shots since they only use 1 shot in their drinks ($26.00 per drink and double that if you ask for double shot so you are now at $52 for an average drink). Drinks in general were watered down and middle to bottom end liquor and mixers, no craft cocktails here despite their marketing their long bar so much. I do not mind the amount of money I have to spend in the Maldives for drink IF they are good so this is not a money issue it is a quality issue. In addition, they over cooked most all meats (see picture) until we complained then it was just uncomfortable since they would not leave us alone about “if the food was cooked right”. Food is bland but they also do not feed you or allow option for you to eat from 3-7 PM (Long Bar has some limited snacks avail). We get up early and go to sleep early and did not want to eat as late as they offered food choices but they also do not serve room service during those times. We also left one spa treatment that we had already paid for unused since the first treatment was very average – felt rushed and not relaxing and very basic. It started with the foot massage that was quick and the actual massages that felt very fast and not soothing. I read the other average, poor and terrible reviews on TripAdvisor and agree with them mainly so I am not going to repeat and carry this out too long. I did speak with the GM, Amila, and he tried but even then, you could tell the lack of high-end service and hospitality started at the top when he failed to really make it right financially. There was not much he could do at the resort to change it but I purchased two of the 50% off coupons from Travel Zoo and to give you an idea of how bad we thought it was, we left early and did not use the second week that we had paid for thereby giving him not only all 5 nights benefit but 10 meals and a spa treatment. He could have refunded me and thanked me for our feedback etc. but instead I had to “bargain with them” and get some of the trip items refunded that we did use for the week that we did stay in order to offset that loss in my mind. We typically spend a lot of money in the Maldives and go to resorts that are high end but what is frustrating is that this is sold as being that both online (6 star plus same dollar amount per night) and in videos and marketing and it is far from that. We know the brand has a great reputation so we tried it for that reason but we were very disappointed in the actual product. They try and overall, the people were friendly but they are not trained and expected to provide higher levels of service.