In terms of my review of the Park Hyatt, I’ve decided to reverse the order in which I’m reviewing the property. First I want to review the three room types, and then I’ll talk more about the resort as such.
Before my stay at the Park Hyatt I wrote a post entitled “Park Hyatt Maldives Upgrades — My Head Hurts.”
The Park Hyatt Maldives has four room types. When you redeem your Gold Passport points you’re automatically booked into a Park Villa. There are three other room types which you can upgrade to for cash (see the previous post for a much more detailed explanation), but basically:
- The category above the Park Villa is the Park Pool Villa, which is the same type of room but has a plunge pool. As a Diamond member you receive a space available upgrade to this room type, or you can pay a supplement of $250.10 ($205 plus 22% tax/service charge) per night to confirm an upgrade to one.
- The category above the Park Pool Villa is the Park Water Villa, which is the “base” overwater villa. There’s no way to get upgraded to this room type for free, so you can pay a supplement of $494.10 ($405 plus 22% tax/service charge) per night to confirm an upgrade to one.
- The category above the Park Water Villa is the Sunset Water Villa, which is the overwater villa with the best view. You can pay a supplement of $744.20 ($610 plus 22% tax/service charge) per night to confirm an upgrade to one. This is actually a new room type, as previously all overwater villas were considered the same.
Suffice to say my head hurt trying to make a decision. I was already redeeming a good number of points and the transfer to the hotel isn’t cheap. I didn’t see the value in paying ~$250 per night to upgrade to a room type I might get a complimentary upgrade to, and frankly I didn’t think I’d get ~$500 per night of value out of upgrading to an overwater villa, since there are many other ways I’d rather spend that money. At the same time, when I think of the Maldives I think of overwater villas, so flying all the way there and not staying in one didn’t feel right either.
Before the stay I eventually decided just to do the Park Villa. I stayed six nights, and in the end:
- I spent the first two nights in a Park Villa
- I spent the next three nights in a Park Pool Villa
- The last night I upgraded to a Park Water Villa, since I figured it was worth at least experiencing, so I could report back
With that in mind, let’s talk about my first two nights in a Park Villa.
We arrived at the hotel quite early, and upon arriving at the jetty were greeted by the general manager, front office manager, etc. They really make the arrival and departure experience a “ceremony” of sorts. They took us to the reception area, which is near the jetty and basically a big, upside down boat. Pretty cool!
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa reception area
They explained our room would be ready within about two hours. The great thing about a secluded resort is that they schedule all the transfers, so they can say with near pinpoint accuracy when a room will open up. The general manager was awesome, and explained it would be one of the Park Villas with the best view.
Sure enough before 11AM our villa became available, which was Park Villa 31.
Most of the resort’s “public” areas are on one side of the island, and then the 50 villas (36 on land and 14 overwater) are on the other side. Here’s a map of the property:
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa property layout
Villa 31 was fortunately quite close to the public areas, so it was only about a three minute walk to the pool/restaurant.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa walkway to villa
The surroundings of the villa are extremely lush, and therefore private, since you really can’t see any of your neighboring villas.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Villa 31 entrance
There were a handful of steps leading up to the villa itself, which featured a pretty basic looking exterior, but once you view it from the other side it’s quite modern, with a lot of glass and an angled roof.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Villa 31 entrance
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa 31 exterior
Here’s the Park Villa’s floorplan, from the hotel’s website:
Upon entering the room was a king side bed with drapes. The bed was surprisingly comfortable.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa
When standing behind the bed you were facing towards the ocean, and also towards a daybed and a chair with an ottoman.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa daybed
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa chair with ottoman
To the left of the bed was a desk and TV.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa desk
The desk had a Nespresso machine, and then the minibar was housed under that. There was also bottled water — both still and sparkling — which you can get as much of as you’d like. It’s complimentary everywhere except in the restaurant, which I find odd, especially since it’s the same bottling. Speaking of which, the hotel purifies all their water on property.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa Nespresso machine
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa minibar
There were also six types of snacks waiting, including nuts, marshmallows, olives, etc.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa snacks
There was an iPad, which had all the hotel’s services on it, from the spa menu to room service menu to excursions.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa iPad
I also appreciated that the desk had universal outlets, which meant there was no need for those annoying adapters.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa outlet
This hotel is rather generous when it comes to the welcome amenity (which I chose in lieu of 1,000 Gold Passport points). In addition to the snacks pictured above, we were offered a plate of fruit, as well as a bottle of champagne. Very impressive!
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa welcome fresh fruit
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa welcome champagne
There was also a letter explaining the Gold Passport Diamond benefits, including:
- A welcome amenity and fresh fruit
- Complimentary late check-out subject to availability
- 20% off cocktails and wines from 7PM until midnight
- One daily Sundowner beverage at the bar between 5PM and 7PM
There’s a weekly cocktail reception on Saturdays, though go figure we arrived Sunday morning and left Saturday morning, so missed that.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa welcome letter
Anyway, back to the room. On the other side of the bed was the massive bathroom, which probably took up at least half the square footage of the villa.
There were double sinks overlooking the outdoor shower/bath area.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa bathroom
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa bathroom
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa sink
Then when walking towards the bathroom, the shower was located on the right side. The water pressure and temperature control were excellent.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa shower
To be environmentally friendly, the hotel refills the toiletries in ceramic bottles, and they were good quality.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa toiletries
Opposite the shower was the toilet, which was also in a separate room.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa toilet
The outdoor shower area was pretty spectacular. There was a large soaking tub, as well as a rainforest shower. There was even a bench.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa outdoor bathroom
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa outdoor shower area
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa outdoor shower area
As I explained above, this is the most “basic” villa. There’s not a plunge pool and it’s not overwater.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa terrace
It does still have a nice terrace, though, with two seats.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa terrace
The real awesome thing, though, is that each villas has direct beach access. All you have to do is walk down a few stairs.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa beach access
There’s even a water “bucket” in which you can rinse your feet.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa water
And then you’re literally on one of the most gorgeous, secluded beaches I’ve ever seen.
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa beach access
Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Park Villa beach
Now, I’m not usually a big beach person, but it’s tough to argue with this one.
In terms of the room, there are two other things worth noting:
- The air conditioning worked extremely well, so you could get the room as cold as you wanted (stay tuned for more on why that’s an important thing to note)
- The Wi-Fi worked reasonably well, certainly better than I was expecting; it wasn’t true high speed internet, but I was mostly able to go about my business as usual without being hindered by the internet too much
Stay tuned for the next installments, where I’ll cover the two other types of rooms I also stayed in, and the resort as such.
Park Hyatt Maldives Park Villa bottom line
The Park Villas at the Park Hyatt Hadahaa are fantastic. Admittedly everyone is looking for different things. I’m the type of person who likes having a plunge pool to look at, but would never actually use one. So I’d personally never pay to upgrade to a villa with a plunge pool, especially given how nice the hotel’s other pools are. That being said, I’ll certainly take an upgrade for free.
But if I returned I’d just book a Park Villa again, and wouldn’t pay to upgrade. My concern was that I’d be “missing out” by not being overwater, but the resort as a whole is so gorgeous and has so many amazing views that I really didn’t feel that way.
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