Gili Lankanfushi Maldives – A hidden sanctuary

MALE, Maldives, 2 August 2019: Nestled on a private coral island, in a glistening turquoise lagoon is Gili Lankanfushi, voted Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice No. 1 Luxury Hotel in the Maldives and Asia 2017, and World Travel Awards’ Indian Ocean’s Leading Resort 2017.
The eco-resort, with 45 overwater villas, is set within the North Malé Atoll, on the island of Lankanfushi, one of about only 200 inhabited islands out of 1,192 in the Maldives. Just a short 20-minute boat ride from Malé International Airport, Gili Lankanfushi is a sanctuary hidden from the world, a private paradise teeming with rich and colourful marine life.
The Gili Lankanfushi experience begins at the airport, where guests are ushered to a private speed boat. Once onboard, they are invited to remove their footwear, to be kept in a bag that says “No News, No Shoes”. This is the first introduction to what the resort proudly calls Barefoot Luxury.
David Stepetic, the General Manager of Gili Lankanfushi, who had spent 19 years at the Four Seasons, explains, “In an increasingly saturated luxury market, we recognise that our guests are looking for more than just luxurious accommodation and a beautiful beach. At Gili Lankanfushi, we make our guests feel truly at home, offering them an opportunity to redefine the meaning of luxury and discover their own private sanctuary. Barefoot luxury is such an example. Guests can literally kick off their shoes and enjoy being casual and comfortable, in a setting that is elegant and sophisticated. Their feet caressed by soft, powdery sand; our guests are free to let go of their worries and stress.”
Leaving the cares of the world behind, an opportunity to connect with other aspects of life presents itself. The atmosphere at Gili Lankanfushi is at once inviting and idyllic. Palm-fringed beaches, crystal clear waters, the gentle sea breeze. This is the chance to reconnect with nature, people, self, and life.

Source: ttrweekly

Dream Hotel Group Signs Two Resort Hotels In The Maldives

Renowned hotel brand and management company Dream Hotel Group signed two hotels in the Maldives with local entrepreneur Mohamed Manik and Alpha Kinam Holdings to develop The Chatwal Maaga Maldives and Dream Gasveli Maldives. Set to open in 2019 and 2020 respectively, the new locations triple the group's presence in Asia and mark a pivotal step in Dream Hotel Group's global expansion strategy.

"Last year, we signed more new hotels and resorts than ever before," said Dream Hotel Group CEO Jay Stein. "I'm thrilled to announce another equally strong year of growth momentum with the signing of The Chatwal Maaga and Dream Gasveli in the Maldives, one of the strongest luxury leisure resort markets in the world."

Nestled in picturesque North Ari Atoll, The Chatwal Maaga Maldives will feature 80 ultra-luxury villas, six private beach villas and two presidential villas, as well as three world-class culinary experiences bringing fine dining and casual barefoot elegance to the lagoon's edge. The Chatwal Maaga Maldives will be the second location to debut in The Chatwal collection of luxury hotels.

Dream Gasveli Maldives will feature 500 villas, eight experiential dining and nightlife venues, including the brand's signature Dream Beach Club, a 20,000-square-foot wellness spa and a dozen designer brand retail outlets for exclusive duty-free shopping on site. Spanning across three islands in Meemu Atoll, Dream Gasveli will be the largest fully-integrated resort ever developed in the Indian Ocean.

"I've been in the resort and hotel business for over 30 years in the Maldives," said Mohamed Manik, Chairman of Alpha Kinam Holdings. "I am pleased to partner with Dream Hotel Group in bringing its leading edge lifestyle brands to the Maldives and look forward to taking our luxury market experiences one step beyond here with many more projects in the future."

"I have known Mohamed Manik for a number of years and there is no better partner we'd rather work with to bring The Chatwal and Dream brands of hospitality into the Maldives, delivering on the standards of excellence we hold so high." said Kevin Wallace, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Dream Hotel Group.

Late last year, Dream Hotel Group announced the signing of its first hotel in Vietnam with locally owned Beegreen Group to develop Dream Oceanami Villas & Spa in Long Hai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, the country's top tourist destination. Set to open in June 2017, Dream Oceanami Villas & Spa will be the first of four new resort hotels developed by Beegreen Group and managed by Dream Hotel Group in Vietnam over the next two years. Future locations include Vung Tau City, Hoi An, Ho Tram and Con Dao.

Dream Hotel Group plans to sign more than 150 hotels and resorts worldwide across all its brands – Dream, Time, The Chatwal and Unscripted – over the next four years, continuing to solidify its burgeoning portfolio worldwide.

"This will be a milestone year for us as we welcome an unprecedented number of new hotels into our ever-growing family of brands across the globe," added Stein.

Properties From The Maldives Win Countless Awards At World Luxury Hotel Awards

At the recently held World Luxury Hotel Awards Gala night in St. Regis Doha, Qatar, Maldives once again proved itself as one of the best destinations in the world with huge wins in regional and continental categories.

Resorts and a guesthouse from the Maldives, won awards in different categories at the WLHA 2016 awards night gaining international recognition as world class retreats and some of the best in the whole continent.

The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi won the Luxury Beach Resort, while Diamonds Thudufushi clasped the Luxury Water Villa Resort award. Lily Beach Resort and Spa took home the award for the Luxury Family All-Inclusive Hotel with Conrad Maldives Rangali seized the Grand Excellence Award. Constance Moofushi Resort Maldives was named as the Luxury Green Hotel while the Hotel Ocean Grand picked up the award for Luxury Guesthouse. In the continental categories, Coco Collection won the prize for Luxury Hotel Brand and Conrad Maldives Rangali Island won the award for Luxury Villa Resort.

Regionally, Hideaway Beach Resort and Spa at Dhonakulhi Maldives brought home the award for Luxury Private Pool Villa with Hulhule Island Hotel clutching the Luxury Airport Hotel. JA Manafaru, Maldives also won the Luxury Honeymoon Hotel. Furthermore, Mirihi Island Resort for Luxury Boutique Hotel, Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort for Best Serviced Luxury Villas, The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi Maldives for Luxury Spa Hotel, and Makunudu Island for Luxury Honeymoon Hotel.

Within Maldives, Coco Bodu Hithi took hold of the Luxury Honeymoon Hotel award while Centara Grand Ras Fushi Resort And Spa Maldives took the award for Luxury Adult Beach Resort, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island for Luxury Villa Resort, Constance Halaveli Maldives for Luxury Water Villa Resort, Jumeirah Vittaveli for Luxury Island Resort, Kurumba Maldives for Luxury Family All-Inclusive Hotel, Lily Beach Resort And Spa for Luxury Beach Resort, and Royal Island Resort & Spa for Luxury Romantic Hotel.

The World Luxury Hotel Awards is a recognized global organization providing luxury hotels with recognition for their world-class facilities and service excellence provided to guests. Public votes select all winners, reflecting real recognition for the hard work and dedication of hotel staff and hotel standards.

HURAWALHI MALDIVES SUSTAINABILITY IN TANDEM WITH LUXURY

Five-star luxury and sustainability have been seamlessly integrated at Hurawalhi Island Resort – a combination worthy of making any environmentally-aware urban dweller green with envy.

In a fragile environment like the Maldives, eco-conscious operations should be the norm and this brand new island has gone the extra mile to put as much back into its surroundings as it takes out. With 60% of the island powered by solar energy, there is also a water bottling plant to substantially reduce the island’s plastic consumption, a food recycling programme and a collection of local greenhouses producing fresh produce for guests. Together these innovative elements ensure that protecting the natural environment is as high a priority as the comfort Hurawalhi provides.

The company behind Hurawalhi, Crown & Champa Resorts, wanted to make the destination as environmentally sustainable as possible. At every step of the development process reducing the project’s carbon footprint was a key consideration. In what they have achieved at Hurawalhi, Crown & Champa has proved it’s possible to care for the environment without sacrificing elegance, luxury and a highly personalised approach to service.

Once finished, the island will boast 4,243m² of solar panels – approximately the size of 26 volleyball courts! Crucially, this technology has been seamlessly integrated into the resort’s architecture by New York-based architect, Yuji Yamazaki, who has successfully turned power generation into a stylish design feature. The panels are state of the art in design and are a far cry from earlier units; the panels at Hurawalhi sport a futuristic-looking appearance which contributes to the contemporary ambience. Rather than clashing with the environment, they make a welcome addition to Hurawalhi’s chic appearance.

Another step Hurawalhi has taken in order to minimise its environmental footprint is to monitor the island’s food supply and production. Owen Ealden, the island’s Food and Beverage Director, is a strong advocate of healthy and sustainable living and summarises Hurawalhi’s theme of eco-consciousness in a single sentence, ‘We want to focus on three areas: healthy people, healthy planet and healthy local communities.’ Hurawalhi has its own water bottling plant, reducing the plastic consumption of the island by using only glass bottles supplied by nearby sister island Kuredu and all restaurants only offer organic and biodynamic produce, allowing guests to enjoy wholesome and good nutrition, which is not only healthy, but also beneficial to the environment. Food waste is processed into fertilizers to use in Hurawalhi’s greenhouse, a process powered entirely by solar energy. The resort also strives for maximum food transparency and thoughtfully sourced produce, favouring local suppliers whenever possible, which gives guests a chance to sample something new.

Hurawalhi has a desalination system which filters sea-water and turns it into clean water for drinking and cooking, as well as to supply the luxurious rainfall showers in the villas. Efficient waste management systems ensure water waste is recycled wherever possible.

All of these green initiatives demonstrate Hurawalhi’s high regard for the environment. Amongst its many other eco-projects, Hurawalhi, which is surrounded by some of the best dive sites and marine life encounters in the world, has teamed up with Wise Oceans to support marine conservation and the continued research of the local Manta ray population and is dedicated to maintaining the stunning local reefs.

Lux upgrades luxury resort in the Maldives

Lux Resorts & Hotels has unveiled a series of upgrades being undertaken at its luxury resort in the Maldives.

The Lux South Ari Atoll will reopen on 1 September 2016 following a “complete refurbishment”. On the island’s east side there will be 49 pool villas, including 46 with seven-meter pools and three with 14-meter pools. These three larger units will form the resort’s adults-only area, and also come equipped with twin showers and private terraces that feature “couples’ love nests”.

Two kilometers to the west, there will be 38 water villas and a two-bedroom Lux Villa, which will complement the resort’s 105 beach villas, 12 of which feature private pools.

The resort’s seven restaurants and five bars are all undergoing a major upgrade. Highlights will include beach side Italian, Indian/Arabic and international outlets, dedicated sushi, teppanyaki and robatayaki counters, and the largest selection of sakes and Japanese whiskies in the Maldives.

Lux will also bring its beach club concept to the island, which was first seen at its flagship Lux Belle Mare in Mauritius. The new Beach Rouge will serve seafood and wine, among other items.

The resort’s spa is also being renovated to incorporate a traditional Chinese tea house, a new area for skin and body care and an extended lagoon-view relaxation area.

And finally, Lux South Ari Atoll will introduce a series of “expert-led workshops” that allow guests to learn a range of skills such as painting, photography and meditation.

“The brand vision is to offer our guests different luxury hospitality experience; helping people celebrate life, by making each moment matter. I have no doubt Lux South Ari Atoll will become a real spot in the Maldives, with its fresh and exciting new look and its incredibly passionate team, getting ready to welcome guests. We have a winning combination” shares Paul Jones, CEO of Lux Resorts & Hotels.

New Corporate Brand Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts Launch

All Hotels & Resorts under the present Brand “Chaaya” will be re-named as a Cinnamon Resort or Hotel. This change will take into full effect during the first week of October 2015.

Individual Hotel or Resort property coming in newly into the Cinnamon brand will have new amenities, & collateral which are of a much superior quality than earlier.

Maldives Chaaya Island Dhonveli  =>  Cinnamon Dhonveli Maldives

Maldives Chaaya Lagoon Hakuraa Huraa  =>  Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa Maldives

Maldives Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo  =>  Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon

Sri Lanka Chaaya Village Habarana  =>  Habarana Village by Cinnamon

Sri Lanka Chaaya Blu Trincomalee  =>  Trinco Blu by Cinnamon

Sri Lanka Chaaya Tranz Hikkaduwa  =>  Hikka Tranz by Cinnamon

Sri Lanka Bentota Beach Hotel  =>  Bentota Beach by Cinnamon