A brand new Maldives resort is opening in November and it looks stunning.
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“Castaway Meets Runway”
Trying to do something new in the Maldives, SO, a fashion-forward brand from Accor is set to open in November. The brand is famous for its young, vibrant, design approach and calls the resort “avant-garde.” They are selling it as “castaway meets runway” a nod to both the island resort’s remote nature and the brand’s soul.
There’s a lot of intentionality with the property. The standard beach walk-up to the hotel lobby is a traditional wood decking but features red LED lights at the edge to incorporate a red carpet for its guests.
The islands are famous for their dive sites where guests can swim with whale sharks, snorkel, or even go jet skiing (though motorized water sports incur additional charges.) The resort advertises its spa treatments and a dedicated spa center for the ultimate relaxation.
Despite its design and style, the resort is not adults-only, in fact, there’s a kid’s club.
Location
Like many Maldives resorts, SO occupies its own private island. Unlike others, however, it’s just a 15-minute speedboat from the airport. This is a huge advantage for a few reasons. First, other resorts like the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, a lengthy (and expensive) transfer is required. Transfers like this can add more than $500 per passenger and add an hour via seaplane. Further, the Maldives don’t allow domestic flights (including seaplanes) after 3 pm. Flight delays can strand guests at the airport overnight or force an even longer boat trip to reach the resort.
The address is officially:
Emboodhoo Lagoon,
Kaafu Atoll,
Republic of Maldives
Villas
The property hosts 80 suites in a combination of beach villas and overwater villas “designed for open plan living with panoramic ocean views. Each with a private pool and deck, whichever villa you choose the idyllic water is just steps away.” There are many resorts in the islands with a combination of beach and over water villas but few feature private plunge pools at each one.
A far cry from thatched roof huts, these are modern structures with the latest amenities.
Rates
SO prices overwater pool villas are cheaper than their larger beach villas, the opposite approach of many Maldivian peers. Speaking of space, the overwater suites start at nearly 1,300 sq ft while beach equivalents come in at 2,400 sq ft.
Rates for overwater pool villas inclusive of breakfast start at about $1,000/nt.
Rates for beach pool villas inclusive of breakfast start at about the same; two-bedroom villas start around $1,400/nt inclusive of half-board.
Conclusion
I’ve not yet been to the Maldives, and there have been a number of reasons why. The cost and time to reach the islands are a significant factor, not to mention the money spent once there. While the isolation is part of its draw, I haven’t been persuaded that I wouldn’t grow bored. However, SO seems to offer something different. Without the expensive and lengthy flight from the airport and restrictions on those flights, that’s a major factor that the property has overcome. Additionally, rather than booking a standard room and using an instrument to maybe get an overwater villa at check-in the suites are all about the same process and allow us to choose between overwater or the beach for more space. SO looks gorgeous and might just switch my thinking from planning on visiting someday to planning a trip.
What do you think? How does SO compare to other premium hotels in the Maldives? Would you book a stay there?
Maldives gets boring quick..the amount of time you waste to go over there.
Better off doing a charter flight to some Caribbean island with overwater bungalows. Worst case scenario, you’re a short hop from other islands and a couple of hours from the US
No affiliation with any major loyalty program? Seems a strange pick for the blog to cover.
@Lars – I thought I mentioned it was from Accor, but perhaps I failed to do so. Nonetheless, I set out this year to discuss more properties and products that are unaffiliated with loyalty programs and better encompass the entirety of the travel world. So far this year I have talked about cruises, space tourism operators, and I have a desire to cover safaris as well.
They won’t let me book my family of four into anything but a 3 bedroom (despite having a 2 bedroom and family villa available, kids are under 18 but over 12).
Looked like a nice resort…
Chesterwilson – I reached out to you by email to see if I can get an answer back about this.
Hi Chester! A very sunny regards from the sunny side of the world. This is Kay from SO/ Maldives team. Happy to see your interest at our island runway. Please do let me know the best way to reach you hence we can sort this out together. Certainly, we want the best glam escape for you and your family!
Revolution 9 is avant garde. A luxury resort in the Maldives isn’t. The Maldives are so 2000&Late anyway
Kyle – I don’t think I commented but want to pass on that I loved your space tourism article last week. Really interesting and timely (or just slightly ahead of its time.) Most people would be amazed to realize the progression and growth in this field over a relatively short period of time.
The final frontier has never been so close.
This seems like a paid ad…I mean you haven’t been there, I’m assuming you are sourcing most of this info from their web site?
Are they comping you or your business a stay? Otherwise I can’t figure out why you picked this random, Maldivian resort to basically copy and paste their website here
@Cy – Not paid, haven’t been there so I couldn’t have been comped either. As I mentioned, I attended an event for luxury travel providers and found their product interesting. It’s also not yet open, and we cover new properties in development regularly.
I don’t have a problem hearing occasionally about new resort properties that are opening, whether paid content or not. It’s a travel forum after all. Especially independent properties that aren’t tied to a loyalty program.
This property runs too glitzy for my tastes, but still — it’s always good to know another property in the Maldives that doesn’t require a seaplane or domestic transfer. Even if only to consider for the last night’s stay prior to departure.
Also, it’s worth a special mention, since every suite has a plunge pool, and the overwater villas are actually the entry pricing. Not typical, especially at the price point. (Although these are probably intro rates that’ll later increase.)
Thank you for this article @Kyle Stewart! Sunny regards from SO/ Maldives glam team!