South Palm Maldives — Hotel in Addu Atoll

We went as a family of 3 adults on 13 th March 2025 for 10 nights. |We landed at Male airport on 14 th at 4.55 am where we were supposed to be met by representative from South Palms but he was not there. We asked other hotel reps who said he will come soon and asked us to wait or go to information desk. Information desk gave us resort’s phone number. Called resort they told us he will there soon. Finally rep showed up at 8 am whilst we waited in hot humid waiting area. There was no apology and he took us to domestic airport lounge and told us he will be back at 10.30 am to check us in flight to Gan. He did not show up at all so we went to check in at gate. Luckily there was airport manager who checked us for flight departing at 12 pm. Blue Bay do not provide any documents for transfer from Male to Gan! So after 25 hours journey we reached the resort. |The resort is absolutely stunning but the management let it down. We were staying in beach villa which was basic but had everything you needed. The beds are rock hard I have returned with backache. |The resort manager came to meet us in the evening because I had emailed Blue Bay because the trouble we had at arrival. The manager kindly offered to upgrade us to water villa or to pool villa but both of these were unsuitable to us. The water villa is nice but has no sun cover , the sun bed is for 2 people and the access to sea is unsuitable. The pool villa has pool with no seating area,the seating area is room with window and door with no view to sea or pool. The pool is also enclosed by walls on all 4 sides so no views. Not sure how is one able to relax on bean bags in a room with large window and no air in the stifling heat. The manager then offered us 2 bottles of J P Chenet bottles of wine. I had to sign a document which stated that “ by accepting these 2 bottles of wines I will not be claiming any compensation for the troubles we had on our arrival”.! This was demoralising and very petty. |There is one restaurant at this resort it is huge with no air conditioning and few working fans. When we went for our dinner we were not allowed to seat to where we liked we were told that these were reserved and showed us to table with no fan above and not near a window. So we had our dinner because we were exhausted. Next day we asked for a better table and after tipping we were showed to a table of our choice. We have visited numerous hotels and resorts all over the world but have never experienced such behaviour where the resort staff stipulate where we can sit. These table was assigned to us for the rest of our stay. The restaurant has minimal choice of food where you can find something to eat. The food is not refilled, no one checks and when you ask it takes about 10 minutes for it to be refilled. Couple of times we were told they have run out! This was not near closing time either. The deserts is bare minimum, they never refill fruit. The fruit offered is either water melon or pineapple nothing else. Till our 8 th day we were not aware that they served ice cream, we were told by another guest! We asked our waiter at lunch why we have never been offered icecream. he just smiled. We felt racially prejudiced because we saw other guests sitting wherever they liked. Out of frustration my husband did speak to the restaurant manager and things improved slightly. |On our last day we were sent a bill to settle before leaving so we went before dinner but at reception we were asked to come back after 8.30 pm? The reception is always empty. |On our return we were escorted from the boat at Gan airport to be checked in and were told that the representative will at Male to take us to international airport at Male for our return flight obviously he was NOT there so from our previous experience we made our way to international airport. |We were told that the resort is being bought by another company so hopefully there may be vast much needed improvements. |Be prepared for long journey and don’t expect the resort to make any extra effort without any monetary benefits. |I have made Blue Bay Travel aware of all the above, did get one response whilst there but...

This is a pretty nice resort and I admit that I'm a bit spoiled and have high expectations. This place fell short a bit.

Rooms: We did visit during rainy season (not their fault) but the problem was that our over water villa apparently had an electrical issue that caused us to lose all power during the rain. They came to fix it a few times to only disclose that there was a short somewhere that resulted in us randomly losing power again if we hit certain light switches. Ultimately, we were unable to use the outdoor deck lights in the back (the over water area) for the duration of our trip so we couldn't enjoy the ocean views or put our feet in the water at night. We requested to move villas...the request wasn't even acknowledged.

The mattresses are AWFUL. I had to take sleeping meds to sleep through the night because the beds are super hard, and you can feel the springs.

We had a lot of ants in our room and figured it was just normal due to nature but after speaking with other guests in the water villas, it was determined that it was just our villa.

Food: Breakfast was meh, lunch and dinner pretty good but there wasn't a ton of variety. Meal times are 0730 to 0900, noon30 til 1400, and 1900 to 2100. That's it. Room service is available 24/7 but nothing brought was good. Expect room service to be delivered on plates wrapped in foil with no salt/pepper/napkins/additional condiments.

Fun: If it happens to rain, it's expected that all excursions/water activities are canceled (of course!) but there is nothing offered I'm terms of entertainment on the resort. Fortunately, we brought UNO cards and had fun playing games and drinking with some other folks we met there.

The night entertainment was ok. Had a blast on sing a long night and on the Asian Night. Maldivian cultural night was elevator music and since we were already a bit tired, it made us sleepy so we tapped out early. After hearing about it from others the next day, we missed nothing.

Spa: AWESOME. Zero issues. It's beautiful, the staff is skilled and professional. I got a body scrub, massage, facial, and jacuzzi soak. A1 throughout! Prices were reasonable and my therapist, Citra, was fantastic.

They offer your services on the lake where the spa sits (you get to the platform on a little boat...so cute!) but I opted for the air conditioned spa room cause I'm a woman of a certain age and I didn't think I'd be comfy w/o AC. One of the people we met did the on the lake spa experience and loved it.

Service: Service was great, everything done with a smile. The bars are a bit slow, but otherwise service was prompt. It would be nice if the pool bar staff came to the pool to take orders but they dont...you have to get out of the pool and walk over to the bar about 20 yds to order your drinks. They do bring them to you, but do not put them in plastic cups even though they know you're at the pool and glass is not allowed.

All of the staff were friendly and welcoming so no complaints about them.

The Views: STUNNING. It's one of the most beautiful places we have traveled to. The views all over were gorgeous, especially high tide when most of the beach is covered. There is A LOT of dead coral on the beach so they are not walkable barefoot. You HAVE to have on shoes or you'll have cuts like crazy.

Snorkeling outside of our villa was great...I was a 1st time snorkeler and im hooked!! No complaints!

Overall, it's beautiful, relaxing atmosphere. Oh! Since we were there in the off season, there were no children so I don't know what that looks like. There is a children's area but I can't speak to what the overall vibe is if there are crumb snatchers present. The vibe was very laid back but you can kinda feel how secluded you are. Not a problem per se, but more could be offered in terms of on resort entertainment to liven it up a bit in common areas.

I will definitely go to Maldives again, but I would choose a different...

I do not know where to begin...first the all, I knew it would be problems when we had to look for the hotel associate at the airport for our plane transfer. They were not there with a sign like major resorts. Next, we missed an entire day of our stay because their transfer plane in Male leaves every 4 hours and even though I sent them travel plans and they were suppose to coordinate our transfer with those plans they did not. Also, when we finally landed on the island, another hotel associate meet us and had us walking in the dark for like a mile pulling our own luggage to get to the "speed boat" to get to the resort (on another island). I was assured the trip would be 15 minutes and it was more like 30-40 minutes. The captain of the boat was sailing full speed with no lights on at night. There are no life vests available. I knew things can only get worst when we finally got there (again, a day late) when I was checking into the resort and at the top of the resort agreement was a huge disclaimer saying that there's no refund for early check-out. I was thinking who would want to leave the Maldives. Well...me! Upon arrive, 12 AM Tuesday the kitchen and everything was closed! They did offer us "finger foods" but it was cold and not so good. There was no room service to order and no shops to get a snack. My fiancé was upset and both went to bed starving after 35 hours of travel. So here's the rundown: Food: The cafeteria, where the buffets are, have the most flies I have ever seen in my life! The chefs are bad, the food is bad and the window to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner is 3 hrs. each. AND, they charged us for soft drinks so the food is only included in the deal. The chefs cannot cook. I do not think they are really chefs. My omelet was runny and the meat/waffle/pancakes/hot wings were all undercooked. Also, there are mice and rats. I saw one come in where I was eating. The kitchen closes at 9 PM. There is no room service or anyway to get food until breakfast buffet in the morning. Room: The room was beautiful-well designed and comfortable; however, there were bugs. You are literally in the jungle/bushes. So we had spiders, flies, gnats, geckos, and ants in our room. We couldn't even leave our window open (we had the beach villa) to enjoy our patio or beach view. Also, there were a lot of crabs on the beach (and we saw rats in the nearby bushes) so we couldn't risk one getting in. Housekeeping did a very poor job of spraying for bugs and cleaning so we didn't use them and when they did clean ONCE they left our room open and we had to fight bugs and wildlife all over again. We kept our bags closed so we couldn't take "guests" home with us. I wanted to upgrade to the Over the beach villas but did not want to give them anymore of our money. Beach-The beach/location is beautiful. I saw baby sharks, sting rays and turtles but it has too many rocks. You have to find the right location to enter the water but it was so clear and blue and beautiful. Activities- My fiancé and I rented the jet skis. They only had 1 working during our stay so we had to take turns or share. It was cool only because the workers at the water sports shop are cool and gave us a discount but they only had 2 jet skis in total. We also we snorkeling. Again, they did not have any life vests. They put us in the middle of the ocean and the guide jumped out of the boat and swam out like 25 yards then told us to swim out to him. We saw nothing. We had a group of like 25 and half of our group, including me and my fiancé did not participate because of the gear we rented was defected. We still had to pay. The guide did not do a head count when we left or nothing and kids were working on the boat. We signed up for scuba diving for the following day and same thing defected equipment. A few of us were about to drown but yet no refund. They had something going on every night. It was loud and had me up. Staff: No one speaks...