Arena Veli Seaview — Hotel in Maafushi Island

Worst Hotel Experience of My Life

I had clearly informed the hotel via email about my boat timing. They were supposed to pick us and our luggage from the jetty with a car. However, when we arrived, every single passenger from the boat was picked up by their respective hotels—except us. No one from Arena showed up. We were left completely stranded. After waiting 15 minutes in the rain, I had to carry all the heavy luggage myself, walk, and search for the hotel.

Upon arrival, no welcome drinks whatsoever…. I asked the receptionist for an explanation for leaving us alone and not picking up, but they showed zero concern. Absolute unprofessionalism. They didn’t even bother to get back to me with any clarification.

The so-called “premium room” was probably the worst I’ve ever stayed in. The sea view was blocked by a massive wall on the right side. To make it worse, rainwater from the entire floor drained directly into our balcony, soaking all my clothes that I had hung out to dry. On top of that, the bed was extremely uncomfortable—the mattress had a huge gap in the middle, as if two single mattresses were simply pushed together and called a double bed. Also no proper soundproof and door has huge gap. And here’s what I cannot understand: why were we specifically given this worst possible room when other premium double rooms were clearly vacant?

The TV cable didn’t work either, so I even missed the live Arsenal vs Liverpool match.

The worst part came with the payment issue. In the evening, I specifically asked one receptionist if I could settle my dues in Maldivian Rufiyaa. She said yes and even quoted the total amount in Rufiyaa. Based on her confirmation, the next morning I converted my USD into Rufiyaa and went to pay. But another receptionist suddenly told me they only accept USD. I explained that I converted my money only because I was told I could pay in Rufiyaa. Her response? A robotic “We only take USD,” over and over again, with no care for the situation. At that point, I felt completely helpless.

This was a total management disaster—utterly disorganized, careless, and lacking even basic empathy.

Surprisingly, the room service and cleaning staff were more professional. The checkout receptionist and car transfer experience was better.

All of this made me wonder: does this happen to all foreigners, or do they treat brown people like us...

My stay at Arena Hotel was unpleasant from the start—immediately raising red flags. The root of the issues seemed to be disorganized management and poor communication among the staff, which led to multiple problems throughout my stay.

On the first day, we arrived and were told they still needed our details to complete registration. On top of that, the room wasn’t ready, and we were asked to wait for about an hour while they prepared it. Why, then, were our details and payment requested in advance?

The following day, we were scheduled for snorkeling, but the activity was canceled due to a lack of boats—an excuse that didn’t seem acceptable. We rescheduled for the third day, but during the activity, no effort was made to provide clear explanations. Additionally, the candlelight dinner we had planned was canceled because it wasn't in the system, even though we had confirmed the itinerary with the manager on the first day to ensure everything was aligned. How could this have been overlooked?

The manager also seemed ineffective in addressing the issues after we raised our concerns. On top of all this, the building lacked proper soundproofing, which further disrupted the experience. Given these various issues, I would not recommend this hotel...

Extremely poor customer service.

Firstly, the boat arranged for 9am arrived at 8.45am to the pickup location, dropped off 1 person and left. We had to call multiple times over 30 minutes to get a hold of anyone to ask what is going on, and the boat eventually came back to pick us up past 9.30am. Travelling with a baby, this was a major inconvenience that did not help with the schedule we had planned.

Secondly, upon arriving we had been asked to wait in the lobby while they “prepare the rooms”. What happened to our booking? Why were our rooms not prepared by the time we arrived on their in house boat? They said one of the rooms will not even be ready until 2pm! This makes no sense whatsoever and I am extremely dissatisfied with the service and organisation of this business. Oh and guess what? Their boat picking us up late has now delayed our arrival past their breakfast cut off time of 10am which is the only meal included in our package....