OBLU SELECT Lobigili — Hotel in Malé Atoll

It’s incredibly hard to put Oblu select lobigili experience into words but the first word I would think of is perfection. We are homesick having spent the first two weeks of December in the Maldives and on our return back to the UK, we keep thinking of the incredible people and friends we have made at the resort. From the moment we came out of the airport to the moment we got back to the airport, everything is looked after for you. The boat ride offers chocolates, a cold towel and a bottle of water of which when you reach the resort, you’re greeted by Jennet the wonderful and talented saxophone player alongside the team at lobigili. You receive your own island hostess/butler and they show you around and make you feel super comfortable. We feel so lucky to have met Ruchika who throughout our entire stay ensured we were looked after, our needs were met, no request was too much and who offered us countless lifts to breakfast, lunch and dinner in the buggy. Ruchika is a kind and smart human who genuinely made our stay full of happiness and smiles; she is super hard working especially after we came to know how many people she is the island host for. Her poor phone was forever pinging away but she always kept on top of every single request. Our entire island stay would never have been the same without her! We genuinely miss her everyday and think of her often and if you’re lucky enough to have her, know that you will not go without! ||The breakfast, lunches and dinner have such incredible options that you are never short on food or bored of the variety. The food is Michelin standard and plated so beautifully every single time though I’d encourage the staff to use slightly smaller plates so we can fit all the delicious food on the tables. The chef’s are constantly thinking of new dishes, they are full of innovation and there is a daily menu on rotation at dinner. Breakfast and lunch is a mixture of buffet and table service and the drinks and desserts are so delicious. The underwater restaurant is also such an amazing experience having seen the black tip reef shark there several times but our heart lay with the ylang ylang restaurant as we looked forward to seeing the staff there everyday. Though my review seems to be more around the staff than just the island, it’s because we still cannot get over the kindness and happiness of the staff and how amazing they made us feel daily. It must be incredibly hard to be constantly switched on for all the guests to forever show them a constant stream of humility, smiles, relatability, genuineness, happiness but all of the staff manage exactly that! ||Chef Gede and Chef Aamir, Chef Padam and the kind chef at Gaadiya (Chef Sharma) have gone out of their way to ensure we have been constantly spoilt; from sharing their lotus stem recipe and granola bars recipe to providing us with the most incredible sushi on our last lunch; to ensuring that though I couldn’t handle the spice levels, by personally coming to speak to us as well as letting us know that they could make anything we’d like; we felt so tended to. They are incredibly humble, good hearted and accommodating that this must be what royalty must feel like! ||How can I even put into words what Rachelle meant to us; we formed a close friendship with her where she felt like our relation rather than just a staff member. Her warm and affectionate personality felt like she was almost like our mum from a totally different life! Her genuineness, thoughtfulness and honesty as well as how incredibly hard working and personable she is helped us easily adore her to bits! She always ensured again we were looked after and we absolutely loved spending our time having a good old natter with her, we miss her deeply! Her empathy and energy as well as her sincerity tells us about the incredible human she truly is; lobigili is lucky to have her! ||To continue about the resort for a minute, the entire island is walkable, though buggy rides are easily available upon request from your island host, there is a daily activity calendar on rotation where numerous activities are available for you to attend, a wonderful scenic and well equipped gym for you to visit too should you want to digest some of the incredible food you will consume on this holiday! The room itself is beautiful and clean and well stocked; a stocked mini bar with alcoholic beverages as well as nuts, chocolate and crisps awaits you, hats and gowns and slippers and flip flops are provided in the room, the bathroom amenities are well provided including natural insect repellent, sunscreen, loofah, shampoo and shower gels, etc. There is a daily room servicing and cleaning as well as a turn down service every evening (Asrid/Astrid maintained ours beautifully and left us chocolates on most days), outside the room is a pot full of water and a scoop allowing you to wash your feet off any dirt or sand. The beach towels and daily towels are always provided and if you have a water villa, there is a hose to wash you down before and after entering the sea. We also noticed divers often coming to clean the steps of any algae and maintain the outsides of the villas immaculately too. ||The water sports available if going all inclusive include snorkelling gear and fins, life jackets, paddle boarding and kayaks. You can jet ski for a fee and there are daily excursions available as well as a dive centre on the neighbouring island which I highly recommend. We enjoyed our introductory dive very much and would have loved to do more had we more time as 2 weeks on this island simply wasn’t enough! ||My husband planned a surprise romantic dinner one evening and roped all the staff into helping to keep it a secret, having scoped out a location with Mr. Sumeda as he wanted to ensure it was private, the staff went out of their way to ensure the food was continuously provided to that location. The staff also provided us with the lobster as we were missing out on the lobster dinner which was such a wonderful touch to an already exceptional evening. Which leads me to talk about Mr. Sumeda. What a wonderful, kind hearted, serious but not so serious, incredible manager and leader this island has. On meeting him we knew he would be lovely but as the friendship developed over the course of our stay, the more we felt Mr. Sumeda was professional yet a witty, authentic, attentive, compassionate human who should definitely be treasured. His love and affection for his staff as well as ensuring everything runs smoothly doesn’t go unnoticed. He is charismatic as well as diligent ensuring that if it was too busy, he would happily help his staff with all the jobs, no job was too much for him. There are a rare few people we meet in life that we connect with so well, Mr Sumeda should be cherished by lobigili, our stay would never have been the same without him; we also miss him immensely! ||If you choose to visit here, you will meet Messi, who is super smiley with the most incredible teeth and smile but more importantly, full of happiness and kindness, you will bump into Teju who is super cheeky, she reminded us a lot of a naughty sibling but in the most affectionate of ways, you will meet Alpi, who somehow always persuaded my husband to drink endless cocktails and giggled along with us about anything and everything; she is definitely like a younger sibling, cheeky and smart but adorable. You will bump into Jenny and Rada and Patrice, all of which are incredible hard working and friendly and deliver to the highest of standards; we called Patrice our ray of sunshine as her laughter and smiles were cherished by us daily! ||How could we forget Lana?! She is a beautiful, caring, sincere, compassionate human who there are not enough words to describe her, she is attentive and constantly also ensured we were cared for and we loved seeing her and speaking to her every single day, she is truly missed too! ||If you choose to have a massage then Nuit is a wonderful masseuse; my husband kept going back to her repeatedly as she would put him to sleep in every massage; he said it was the best massage he had ever had! ||In terms of improvements this island could consider to help enhance the already wonderful experience offered to everyone are as follows; ||- It is no secret that having experienced the incredibly hard working staff, it was easy to see some members who didn’t pull their weight. Sephora and the guitar player (the lobigili duo) didn’t seem to work their complete shifts and spoilt a surprise my husband was trying to plan in relation to songs; Sephora has a beautiful voice and sings incredibly well but the range of songs they know or can play on request are limited. In contrast, the saxophone player Jennet managed to master a special song to us on the same day just by practicing where as Sephora outright refused to even try playing a song stating they were focusing on Christmas songs only; if they dedicated themselves to providing the same experience the island staff do for their guests, I think they would be more appreciated especially as they work less hours yet take the most breaks. ||- The island DJ plays the same genre of music every evening which we considered was slightly too loud for us as we could hear it all the way in the water villas; a change in genre and reconsidering the volume and times the music is played until would help the experience be more pleasurable for the guests. ||- A variety of activities are available for the guests but the quality of experiences such as acupressure classes or Lobi massage workshop which was led by Ching were not considered informative nor did they last the intended time stated. By ensuring the activities are of a higher quality and led by more experienced staff would enhance the experience for the guests too. ||These suggestions didn’t affect our stay or opinion of the resort, we would come back in a heartbeat. The resort is like a family you are coming to visit which feels like a home away from your home. Every single thing is worth every moment of your time, the white sandy beaches and incredible marine life alongside the experience, food and drinks you will consume and memories you will make make this island as special as it is; we came hoping for a wonderful honeymoon but left feeling sad and genuinely shed tears as we left in the boat to return home. Life in the UK doesn’t compare to the memories and relations we made at this resort, if you are hesitating then look no further, as if we could, we would be back here tomorrow. We are grateful this was an adults only resort and we never once felt bored. We only wish we could have stayed even longer than 2 weeks, but on reflection even forever wouldn’t be enough. We would like to thank the staff at Lobigili for making our stay so much of an incredible one that we are unsure if any holiday will ever be as good as this ever again. The standards have been set to so high that perhaps Maldives really truly now has our heart alongside all the distinguished, joyful staff we have had the pleasure to encounter. We would also like to thank the staff alongside Mr Sumeda who organised us a surprise goodbye on the beach on our last night and a beautiful, luxurious cake which left us full of emotions as well as the prettiest crown made by Alpi. We could not have felt more special and wish we could express our gratitude and love enough to the friends we have made there in all the staff; the resort does the littlest of things so well that even a review can not cover it in its entirety. We miss you Lobigili and we will...

The Maldives being on our bucket list warranted a visit to this resort. Always a dream had now morphed into a reality.||From the airport pick up to the boat trip (15mins) to the island was seamless although a bumpy ride due to the sea state.||On arrival we were met with much fanfare with a sax player and a rose for the ladies, welcoming couples to this adult only island.||Waiting in the wings was our indefatigable, unflappable and amazing Sam, our island hostess for our stay, who checked us in seamlessly and was our go to person for our stay at Lobigili and who looked after all our needs and kept us informed on a daily basis on the various events and activities taking place via WhatsApp.||After a quick buggy tour of the resort with Sam we were deposited at our Over Water Villa with luggage already in place in the room.||Our villa was serviced twice daily by our efficient Natalie who kept it spic and span with absolutely no complaints from us. Her birthday decoration that adorned our bed was exquisite and the attention to detail incredible. ||The in villa bar is replenished each day with wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks so you will not die of thirst or miss out on something to snack on.||There are numerous posts relating to this resort which cover nearly every aspect of your stay so I will not repeat what has already been spoken of in the various reviews especially regarding the beautiful water villas and their appointments.||Suffice to say you will want for nought in terms of drinks (alcoholic/non-alcoholic) and food and anything else your heart desires at this resort...it has it all.||The staff from restaurant, gym, spa, bar, gardening, security, house keeping etc, etc are all very customer focused and welcoming with a broad and warm smile at every meeting.||The Lobi Plan which is all inclusive also includes a meal at the underwater restaurant Only Blu. This is free for guests who stay for over 4 nights and is a unique experience likened to dining in an aquarium as there are all manner of tropical fish and black tipped reef sharks who look in from time to time. Highly recommend it.||The connected sister island Ailafushi is a family oriented resort where guests from Lobigili can frequent and partake in food, drinks and activities but not the other way around. Access to Lobigili is strictly enforced!||Snorkelling is available at the various beaches and rock pools and a free Snorkelling excursion is included in the Lobi plan. Sadly on the last day the included house reef snorkelling event was cancelled due to lack of numbers. From a management perspective this was understandable as it is not economic to have a dive boat and crew cater to a single guest! C'est la vie!||However, what more can I say. Our entire stay was enjoyable, relaxing and amazing.|| Now to the resorts greatest assets........the staff who to mention all by name would be nigh on impossible. In their own special ways they all provided exemplary service and teamed together to provide a top notch experience.||Special mention to Sapna, Svetlana, Elin, Teju, Indira, Setal,Raksha,Irena, Novita in Ylang Ylang who made my birthday celebrations extend over two days. Thank you. To Sachin at the Indian station at Ylang Ylang thank you for my dosas for breakfast and your informative cooking class. If I have missed anyone my sincerest apologies you all are a great team.||To Chatura in the Swing Bar ably supported by Maya et al you both have a bright future ahead of you. Goes without saying that Sam and Natalie are included in this elite company. Together, you have afforded me the best birthday ever!!||Around the grounds I am sure there are lots of small improvements possible but I believe between management and staff the new ideas and strategies are well in hand and will go a long way towards enhancing the beauty and luxury of Lobigili.||My post may appear disjointed as I have been updating it daily during our 7 night stay. However, it covers all the salient points which impacted us...

2212 Amazing Resort and Staff!!! Review of OBLU SELECT Lobigili Pending review

We spent our honeymoon (12 nights) at Lobigili and our expectations were far exceeded by the amazing staff and service at this resort. The airport pickup was easy and fast. The amazing part of this resort, the staff. We met our island hostess, Kate, who was fabulous and went above and beyond to make sure that our stay was great. She made our reservations to all of the restaurants, she booked all of our excursions, every morning she would send us reminders on the activities that were happening on the island and pretty much exceeded our expectations. She also organized a honeymoon dinner as well, which was great.

If you can request Kate as your hostess, please do, she will not disappoint. She also surprised us with a private cooking class on how to make their butter chicken with one of their chefs because they heard me rave and talk about how great it was, the management here (Alex) and our hostess really listen to you and they go out of their way to make sure your stay is excellent.

The food was delicious at their main restaurant Ylang Ylang, breakfast and lunch had food stations in which you can order a variety of dishes. The Indian and Asian food at Ylang Ylang is amazing!!

The underwater restaurant was definitely one of our highlights of this trip, we were able to dine there 3 times, the first time was dinner and the other two were for lunch. The experience was magical, the staff (Rahab) were extremely attentive. The food was so good!! We highly, highly recommend the underwater restaurant. The food truck is also very good, their menu is small but everything was delicious. I had their tiger prawns twice, which by the way were the biggest prawns I've ever seen and were cooked to perfection!

Now to what really makes this resort so special is the staff. The staff here are wonderful, attentive, personable and will go out of their way to get you what you want and need. We want to thank especially the staff at Ylang Ylang, Julia, Rachelle, Citra, Ivy, Sapna, Naahil, (and others I forgot their names), but pretty much all the staff were great, funny and we had some really great conversations with all of them. Let's just say it felt great to be able to build relationships with the staff, it does make a difference, so definitely get to know them if you can, they have some great stories to tell and they work so hard that they all deserve to be commended.

The resort has a bar by the pool called the Swing Bar, also had some amazing staff there that are extremely attentive, they know what you like and they will make you drinks that are not on the menu, I had one of the bartenders always surprise with a drink every day and they were all great. I want to especially highlight Sara (bartender), Divya (bar staff), Scothy (bartender), and Bishnu. All are wonderful but Sara and Divya were just amazing, funny, personable and went our of their way to make sure we had a good time. For example, on our last day Sara and Divya gave us some beautiful flowers and a few shots before heading to the airport, it was one of the sweetest gestures.

We stayed in an overwater villa and it was great, spacious and we were able to snorkel from our villa, they provide the life jackets, fins and snorkel gear throughout your stay. They also provide hats, flip flops, mini bar, toiletries (lotion, shower gel, insect repellent cream, shampoo and conditioner). They clean your room twice a day, thanks to Shraddah and her team. We also had 3 spa services at Elena Spa that was included with our stay and the ladies at the spa are very good at what they do, we would like to thank Engi, Nui, Ching and Dayi who gave amazing massages.

Overall, we highly recommend Oblu Select Lobigili, you will not be disappointed with their service, staff and food. All were top notch, especially the staff who day after day provided the same high quality impeccable service and made our honeymoon that much...