Alila Kothaifaru Maldives — Hotel in North Maalhosmadulu

We embarked on a journey to the Alila Maldives with a group of 11 people for our destination wedding in April 2024. Choosing this hotel was an easy decision due to its stunning modern design and the allure of its private island, The Shack, which would serve as the enchanting venue for our wedding.||Our wedding planning began in November 2023, with numerous email/whatsapp exchanges as we meticulously coordinated the details of our special day, activities, and accommodations. The hotel's team proved to be highly responsive and informative, ensuring that our vision was brought to life.||Upon arriving in Male at night, we spent our first night in the city before embarking on an early morning seaplane journey. The Alila staff greeted us warmly at the airport and escorted us to the seaplane terminal. The thrill of flying over the Maldives on the seaplane was a breathtaking experience for all 11 of us, seeing the beautiful atolls and islands, especially for those who were visiting the Maldives for the first time.||Upon landing in Kothaifaru, we were met by the general manager, Thomas, and our dedicated villa host, Niya. They extended a warm welcome, offering us refreshing drinks and towels. Despite our early arrival, the hotel staff kindly provided us with our rooms immediately, ensuring our comfort and convenience.||The culinary experience at Alila surpassed our expectations. With a diverse range of food choices, each dish was a culinary delight. Being on the full board meal plan, we relished the amazing breakfast options, also we were allowed to select dinner menus during lunchtime. The Yatitori bar provided us with the best panoramic views, but our favorite dining experience was undoubtedly at Umami, where their exceptional Japanese cuisine left a lasting impression. We also indulged in the incredible teppanyaki menu and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of drink options, including fine wines and whiskey. The buffet dinners at Seasalt were equally remarkable, and we must commend Ned, Billy and the rest of the team for their outstanding service, their flexibility in customizing our menus, and ensuring our dining experiences were unforgettable.||The water villa rooms were truly extraordinary. From our deck, we could see the mesmerizing sunset, while the snorkeling directly from our room added an extra touch of adventure. There was a net where we could lie down and stargaze, and we could even turn on a light at night to attract sharks and fish to the villa at night. The villa's minimalist design exuded a sense of tranquility and provided a consistently clean and comfortable space for us to unwind.||Our wedding day unfolded on The Shack, a private island that had been meticulously prepared for the occasion. Initially our wedding dinner was planned on The Shack but due to soil erosion and high tide, we had to relocate the dinner to a private beach on the main island. Nonetheless, the wedding setting itself was nothing short of enchanting, it was the most romantic setting we had ever seen. Adorned with fresh flowers, with wooden door frames and flower-petaled central aisle, a tiered wedding cake and champagne. The Shack became a romantic haven with the accompaniment of traditional Maldivian drums, a celebrant, and a very lovely flower girl. The entire process was an adventure filled with romance and beauty. The wedding ceremony took place on the private island, surrounded by crystal-clear blue waters, beneath the golden hues of the sunset, against a backdrop of azure skies and wispy clouds. It was an idyllic venue for our dream wedding, we couldn't imagined a better venue. Following the ceremony, we returned to main island for additional wedding photos and enjoyed a memorable BBQ dinner on the private beach outside Pibati. The F&B team, led by Suwaid, did a fantastic job, meticulously decorating the dinner venue according to our wishes. The romantic seaside ambiance, complete with a slideshow of our photos, made the evening truly magical. The seafood served during the BBQ dinner was divine, and the band, although they couldn't perform all the songs we had requested, they delivered a wonderfully romantic performance, ensuring that everyone had a delightful time. My wife and I danced and sang the night away, creating memories that will last a lifetime. The photographer and videographer captured the entire wedding beautifully, providing us with a stunning album, and a three-minute video that perfectly encapsulated the romance of our special day.||During our stay, we also took part in a snorkeling excursion to a nearby atoll, where we marveled at the vibrant array of colorful fish. Our hopes were high when we went for the dolphin cruise, however, due to rough waters, we were unable to spot any dolphins. Nevertheless, we made the most of snorkeling around the hotel's house reef, encountering sharks, turtles, and arrays of stunning coral and colorful fish. The island itself felt like a natural paradise, with velvety soft sand and a captivating reef.||I want to give a special shout-out to Niya, our villa host, who played an instrumental role in ensuring that all 11 of us had a seamless and unforgettable experience. From organizing meals and activities to overseeing the wedding preparations, Niya's kindness and friendliness shone through. He also told us a lot of interesting things about the Maldives and even helped facilitate a beautiful proposal for my brother-in-law and his fiancée. Niya's attention to detail in decorating the proposal in the room was truly remarkable.||In conclusion, we wholeheartedly recommend Alila Maldives. The hotel's exquisite design, from its restaurants to its rooms, is like a living work of art. However, it is the genuine warmth and kindness of the entire staff that truly sets this hotel apart. From the smallest gestures, such as surprising us with flower-adorned baths after our snorkeling trips, decorating our beds with flowers after our wedding, to the thoughtful touches of replacing our Alila beach bag when it became soiled without us asking, the attention to detail made our stay truly exceptional. We would not hesitate to recommend this hotel to others and eagerly look forward to returning with our family...

Alila Kothaifaru is exceptional - in particular the property’s design and setting. The food and service on the whole doesn’t disappoint either. If you’re looking for a chilled seaside spoiling with jungle backdrop and a sense, at least for a few hours here and there, that you’re marooned alone on a slice of tropical paradise - this is a no-brainer. They manage to retain the barefoot luxury ethos across design dimensions (from zen raked sand roads (yup) and floors (eg in reception)) to a team that is both attentive and somehow laidback and seldom in your face. Seems also from a few conversations that they look after their staff well here - happy team: happy guests. ||Couple of specifics:||- Water villas are wonderful, if you’re looking for luxury / the quintessential Maldivian over-water experience but still want value, lagoon water villas are a good bet||- All inclusive is honestly worth it unless you’re very fussy about wine Food is of a consistently great quality thanks to Exec Chef Nguyen Minh Phuc, who occasionally makes a cameo appearance - if you’re a wine snob though, stick to the cocktails||- We spent a ton of time on the East of the Island (nearest to the water villas) - Yakitori bar is truly incredible - we had a lightish Japanese bbq lunch there every day with arguably too many cocktails (best cocktails on the island) - Chanaka rules the roost down that side and was a total legend||- Also on the East side is Umami - wonderful Japanese-inspired menu with great service / lots of thoughtful touches - best we’ve had in a resort on an all inclusive package. Manager, Billy, was hands-on and made us feel like locals, which we appreciated! Likewise, Nee was lovely and always came up to say hi and check-in.||- And the beach between the two (Umami and Yakitori) is the best area to sun / swim, especially for sundowners. Less kids and families on this side too if that’s not your vibe.||- On the West side, Mirus Bar is lovely and there are a couple of couches overlooking the beach to hide / play cards for an hour if you need to escape the midday heat - Sandip and Jordy were the dream team here and together delivered creative cocktails, catering to pretty much any whim with genuine warmth.||- Breakfast at Sea Salt is also gold-star level and no deviation from the menu is too much trouble. I was amazed by how quickly a-la-carte breakfast orders arrived. Billy was weirdly also at breakfast every morning after closing down dinner the night before - I hope the guy sleeps.||- General recommendations: 1. walk the beaches, we probably circumnavigated the island twice a day (was always surprised by how few people did) - the beaches are magic at sunrise and sunset and you’ll have them to yourselves and 2. bring a good pair of goggles and keep them at your water villa - the fish underneath you are worth a visit.||- The water sports / dive center is wonderful and the crew there was super attentive and passionate about the local marine life - I went on a couple of dives and it was worth it… if they will take you to the Labyrinth, that’s apparently the best site.||-We did what turned out to be a private champagne sundowner session at the Shack / Sandbank too - Jamin took great care of us even as we insisted on swimming to the now-apparently-temporarily-detached sandbank with champagne in hand and took a bunch of photos for us which was above and beyond ||- Only two things I wouldn’t recommend is the Local Island Tour (it’s literally a visit to a fairly non-descriptive administrative island with very little obvious history / culture and the obligatory awkward curio store visit… not a great spend of $250 for a couple). Only bonus was Grace (Alila’s new experience manager) who was on our trip and great to chat too (about things other than the dull island) - perhaps she will remove / change this one. Other thing to skip is the night diving trip (another $250 per couple that could be better spent on a good bottle of wine / spa treatment) - we were literally given a torch and asked to get in the water from the jetty just of the beach to swim along the not-amazing house reef for an hour, about 10 M away from the beach / bars we had spent all day on - I would not necessarily call this a “trip”.||— To end on a high note though - this is a property that really goes all in and makes you feel cared for from touchdown to departure. Massive thanks to our awesome host, Yoonus who was on hand 24/7 (including when our villa briefly lost power during a spectacular lightening storm… hope you’re lucky enough to catch one) and moved mountains to make sure we were never waiting around for anything. And also to Saajii who met us and looked after us between flights. And to all the behind the scenes folks, raking roads and manicuring the wild jungle and keeping the sleek aesthetic in the face of constant abuse from the elements. Too many folk to mention but 10-out-of-10 would recommend going to experience it...

I think this is the most challenging review I’ve written in my life, as some aspects of our holiday were amazing and others lacked a lot. In the end, I’ve decided to rate this 5 star due to the reasons I explain below. Nevertheless, I hope that Thomas and team will improve the hotel to become a better place. We’ve secured a good Black Friday offer when booking, hence opted out of all the meal packages. as they were not on sale at a time. This showed how most of the food/bar venues were designed around the packaging system, thus leaving us disappointed, especially in the SeaSalt restaurant. For example, themed nights were lacking variety and while I understand that the reason is likely the fact that 80% guests didn’t pay for it, we expected more for the price we were charged, especially on the Maldivian night. On the other hand, Umami, their premium restaurant surpassed our expectations and the staff there made our holiday special and memorable. In the end, we ended up going there 70-80% of the time. Teppanyaki was a gem too and the Chef was really entertaining and nice to talk to. Hotel houses roughly 80 rooms split by beach and water half and half. They are really large and greatly equipped coming with private pool. Rooms were one of the reason we chose the hotel in the first place and they didn’t disappoint. We stayed on the beach and this was a great decision, as water villas completely lack privacy: they are really close to each other and most of their interior can be easily seen from the beach. The service of the non-restaurant staff clearly needs improvement. We’ve started the discussions with the hotel around February, as we like to book food and spa in advance, however it was quite challenging to get Umami bookings in, as the reply was just “please just come by when you arrive”. Needless to say, the restaurant was quite full and we were glad we had everything pre-booked. We’ve also opted to participate in the Omakase night and Shack wine and dive experience on their private sandbank. It was confirmed, however when I’ve reached out to the hotel 2 weeks before arrival, I was told that both of these events are not held anymore. After investigation and actually arriving, We’ve realised that Omakase night didn’t have good reviews and Shack partially disappeared under the water. I’ve expected to be contacted with this update and reasons to be provided in the beginning without me actually complaining over email and asking staff on the island itself. Funny enough the day before the Shack cancelled booking, our Butler came to inform us about the change again. We’ve also tried to go to the Shack Sundowner, however it was cancelled due to the bad weather conditions and the butler tried to push us to a private Shack experiences that range form 1k to 3k (++), which we think is very overpriced for what you get. When we’ve arrived, our rooms were mixed with another couple. In the end, the butler just came and rushed us out saying “other guests are coming to your room” and no real apologies were given. The new room wasn’t cleaned again. One day, there was a severe rain at 7 am and I’ve had a dive scheduled at 8:15. When I’ve tried to call and check if it is actually happening, they told me “we don’t know, dive Center is closed”. They mixed up the country I am from twice and the butler confused our departure flight. The departure itself was not great as well, as we were delivered to Male 4 hours before our flight (which is normal for Maldives, I know) with no lounge or sitting access provided. When we asked airport stuff to at least take our luggage, they declined, so we had to just walk around. Spa was the best we’ve had on Maldives. You can’t earn points on treatments though.

In the end, it is so hard to give this hotel an appropriate rating. It has amazing rooms, great reef, food and a lot of potential. However the lack of staff training and attention for detail is noticeable and desperately needs improvements. For us, it is the Umami restaurant and romantic atmosphere that made this holiday perfect despite...