Anantara Maia Seychelles Villas — Hotel in Mahé

Our recent stay at Anantara Maia Seychelles pool Villa for a week. While the resort offers a stunning setting and some standout service, several aspects of our experience fell short of expectations for a luxury five-star resort.||The frustration began even before we arrived. I booked our villa three weeks prior to our stay, entered card details on the website to be paid in full and received a confirmation. However, a week later, I was sent an email demanding photocopies of the front and back of my card, our passports, and a strict seven-day window to fill out their forms and to send them back or the booking would be cancelled! This last-minute request was very unusual and stressful, especially as I was extremely busy in the run-up to our trip. Honestly, had I known this in advance, I would have booked another hotel. It immediately raised red flags and felt out of sync with a five-star experience.||On arrival, another small but disappointing detail: - my very first email to them we had requested a personalised welcome sign with our son’s name at airport pickup — a detail the hotel confirmed via email twice! Which they failed to! It may seem minor, but it was a missed opportunity to create a special welcome. Which was disappointing from the start and our mood little dropped. ||The villas are spacious, private, and clean, but they do feel slightly outdated and could use some modern upgrades to better reflect the premium pricing. Being in a forest setting, you will encounter tropical insects, lizards, and the occasional spider — mostly outside, but they did find their way indoors a few times. Thankfully, our butler promptly handled this whenever it happened.||The beach is pretty small , in the evenings becomes practically unusable due to the high tide — making it impossible to enjoy sunset strolls or time by the water after dark.||One of the most significant drawbacks was the food. With only one on-site restaurant and no buffet, the menu is fixed and very limited. Breakfast is a set menu - nothing outstanding on it, not buffet-style, and options are minimal — especially for children. Our son ended up eating chicken nuggets and chips nearly every day, with no fruit yogurts or other kid-friendly choices available. Overall, the food was very average and repetitive. In fact, on my wife’s birthday, we had to leave the hotel and dine elsewhere just to enjoy a special meal, which speaks volumes.||Adding to this, there’s no kids club, no evening entertainment, and no great excursions — making the resort feel quite uneventful, especially for families. After a few days, we began to feel bored, and in hindsight, wish we had split our week between two resorts.||Service-wise, the buggy system / communication needs improvement. On one evening, returning from another hotel, we waited nearly 10 minutes at the front gate for a buggy due to which seemed a miscommunication between security and drivers. We eventually began walking on our own before one arrived when they noticed us. Some of the buggy men were a little rude rushing us not considering there is a 1yr old on board. ||Despite these issues, there were some standout positives. The spa was excellent — the therapist was warm and professional. Most importantly, our butler was exceptional. He went above and beyond daily to ensure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. Without him, our stay would have felt a lot more frustrating. We were celebrating our babymoon, and we provided our envelope of our scan to him where he organised a beautiful gender reveal. It was thoughtful, emotional, and completely unforgettable — a memory we’ll always associate with this hotel and him.||Looking back, we wish we had split our week between two different resorts — two/ three nights here would have been enough. Anantara Maia has potential, but there’s a lot of work to be done in areas like food, family-friendliness, and guest experience if it’s to truly deliver a five-star luxury stay. For now, I could honestly only rate it a...

Our recent stay at Anantara Maia Seychelles pool Villa for a week. While the resort offers a stunning setting and some standout service, several aspects of our experience fell short of expectations for a luxury five-star resort.

The frustration began even before we arrived. I booked our villa three weeks prior to our stay, entered card details on the website to be paid in full and received a confirmation. However, a week later, I was sent an email demanding photocopies of the front and back of my card, our passports, and a strict seven-day window to fill out their forms and to send them back or the booking would be cancelled! This last-minute request was very unusual and stressful, especially as I was extremely busy in the run-up to our trip. Honestly, had I known this in advance, I would have booked another hotel. It immediately raised red flags and felt out of sync with a five-star experience.

On arrival, another small but disappointing detail: - my very first email to them we had requested a personalised welcome sign with our son’s name at airport pickup — a detail the hotel confirmed via email twice! Which they failed to! It may seem minor, but it was a missed opportunity to create a special welcome. Which was disappointing from the start and our mood little dropped.

The villas are spacious, private, and clean, but they do feel slightly outdated and could use some modern upgrades to better reflect the premium pricing. Being in a forest setting, you will encounter tropical insects, lizards, and the occasional spider — mostly outside, but they did find their way indoors a few times. Thankfully, our butler promptly handled this whenever it happened.

The beach is pretty small , in the evenings becomes practically unusable due to the high tide — making it impossible to enjoy sunset strolls or time by the water after dark.

One of the most significant drawbacks was the food. With only one on-site restaurant and no buffet, the menu is fixed and very limited. Breakfast is a set menu - nothing outstanding on it, not buffet-style, and options are minimal — especially for children. Our son ended up eating chicken nuggets and chips nearly every day, with no fruit yogurts or other kid-friendly choices available. Overall, the food was very average and repetitive. In fact, on my wife’s birthday, we had to leave the hotel and dine elsewhere just to enjoy a special meal, which speaks volumes.

Adding to this, there’s no kids club, no evening entertainment, and no great excursions — making the resort feel quite uneventful, especially for families. After a few days, we began to feel bored, and in hindsight, wish we had split our week between two resorts.

Service-wise, the buggy system / communication needs improvement. On one evening, returning from another hotel, we waited nearly 10 minutes at the front gate for a buggy due to which seemed a miscommunication between security and drivers. We eventually began walking on our own before one arrived when they noticed us. Some of the buggy men were a little rude rushing us not considering there is a 1yr old on board.

Despite these issues, there were some standout positives. The spa was excellent — the therapist was warm and professional. Most importantly, our butler was exceptional. He went above and beyond daily to ensure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. Without him, our stay would have felt a lot more frustrating. We were celebrating our babymoon, and we provided our envelope of our scan to him where he organised a beautiful gender reveal. It was thoughtful, emotional, and completely unforgettable — a memory we’ll always associate with this hotel and him.

Looking back, we wish we had split our week between two different resorts — two/ three nights here would have been enough. Anantara Maia has potential, but there’s a lot of work to be done in areas like food, family-friendliness, and guest experience if it’s to truly deliver a five-star luxury stay. For now, I could honestly only rate it a...

My husband and I stayed at Anantara Maia Seychelles Villas for our honeymoon and my birthday for a week from the end of May to early June. We had an amazing experience at the villas, as heavenly as Seychelles itself.

We want to express our sincere gratitude to our butler Anthon and the team who helped us out and made such a memorable experience for us. I am from China and my husband is from India; we chose Anantara to support an Asian brand, first of all. We live in London, recently moved from New York. Seychelles is an amazing destination not too far from us. We transferred at Dubai International Airport, and unfortunately, our first flight was late, so we missed the next one, which was 17 hours away. We messaged the villas, and they responded right away, checking whether we were okay and ensuring us the booking would remain as is, as we wished.

Once we arrived, we were warmly and sincerely welcomed by multiple staffs, and we directly checked into our villa while enjoying some fresh juice as a welcome drink. Our butler Anthon added us on Whatsapp so we could message him anything, anytime. On my birthday, Anthon surprised me with a floating breakfast, which was my first time ever experiencing this. It was a blessing to enjoy it in our private infinity pool while facing the sea. Anthon also arranged a special romantic dinner setting inside the hotel, with coconut trees surrounding us, little candles wrapped inside tree leaves, over a bridge with little ponds, romantic jazz music, with our salt-crusted fish and salad ordered, served at the exact time we wanted after enjoying the hotel for a full and chill day. I also received a surprising birthday gift from the villas - a cap with the hotel logo, exactly what I wished for my birthday, as the logo will remind me of our special memory here. And a few more gadgets that are useful like a glasses cleaning cloth, cable organizer, a bamboo handbag, and even straw hats! The villa’s ability to satisfy our needs even before we asked is what makes us feel it's worth staying here.

We spent half of our time simply enjoying hotel facilities like the spa, beach, swimming pools, taking buggies for fun, and making small conversations with the staffs. When we visited the country, our butler Anthon made sure the taxi was pre-arranged and gave us local tips on traveling anywhere, from booking ferry tickets to La Digue and Praslin, to where to see giant turtles.

We have to say the villa and the whole team exceeded our expectations - of course, you expect certain things in luxury hotels, but what impressed us the most is how effortless everything is under the care of everyone here, the exact reason why we picked it here. I am a professional traveler and I design trips for myself well, but this time I didn’t plan anything as planned, and I am very happy I made that decision. All the people we met on our trip, inside or outside the villas, seemed happy as no one was rushing in doing anything. Before we left the villas, we already started discussing which type of villas we will choose for the next time during our next stay here.

Our returning flight was late at midnight, and we got a complimentary extra half day to stay at the villa to be ready for our flight. When we left the villa, the team walked us out and smiled and waved at us to say goodbye, just like how they welcomed us in the first place.

We want to express our special thanks to our butler Anthon, the Director of Operations Anil Kumar, our taxi drivers Pat and Kelvin, and a few more staffs we don’t remember the names of including spa teams, buggy teams, front desks, the ladies who checked in and out for us, restaurant chefs and staffs, beach staffs, taxi drivers, and people who we randomly met at the villas and simply said hi to us. Thank you all for making our experience so special. I wish you all the best and I look forward to staying at Anantara Maia Seychelles Villas again...