After two extensive stays at the Hard Rock Hotel Maldives, one in 2022 and one in 2023, I feel I have a comprehensive idea of the offering here and can offer an understanding of the positives and Read MoreAfter two extensive stays at the Hard Rock Hotel Maldives, one in 2022 and one in 2023, I feel I have a comprehensive idea of the offering here and can offer an understanding of the positives and negatives of a holiday at the HRM.
My idea of this place is almost overwhelmingly positive, as evidenced by my decision to return for a second stay this year. I may well return next year: it’s really a delightful holiday and aside from a few things I might alter if it were me managing the resort, almost everything was well organised, well-kept, well thought through and high quality.
I’ll run through the resort in some detail in several categories:
1. TRANSFER.
Having stayed in several locations in the Maldives, the transfer to HRM is second to none. You’re in the resort within an hour of landing in Male, and the boat staff are helpful and hands-on in terms of handling baggage and tagging baggage efficiently for transport to rooms.
It’s wonderful to land and just have everything handled for you; having no sea plane is also just a joy, since I don’t love small planes and by the time I got to Male I was sick of travelling. No sea plane also means that you don’t have any weight restrictions on luggage.
Check-in was swift and efficient and we were taken by buggy to our rooms and given welcome drinks.
2. Rooms
The rooms themselves are lovely, with gorgeous bathroom with a separate bath and shower, and the most beautiful double sink area I’ve ever seen. Towels are replaced twice a day and you are provided with outside towels for use after being in the sea outside your villa.
There is no desk provided but we did request one be brought and a table was set up to the right of the bed.
The beds are spacious and very comfortable, and a truckle bed can be made up on what is otherwise a sofa area.
A kettle is provided and unlimited tea and instant coffee. The Diamond villas get a Nespresso machine.
A comprehensive mini bar is more than enough and unlimited bottled water is provided.
I would have liked a little more storage space for clothing or at least more hangers, as I had many dresses for a 2 week stay!
What you get for not taking a sea plane is a short transfer but also a view of Male, which isn’t the most beautiful. Within a day, though, you just don’t really see it any more and it didn’t bother me at all.
We chose an overwater villa facing Male which is cheaper than the ‘platinum overwater villa’ which faces away. You have a choice of a pool or a hammock, with various price points. We have done both and think that the hammock is better value, but that may vary from person to person. There are three pools on the property so an in-room pool was not a priority for us.
We also greatly preferred staying on the South jetty rather than the North: if you could arrange that I would recommend it, as it is much closer to most of the facilities, especially breakfast, and to the bridge which connects to SAii and the Marina.
Each room is provided with 2 bikes, which are massively helpful: we biked almost everywhere. There is also an efficient buggy service which we used in the evenings when we didn’t want to cycle after a few drinks!
3. Food
The culinary offering of the resort is really its main selling point for us, and is far better than anything we’ve ever experienced elsewhere. It’s truly world-class food.
We plumped for the premium all-inclusive, which allows you access to 9 restaurants with unlimited options, and 3 more with a $50 credit per person. Beverages are high quality and truly unlimited and the cocktail menu is extensive. You also have access to sundown drinks and canapés every day as well as several other benefits: in-villa breakfast, a free t-shirt, a Shisha pipe session, an afternoon tea, 10pc free laundry, and a 1-time mini bar which is really impressive: full sized bottles of spirits, crisps, chocolates, soft drinks, beers and wines all included. We also received a voucher for a free bottle of wine from the wine shop, ‘the vault’, which was much appreciated. You also get a floating fruit tray if you are in the pool villa.
My one criticism is that the mini bar is re-stocked every day and you have to remember what you have and haven’t had yet: this comes across as a little sneaky IMO as it’s quite easy to forget, for instance, which flavour of iced tea you’ve already had and accidentally spend $6.
A rundown of all the resultants on the island:
1- SESSIONS
This is where breakfast for Hard Rock is located. The breakfast buffet is second to none with all the things you’d expect, and egg, omelette and crepe stations. Lovely little shots of juice are a great addition (think ginger shots, but varied each day) and barista-made coffee options available too. Cava is available though we never indulged! Open 7-10:30, the breakfast is just fantastic.
We never tried their a la carte offering as we felt there were more interesting options on the island, so I can’t comment on that. The evening buffets, though, were world class. The fish market buffet in particular was one of the best buffets I’ve ever been to: a massive sushi selection, freshly barbecued fish and prawns to order, a wide selection of other dishes and great music and dancing alongside. Thoroughly recommend! They also have a pizza pasta night and a steak night which we didn’t try, as well as international and Latin BBQ nights which looked amazing when we scoped them out.
2 - Elephant and Butterfly
The other restaurant on the Hard Rock side of the island, Elephant and Butterfly, serves Mexican-Inspired cuisine. We only went once, for lunch, but it was very tasty food and fantastic service. There were also some samba dancers there that day which was very good! We did spend a lot of time there in the evenings having drinks, though, as it is next to the Hard Rock Pool, and they have a great cocktail selection and Shisha available too.
My only slight niggle is that the music isn’t always right: sometimes you can hear music from the pool/sessions area which clashes with the E&B music, but on one occasion we asked for this to be rectified and it was dealt with. Just seems like a bit of an oversight. But we definitely don’t expect the Hard Rock Hotel to be quiet!
3 - The Hard Rock Cafe
Strangely enough this isn’t located in the HR side of the island but rather in the ‘Marina’ and I can understand why, as I’m sure they want day visitors to find it.
We never ate here as it’s not really our sort of food, but have heard great reviews from other guests. However, we came for drinks after dinner almost every night, as it’s open late (1AM) and you can sit outside on the beach.
The cocktails here are the best on the island, and I particularly recommend the Rockin’ Fresh Rita and the Rhythm and Rosé Mule. To die for!
We also had a fun and memorable karaoke night here, and while I do wonder if there ought to be a system in place to stop people getting up and butchering American Pie for EIGHT minutes, it was generally well managed and a whole load of fun!!!
4 - Miss Olive Oyl
Now we’re on to the restaurants in the ‘Beach Club’ area which is now owned by SAii hotel (having previously been owned by Crossroads as far as I can tell), and which as been a real improvement since we were here last year.
Miss Olive Oyl has moved from its previous location in the SAii pool area to the Beach Club, and has been replaced in its previous location by Terra and Mar.
Miss Olive Oyl is a Mediterranean restaurant and offers a lunch buffet and an a la Carte dinner, as well as several buffet evenings. The food is exemplary for the a la carte, though buffet-style lunch is a little sparse (though it is a cheaper option in terms of the restaurants so I understand that). I do miss the previous MOOyl lunch menu, which was fantastic, but I understand this change. All in all a good option.
5 - Mr Tom Yam.
MTY has also moved from what was a sun trapped area of SAii to this buzzing location. It is now effectively a pool bar and serves light, summery Italian-Asian fusion dishes, Pizza, Pasta, fish and sandwiches.
One of my favourite menus on the island, I particularly recommend the Poké bowl and the Nasi Goreng, which were both to die for.
If I would have one criticism it gets slightly too hot there. They have umbrellas but something fixed would work better. There is also no easy way to find out if there will be club-style music going on around you, which is distracting or overwhelming to many people who just want a pool-side relaxed meal.
Fantastic cocktail menu and gorgeous at night with the beautiful pool lit up. The pool also has a swim-up bar and it is worth mentioning Aditya who is just one of the most friendly and helpful staff we encountered. Just always went above and beyond, I was really impressed.
6 - Kinkao (Thai)
Moving on to restaurants in the Marina area.
This Thai restaurant is second to none. Seriously. Go here. Amazing staff, delicious food, great atmosphere, beautiful at night to sit outside, what’s not to love?!
I recommend the Salmon Zaab and the soups. Just divine. Order things less spicy than you think, they do not mess around with spice!!
7 - Kebab and Kurry (Indian)
Again, just top class curry. I think I could throw a dart at this menu and I’d love whatever I ordered.
Special mention to a waiter whose name I wish I could remember who has a superhuman ability to remember 6+ complicated orders. How does he do that?! Incredible!
8 - Jao Wu (Chinese)
Not as fantastic as the other two but still a really decent Chinese. I think perhaps I just ordered badly, because I didn’t love one of the dishes.
I think they may benefit from a selection appetiser platter but that might just be the Brit in me.
Staff are incredible though and the Beach BBQ they throw on Fridays is an absolute MUST: fresh cooked meat, dim sum platters, crepe station, delicious.
9 - Miss Olive Oyl pool bar
This is the Pool Bar for the SAii pool. A bit confusing to have it named the same as MOOyl, but I do wonder if they intend to move it back and haven’t changed the branding.
Really good food, the occasional shwarma station, good pizzas, sandwiches, wraps etc. some salads too.
NOT great if you’re gluten free, but with Terra & Mar just next door we just popped there most of the time with our gluten free family member, and the salads were GF.
10 - Terra & Mar
Probably our favourite restaurant in the resort, but it’s hard to tell if it’s the food or the incredible service! The food is delicious, classic surf&turf with a grill in the evening and a whole range of options. Lots of menu items that require supplements, but I can understand that: there’s a lot of lobster etc on the menu.
The beef carpaccio is the best dish in the resort IMO, and the grilled prawns are just delicious.
A massive, massive thanks to Mohammed who was our absolute favourite waiter on the island, always so friendly and upbeat and very, very knowledgeable. It was to the point where we would eat elsewhere if he wasn’t on duty - he was just fantastic and so helpful.
11, 12, 13 - Ministry of Crab, (Sri Lankan) Carpe Diem (Steak) and Nihonbashi Blue (Japanese)
These three are not included in the all inclusive, but you do receive $50 credit per person for dinner. We only went to Nigonbashi Blue but we were really impressed - they weren’t pushy about us spending any more, and the $50 went a long way. The sushi was second to none.
If I had a suggestion it would be to better advertise the option for a $50 meal, because we had previously been put off by seeing some of the higher prices on the menu. I just think we’d have gone there sooner if it had been made clear that we could eat there quite easily. You get 30% off beverages too.
Allergies
Generally the resort has been fantastic in terms of the two in our party with serious allergens - the information was circulated widely so restaurants already knew before we were there and had very reassuring allergen lists. My only critique is that the menus could be a bit clearer: in Mr Tom Yam, for example there are a list of symbols at the base of the page but none on the actual menu, and some menus have no allergen markings at all. With the new digital menu QR codes I feel it would be easy to implement better allergen markings. Other than that I cannot fault it here: we’ve have over 60 meals here without a single incident.
4. Facilities
The resort is split into three sections: Hard Rock, SAii, and The Marina. Each has its own pool and a distinct vibe: the Beach Club Pool at the Marina has a young, playful vibe while SAii is far more relaxed and refined. Hard Rock is good fun with lots of activities and a slide, as well as lots of music.
The gym, Body Rock, is well equipped, though the AC temperature is set too high IMO: doing a long running workout on the treadmill left us sweating buckets. We did turn it down but it was increased again overnight.
The Rock Spa is divine and well worth a visit. Special mention to Naiomi who was just fantastic. I was impressed that they didn’t try to upsell at all, and offered free mini massages after breakfast which were lovely!
The bikes provided are fab but do get stolen if you don’t lock them up, so definitely do that. They are always returned to you the next day, though. A few are a little rusty but the bike maintenance team are quick and efficient.
The water sports centre is well equipped, if expensive. They offer free kayaking but always insist on a double kayak, even if you are alone, which is slightly frustrating. The main man seems a little frustrated or surly with having to deal with tourists rather than serious divers etc, but not to an extent that was irritating - if anything it just made visible the generally happy and positive attitude in the rest of the staff on the island.
I don’t know much about the kids’ club but it looks extensive and well looked after.
The Marina has a Shisha lounge, coffee shops, galleries, shops, and its own spa. Some of the currently closed buildings look a little run down but this is largely due to the boarding up of the doors. Street Markets and events help the area to seem alive. The toilet facilities in the resort are universally clean, air conditioned and well-maintained. It feels like the Marina is still an area waiting to come into its own as it was closed early on during COVID and hasn’t found its feet yet - it feels a little too empty.
Everything is generally very clean although a few places could do with touch ups: notably the steps up to the slide in the Hard Rock pool which look particularly tired and dirty, likely because it has children running up it all day.
You do not have access to SAii activities, which is frustrating because they are far better than the Hard Rock ones: adult craft, painting, and henna tattoo, for example, and table tennis tournaments, etc. Good activities at Hard Rock are reserved for the children.
Information isn’t particularly easy to access. There is a board with activities every day at breakfast, and the televisions in the room have some information but the software is clunky and unintuitive. It’s also hard to reach reception if not in your room, and hard for them to reach you.
You are also slightly bombarded with information during checkin, and it’s hard to understand it all when you’ve just got off the plane and all you want is to go to your room and unpack.
In an ideal world I would love to see an app with the ability to contact reception/departments, as well as to be able to book meals and view activities and events, and to view vouchers and information. It’s hard to know what is going on otherwise, and it seems to me that this would free up employee time as well as make the experience less clunky overall. I believe that SAii have an app which would be good.
Wi-Fi access is excellent and extensive, which is great because data prices are extortionate on British networks!
We had a birthday in our family during our stay - it could not have been more special! Every restaurant we visited knew and brought cake or something special, and we had the most gorgeous towel animals on our bed when we got back to the room.
Overall though, I will definitely be staying at Hard Rock Hotel Maldives again. The restaurants and facilities are second to none, and everything is clean, well-maintained and thought through. The service literally could not be better or more helpful: as I said, special mention to Naiomi, Aditya, and Mohammed for making our trip so special. Read Less
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