It was a friend who put the Park Hyatt Maldives on my radar, so I booked to stay 4 nights in April 2019 when my original booking had to cancel because they weren’t going to be opened on time (The Baglioni Resort).  It was to be the first leg of a 2 island visit and the 2nd one was going to be pretty expensive, so I wanted to see what I could get at a lower price point. The Park Hyatt seemed to offer everything I was looking for, at a reasonable/competitive price, but even though it only has 50 villas, it is part of a very large chain my expectations were not set too high. Several Tripadvisor reviews told me it was a popular destination for Hyatt loyalty programme members to ‘spend’ their points, which made me wary the hotel might not really put the same effort in as they would for full-fare paying guests.  But the reality was that the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa was a superb little island resort, to which I would gladly return one day.

Hadahaa island is in the far south of the Maldives, just 55km from the Equator (zero degrees, 30 minutes North is its latitude). It lies in the less developed Gaafu Alifu Atoll, so at night you don’t see any other resorts illuminating the dark, star-filled skies. Hadahaa is reached by taking a 60 minute domestic flight from Male to Kuuddoo Island, where we were met by resort representatives who took us on an electric buggy to a jetty 2 minutes away, for a 30 minute speedboat journey to the resort’s arrivals jetty.

We were warmly welcomed and escorted along the jetty, where you can often see baby reef sharks stalking the bait fish, in the midst of the most amazingly beautifully coloured crystal-clear ocean.   We were ‘checked in’ at “The Dhoni”, a public space below a large inverted Dhoni, the traditional fishing boats from these parts, then given a short tour of the island before being taken to our villa.

Our villa, number 28, is on the southern side of the island, about 5 minutes walk to the restaurants, the bar, the spa and the dive centre. The location was just perfect, particularly because upon stepping into the ocean at the foot of our garden we could snorkel above some quite impressive coral outcrops.  And just round the corner is the “Dawn Jetty” which has very good snorkelling over the house reef.

Along with all the other buildings on the resort, the villa was designed by renowned Singapore-based architect Soo K Chan. It is unashamedly stylish and contemporary and has two glass walls leading to the wood-decked terrace (hidden sliding panels act as curtains at night-time). The terrace (with table and chairs) leads to a soft sandy path through a small jungle of trees, and the beach.

Behind the bed was the first bathroom with a toilet (only human effluent to be flushed down, a waste bin is provided for toilet paper), a spacious shower cubicle, then a bright space with 2 wash-basins, a soft mini couch, and, importantly, plenty of wardrobe and drawer spaces on both sides of the room. And then through a glass door was the outdoor bathroom, with a stone bathtub, a shower, and lots of space, fresh air and sunshine. Toiletry dispensers were topped up every day, and they were pretty nice.

We didn’t have a bath, but if we’d wanted one I would have called housekeeping to clean it because they didn’t give it any attention during our stay. You might be interested to note that they don’t like guests to put flower petals in the bath, because they say it damages the stone.  But overall I found the villa to be very well kept. We didn’t have any ants or roaches, which is quite impressive in the tropics!

It’s also notable that we didn’t encounter any mosquitos on the island, though we did use deterrent spray every evening before we went out.  The only critter in our room was a very tame little gecko who kept guard for the potential appearance of a mozzy!  Our drinking waters were replenished twice a day, we had a coffee machine (with only plastic portions of plastic milk), fresh fruit and sweet treats left at turndown.  WiFi was very good throughout, as was the TV reception.  In summary, everything about our villa was just right, from the stunning design and layout, to the cleanliness, and for the fact that everything worked.

Other than one 2 bedroom villa, most of the villas at Park Hyatt Hadahaa have pretty much the same footprint, size and design – you only need to decide if you want to be over water or on land, and whether you want your own plunge pool or not.  The Director of Operations, a lovely Italian lady called Diletta, arranged for us to visit one of the over-water villas one day.

Whilst the room layout was very similar to our own, it all seemed brighter, plus this villa had a plunge pool, with soft loungers in the pool water, which looked a fabulous way to beat the heat!  But of course the brilliant USP of this villa is that you have direct access to a vibrant living reef, teeming with rainbow coloured fish.

It was notable that the over-water villas have a good separation between them, which affords one greater privacy; much more than on many resorts I’ve seen pictures of.  Some might say the villas are very box-like, but I think their sleek design is much more appealing than the faux “traditional cottage” with thatched roof, which most resorts promote.

I also loved Soo K Chan’s designs for the main buildings. The Dining Room, where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served, was bright and airy.  Again I feel this modern ‘international’ design is more impressive than shabby-chic faux-traditional Maldivian. For me it adds the “luxe” factor.

The Spa was a particularly peaceful part of the resort. A selection of secluded spa villas, where treatments take place, are scattered about amongst the trees and each has a large outdoor space to relax in, a hydrotherapy pool as well as the air-conditioned villa with modern flexible massage beds.  Our massages were blissful. Mr. A and I also had a private aqua yoga session in the tranquil spa pool one morning, which was lovely (until a rude guest decided he could dive in and disturb our peace by performing his laps routine!).

I had booked this stay on a “Full Board” basis because I’d read so many reviews which mentioned the high prices of food in the restaurants (which is the case right across the Maldives).  But for me with just a light appetite this was just too much food to try to get through each day.  Breakfast is a light buffet, from which I took muesli and fruits and a croissant each day, and an a la carte menu offering all the usual (cooked) suspects. I ordered the Eggs Benedict one day and I was very happy with it.

We were entitled to a 2 course a la carte lunch in our package, but even their lighter dishes proved too much for me.   And at dinnertime we had 3 courses to work through.  I have an even smaller appetite when in a hot climate, so I really should have gone for half board, or even just B&B.  It was only on the last day that I realised we could eat from the bar’s snack menu as part of our package, which was much more to my liking, though portions were still rather generous!

Half and Full boarders can also get a credit to eat at the resorts other restaurants. ‘Themed’ nights are held at The Island Grill, and intimate cooked-in-front-of-you dining can be booked at The Drift, a small overwater speciality restaurant (it seats a maximum of 6 guests).

So to summarise the food offering at Park Hyatt Hadahaa: there’s plenty of it; plenty of choice; a good menu; but sometimes a little heavy. I humbly suggest they add more salads to the menus, and more fresh seafood.

Although every villa has its own private direct beach or water access, some people will always want to chill with others close by.  As well as the main pool in front of the Dining Room, there’s a ‘main beach’ right next to it, laid out with loungers, day beds under cabanas, and bean bags and parasols.  Any drinks ordered come with an insulated bucket of ice, which I liked.  The powdery, bright white sand is remarkable at reflecting the sun’s rays, so it doesn’t get too hot to walk on, even at noontime.

The “main beach” is by far the biggest area of sand, but beaches surround 95% of the island, so you can choose to circumnavigate Hadahaa’s shoreline if you wish to, or you can walk round the internal “ring road”; a sandy track through the trees which leads to every villa as well as to the jetty off which the overwater villas perch and the “Dawn Jetty” where supplies arrive.  The snorkelling off the latter is excellent as well as thrilling, but it’s even better off the arrivals jetty. From the arrivals jetty we saw three dolphins less than 100m away, but they’d gone by the time we got into the water. But I can honestly say that my snorkelling at Hadahaa was better than on my trips to the Great Barrier Reef and the Red Sea, or anywhere in fact!  Great living coral, visibility, variety and quantity of fish.

The resort almost lets guests appreciate the clear dark skies over this isolated island by having 2 telescopes to use. However they were both out of service during our stay and none of the staff seemed to know how or when they would be fixed.

Like at many high end resorts these days, we were allocated a “Host”(they use the term Guest Service Officer)  on arrival, who made sure we were comfortable every day. But he wasn’t constantly “in our face” trying to sell us ‘add-ons’, he just felt like a reassuring “friend” who would take care of our whims.  But we also enjoyed daily contact with and support from Diletta, the Ops Director (who seemed to be acting Resort Manager).  I really do appreciate it when a resort’s senior management shows a genuinely warm interest in your wellbeing.  She helped me out several times, including getting me to see the on-site nurse when the heat made me a little unwell on day one, and arranging for me to have a pizza in the bar after the time they normally stop making pizzas.

In terms of fauna there’s not too much on dry land on this small isolated island. There are geckos and skinny lizards, and we saw one bird, an Asian Koel, which is heard far more than it’s seen. The biggest surprise for me was seeing fruit bats flying around during the day; they are so big!

On our first morning we went on a complimentary “behind the scenes” tour, which I found very interesting. We were shown their water desalination plant, their generators, the food stores as well as the staff accommodations and canteen, and we had a short talk from the HR manager.  We even saw the calculation of the monthly staff service charge split.

The Maldives is a destination for ‘special event’ holidays, like honeymoons or major anniversaries and birthdays. It’s a “bucket list” and “once in a lifetime” destination. And it’s pretty expensive!  Everything is priced in US dollars, and the prices you see increase by 21% to cover tax and service.  Everything needs to be transported to the islands, and the (Islamic) government taxes alcohol quite highly (and you’re not allowed to bring in your own duty free!).  You just need to accept that as a fact of life out here, and don’t get stressed out every time you look at a menu.  Park Hyatt offers a beverage package, which you can take out on a day to day basis, allowing two people to drink most (but not all) of the alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks on their menus from ten in the morning until midnight, for “just” $195++.  Normally I would balk at the thought of spending over 2oo bucks on drinks in a day, but if you have a bottle of wine with lunch and dinner, a pre-dinner cocktail, and other soft or hard drinks through the day, it does actually represent a fair saving from the menu prices! My drinks bill for the 4 night stay was $1000.  Our massage was $600. Add that to the $3700 for 4 nights full board in a Park Villa (including transfers), and you get a feel for the prices.  When compared with some other fine resorts in the Maldives, that’s a bargain.

Overall I was very impressed with Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa. It comfortably exceeded my expectations and I would be very happy to return. 9.5/10

Service was, overall, very good, but I was a bit surprised that we weren’t addressed by name very much. And we always had to remind them which villa we were in.