Here are the Park Hyatt Maldives menus to give you a sense for variety as well as pricing at this very special resort.
Previous installments:
- Introduction, overview, and costs
- Star Alliance first class and business class lounges, LAX
- Etihad First Class, Los Angles – Abu Dhabi.. the 3rd Longest Flight in the World!
- Premier Inn, Abu Dhabi International Airport
- Etihad’s new business class lounge, Abu Dhabi
- Etihad Business Class, Abu Dhabi – Male
- Male Domestic Lounge and Maldivian, Male – Kooddoo, plus boat transfer to the Park Hyatt
- Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Maldives
Several readers emailed yesterday asking about my my review of the Park Hyatt Maldives, wondering if I could share more about food prices.
I gathered up the menus that I had photos of and decided I would post those. That way you can see what’s on offer, as well as how much everything costs.
All resort guests on paid room rates receive complimentary breakfast. Diamonds on award stays do as well. Other members using points (including cash and points) are charged $30 per person for breakfast — and I can truly say it’s value for the money.
Click on any many page to expand it for easier reading.
Breakfast menu:
Cocktail menu:
Wines by the Glass:
Island Grill:
Bar snacks:
So you fly for free. You stay for free, but then you give it all back in food and drink expenses.
Scratches head. Oh, and don’t forget the expensive flight from the airport to the hotel.
i don’t understand this food obsession either… we eat to live, not live to eat….
Yeah…looks pretty nice there, but if I have to bet on which is going to happen first, me starving to death or me going broke, it just isn’t my kind of a vacation. For the money spent, I’d rather go to someplace in SE Asia with half the isolation and half the scenery and live like a king. Generally, though, I’m just not a resort person to begin with.
Wow, those prices are absolutely ridiculous. Not worth it.
@Lantean opinions vary..
125 bucks for a 30oz. cote de boeuf for two really isn’t a bad deal at all. Maybe even a little low for nyc prices. Now let’s see if I have any luck convincing the wife the eat that 5 nights in a row…
If you go to Male the food prices are cheap. If you go to some of the other Maldives Islands that the locals live the food prices are less also. The prices are high for food at the Hyatt because there is no competition on that island for restaurants. The high transport cost is just a small part of the reason.
All in all I much prefer Bali or Thailand. The food prices are much lower there, especially if you venture off the resorts. Also, there is much more to do.
The prices really aren’t rediculous when you think about where you are and what it takes to get there. This is one of those places that we would never even consider going to without points. You truly feel secluded. This hobby truly makes us feel rich, something we are not! 🙂
I don’t understand why the Hyatt charges for breakfast for award stays when everyone else gets it for free? During peak occupancy times they are getting the same rate for award stays as they get for paid stays. That could be well over $1000 a night!!
So, this is how you earned your nickname, “Mr. FancyPants”! Of course, the person who gave you your nickname was on this trip too — no?
@Gary
so you say you live to eat? that’s very sad…
you said your feelings are hurt when people here comment on your weight and appearance (i haven’t done that but we do see it here) – but why are you surprised then?
I’m baffled by most of the comments here. Why are people surprised that it’s expensive to eat/drink at a high end, secluded resort? I’m also amazed, though I probably shouldn’t be, that people cannot for a moment try to comprehend that others’ interests (i.e. relaxation, dining, etc.) are different from their own, and thus valued differently.
Gary, I’m assuming that the prices in the photos are in USD? I didn’t notice that anywhere, and I was trying to calibrate in case there’s any exchange rate differences.
Thanks for all the valuable info you pass along each day!
theBOAT
Ok, you can ignore my last question in the comment above. I noticed at the bottom of the drink menu that it stated all prices were in USD.
theBOAT
@Lantean no i do not live to eat but food can be an art form and not merely sustenance. I don’t think I’ve said my feelings are hurt, I think that peoples’ comments reflect more on themselves than anything else, which is why I don’t censor what anyone wishes to say!
On the menu for wines by the glass it mentions at the bottom about a pre-paid beverage package. What is that?
@Bill – she went in 2014 this was my February 2015 trip
Anyone that looks at these prices and is astounded is pretty clearly out of touch. Nothing here stands out as terrible expensive by hotel/resort F&B standards.
I’ve paid nearly as much for these sorts of drinks and food at fairly boring domestic USA resort locations.
Captive audience = high prices. Add the remoteness of the location and the fact that these western foods aren’t what the locals are eating, and you’ve got the fixings for a high tab. Is what it is. If this is too pricey for you, fair enough…don’t come to the Maldives.
When people,complain and the cost of eating somewhere, I remember this.
If you want a good steak dinner in Texas, it’ll cost you $30 in a pretty average restaurant. It’ll be a solid, if unremarkable, dinner.
If you want a good steak dinner in Tokyo, it’ll cost you $100 in a pretty average restaurant. It’ll be a middling dinner
On the other hand…
If you want a good meal of sushi and sashimi in Tokyo, it’ll cost you $30 in a pretty average sushi bar. It’ll probably be better than most sushi you’ve had in the U.S. (Unless you live in California or NYC).
If you want a good meal of sushi in Dallas, it’ll cost you $75 in one the city’s better sushi joints. It’ll be almost on par with that $30 sushi place in Tokyo.
My point is that you pay a premium, no matter where you are in the world, for getting something different than what the locals eat. Own it and move on.
Thanks for the hotel pricing information. I find it can be surprisingly hard to get such information on the web.
To my mind, it looks like prices are 2x what you’d pay for comparable food in the USA. To not be annoyed, I think you have to go in knowing that will be the cost, and just accept it.
Candidly, I haven’t gone to the Maldives because I’m not keen to pay 2x for food and I’m not keen to incur the extra travel expenses from Male to the resort. There are many amazing places to travel in Asia right now where food costs are 1/2 x (or less), and transport is cheap. I think Bali is a good choice for your typical reader — insanely cheap right now, and there are many different types of experiences (from 5 star luxury in a mega resort to adventure travel). So why pay 4x as much to go to the Maldives? It doesn’t make sense to me.
I too do not understand why people are so critical. The prices are what they are. Gary provides a valuable service by showing us these menu pages, so that we can make informed decisions about where to travel (or not). Some people absolutely adore the Maldives, and find the costs are well worth paying. I don’t know whether I would fall in that category, but I do appreciate the information in any case!
Those prices look absolutely standard for any Park Hyatt or a 5 star hotel/resort.
Some readers should question whether they ought to be in this hobby if they spend the time figuring out how to fly to the Maldives in first class but are constrained by a backpacker budget.
@ Keith, if we were rich, we wouldn’t be reading blogs about how to travel like the rich on a budget
Its interesting how internet forums follow life, and envy and jealousy can be the motivator for such illogically expressed rage. (@Lantean). Its a sad fact about humanity that so many are troubled by other people enjoying themselves.
These are resort prices, and not particularly rapacious ones at all. Good resorts charge what they need to on the rooms so that they don’t need to put food and beverage prices at a level such that guests resent it. It would be simply inhospitable to charge outrageous prices in a self contained resort, and has no place in the hospitality business — though it certainly does happen.
Each according to their own tastes, but my personal preference is for a place with more culture — and Bali leads the world on that score, and also has what I believe to be some of the very best resorts in the world. The Maldivian islands are totally artificial places created only for tourists, and without any of its own culture. At the same time, the Maldives is a pretty sad place to be a citizen, and although things have seemed to improve recently, is sort of a cross between Iran and North Korea, and raises some ethical issues about traveling there and funding that machine — just my personal opinion, and not to criticize the decision of others, much less make it for them.
For those looking for absolutely the best beach experience possible — all other considerations put aside — I strongly suggest that people look in a totally different direction, towards Brazil. Northeastern Brazil, in particular the States of Ceará (Jericoacoara) and Bahia (Itacare, Trancoso), offer what I believe are the most stunningly beautiful and empty beaches in the world by a fair margin — the beaches that I think many of us spent a lot of time in Asia looking for and never quite found. Even within two hours drive of Rio, a short ferry to Ilha Grande has beaches certainly better than any in Asia I have seen (with the possible exception of the Philippines). There are very few luxury resorts in these places, and often middling service in the best of them, but the beaches will spoil you for those anyplace else in the world.
just spent a week in Paris where average daily dinner for two ran $100 at above average (not fancy) restaurants. These menus don’t seem that off base for a completely secluded luxury resort. Some of your bitter, rude and unsophisticated readers need to face reality.
I don’t know what everyone is complaining about. Honestly, given the location (lets be real, there aren’t cows anywhere near the Maldives) and the fact that they literally have you captive I was shocked that the prices weren’t higher. I’ve been to far less nice resorts (where you could easily go eat off property) that charge similarly for hotel dining. Unfortunately there’s no way to completely “hack” a trip to secluded places like the Maldives, even if you can get the room and the flight for free, overpriced dinners are simply part of the cost of going to those places. For most people the experience of being at the Park Hyatt Maldives is probably worth it, even if you know you are getting ripped off for the food.
Lantean ….. really dude?
May I know the price of AYCE breakfast on the menu?
Yikes! $17.35 ($14 + 23.2%) for a mojito. That’s almost $20!!
ive already been talked out of heading over to the Maldives while i’m in Sri Lanka.
Hello, we’re heading here next month (Mar) for our 10-year anniversary, cannot wait!! Any thoughts on the dining events offered at the resort? Ex. Mon ‘Thrill at the Island Grill’, Wed ‘Cuisine of the Region’ and Sat ‘Beach BBQ buffet’? All are $100pp+, are they worthwhile over dining at the restaurants and do you need to reserve in advance? Thanks for your advice.
we’re going there February 2017 for 4 nights on points. Looking for best room number recommendations and any other suggestions.
oog?
In 2017, Food prices per day for two people will easily be in the $350 per day neighborhood, and that is without alcohol.
I think people make the mistake of thinking of it as a somewhat “free” trip when they stay on points. Big mistake to think that.
Required boat and small plane transfer to the hotel is $1,020 for two people. Food costs per day are easily $350 per couple and that is without alcohol.
Almost every excursion costs between $400-$1,000 for two people- and that is per excursion.
That also does not include 22% tax and svc charge on everything, from dinners to expensive excursions. That $600 excursion you and your wife took? Yes, add an additional 22% tax and service charge onto your $600 excursion cost to equal over $800 for just one two hour excursion.
$777 USD per couple Champagne brunch, anyone? Yes, that is a number on their menu. Beautiful resort but please be aware.
this post seems older so this might not have been available back then but their menus are available here online: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/maldives/park-hyatt-maldives-hadahaa/mldph/dining