One of Hilton’s most aspirational properties, the Conrad Maldives, has standard free night award availability nearly every day for the rest of the year (through December 20, 2023). That’s not normally the case.
The cost of a free night here is 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night. Since Honors elite members (including credit card cardmembers) receive ‘5th night free’ this comes out to an average of 96,000 Hilton points per night on a 5 night stay.
A month ago the hotel opened up free nights from mid-May through September. This was unusual and many blogs noted it at the time. However I was not excited because that was very much the off-season. Paid rates during this time can be $600 per night – or less – so the value per point wasn’t especially high.
Right now though you can book in peak season, for instance in November every night of the month currently has award. You can also book into the first half of December using points. Room rates are still just ~ $736++ for a base room but taxes and fees add another couple hundred dollars per night. With fifth night free you’re getting a penny per Hilton point which is about 2.5 times what they’re worth.
Thanksgiving at the Conrad Maldives is looking good right about now! Bear in mind that travel to and from the hotel and meals while on property won’t be cheap, even if you get breakfast free with Hilton Honors status.
(HT: Loyalty Lobby)
I don’t understand people who book lavish getaways such as the Maldives, then skimp by booking only the basic level rooms. If you’re celebrating a once in a lifetime occasion such as a honeymoon, that’s the perfect time to go all-out on cash expenditures. Save your points for more pedestrian redemptions!
If your rebuttal is that the Maldives is expensive and a traveler might not have that much cash, remember there are plenty of other special places in the world, that are more affordable, and perfectly suitable to honeymoons and special occasions. It’s much more pleasant to spend lavishly at a modestly-priced destination than to skimp at an expensive destination.
Just wait until you get the food bill – then you’ll find out how they’re able to give the rooms away for “free”.
@Former Airline Employee (Corporate) – you can book a base room on points and then buy uo to a more premium room if you wish. Either way, you do you!
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Just wait until you get the food bill – then you’ll find out how they’re able to give the rooms away for “free”.
— C_M
The food bill is not pulled out of thin air. You get charged for you for what consume. Breakfast, usually a “royal feast” at such resorts, is free for top-tier HH elites, and there are food outlets that serve small fares like burgers — admittedly expensive ones — if that is what you desire. Therefore, you are in control of your food bill to a large extent… if you can control your impulses, that is…
After two trips to WA Maldives Ithaafushi, I am done with that resort for a good while. However, I have never been to this Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, so I’ve grabbed me 5 award nights (5th free) for a late December 2023 stay.
The food bill is not pulled out of thin air. You get charged for you for what consume. Breakfast, usually a “royal feast” at such resorts, is free for top-tier HH elites, and there are food outlets that serve small fares like burgers — admittedly expensive ones — if that is what you desire. Therefore, you are in control of your food bill to a large extent… if you can control your impulses, that is…
After two trips to WA Maldives Ithaafushi, I am done with that resort for a good while. However, I have never been to this Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, so I’ve grabbed me 5 award nights (5th free) for a late December 2023 stay.
Ooops! “You get charged for what consume”
WA was a good deal. This is not.
One can go to the WA only so many times, and good luck finding availability of standard awards there for 5 consecutive nights…
“The food bill is not pulled out of thin air. You get charged for you for what consume.”
Duh. The point is, you are trapped there and have to pay their monopolistic pricing – and that’s something that a lot of people don’t get, they expect normal resort pricing or an alternative place to eat. There are plenty of people who have this at the top of their Aspirational Lifestyle list who don’t realize what they’re in for once they’re there. Just want water, not alcohol with your $200 lunch – that’ll be $45 (in 2020).
I overheard a couple talking about it for their honeymoon and how awesome it was going to be since everything was going to be on points, i.e. “free”. I told them to check out how much it would actually cost to stay there – food bills of $500/day per person are not unheard of. (Not everyone who stays there is an elite – so there is no “free breakfast”.) $500 seaplane transfer fees per person just to get to the hotel. They had no idea they were in for that and thanked me for the warning. That information should be out there – but it’s not easy to find. I wonder why?
My fiancé and I are staying at the Conrad Maldives for our honeymoon coming up in April. We’re doing 8 nights, 6 on points (5th night free), and 2× free night certificates. All the bookings are already locked in. We/I have Diamond status for breakfast. I am under no allusions and am fully aware that it’s gonna be $1000 for the seaplane transfer and $800-1000 / day on food and activities. That’s where the whole honeymoon (cash) budget is going. That said, I’m a pretty well-informed traveler, being on several of these points-and-miles travel blogs.
You can look up the entire Conrad Maldives “menu” of restaurants & activities here:
https://maruhaba.menumv.com/?target=1opfvdbgnc1ne1opu0wr5m2gf¶ms=%7B%2246let87lalm4gxzm9ro394tzl.t_1afa67217d0c40e0b5f37f57bca5c692%22%3A10%7D
@C_M — “Duh” sounds about right if you cannot do the math.
I was just at a WA Maldives Jan 16-21, 2023, and I managed my food bill by getting up every morning to have the free, royal feast-like, breakfast and by ordering various Indian curries from the “Peacock Alley” bar menu for dinner. I did not care for lunch but the Villa was stocked with fruits and other edibles if I needed to eat something. Compared to what the cash rate of a standard Villa was (~$3K), it would be absolutely ludicrous to complain about the food bill.
The utility of blogs like this one is to inform folks on how to minimize their out-of-pocket costs on personal travel. So, if someone without status goes to the Maldives, they will pay a lot out of pocket for more than just food. First, without status it is unlikely that they would able to earn enough points to afford an award stay, or even plane tickets to get there. For me, it was all on points and miles, except for mandatory cash payments like boat/small plane transfer from the airport to the resort.
If one is concerned about one’s food bill, then one should consider going elsewhere rather than to the Maldives.
“If one is concerned about one’s food bill, then one should consider going elsewhere rather than to the Maldives.”
Yes, they should. But in case you hadn’t noticed, the traveling population is much bigger than the audience of travel blogs that tell you how to minimize your out-of-pocket costs out there. Sites touting the Maldives with the upside of “free travel” without disclosing the true cost of a vacation there while also being comped verge into being part of the scam. (Not saying that’s the case here – but there are plenty who do.)
That is why only a very small fraction of the traveling population will ever make it to the Maldives. Were it not for the points/miles game, I would, without a doubt, never have made it to the Maldives either.
Please do not blame the sites. Folks need to use their heads to determine what they can realistically afford regardless of what the sites claims !!!
“(Not everyone who stays there is an elite – so there is no “free breakfast”.)”
The reader base of websites like this is much better informed that pretty much anyone can be an “elite” to gain breakfast at this particular hotel by simply having the right credit card.
On another note if I were traveling to a remote resort like this would definitely load up on some goodies from Costco to take there for munching on to reduce how much has to be purchased there.