Tag Archives for maldives.
The Maldives has banned entry into the country by holders of Israeli passports. They say this is in ‘solidarity with the Palestinian cause’ but it is really about Jews.
The Maldives has banned entry into the country by Israeli citizens and will fundraise for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which works directly with Hamas in Gaza and some of whose employees participated in the October 7th terrorist attacks.
I love premium products, and innovative ideas. So I’m rooting for Beond to succeed. But I’ve been skeptical of filling an all business class plane (most airlines go with a mix of products for a reason), based in a highly seasonal destination, operating only a few flights a week to each destination.
Fortunately on Thursday I had the opportunity to speak with the airline’s Chairman and CEO, Tero Taskila, to see whether he could turn around my skepticism.
New all business class airline BeOnd has launched service from its hub in the Maldives. That may be a decent business during peak tourist season from November through March but they need somewhere super premium to send these planes the rest of the year.
Local island carrier Maldivian, which flies turboprops from the capital of Male to the country’s island airports, looked at the upstart flying narrowbody planes and said hold my beer.
A woman’s story about being raped by a staff member while a guest at the Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands is going viral on twitter.
New all business class airline BeOnd plans to launch with a hub in Male, capital of the Maldives. If there’s a luxury resort destination attracting a clientele that might spring for such a service, the Maldives is on the short list. But the business model of flying 68 premium seats on board A321neos to 60 – 80 destinations seems.. insane?
They plan to launch with the neo but ultimately fly A321XLRs to reach Europe and Australia. And they claim they’re going to be subsidized by the government of the Maldives, to which I have to wonder.. why?
Hilton has signed a deal for a new property in the Maldives which is expected to open in 2021, which means that hopefully it will open next year.
The Hilton Maldives Amingiri will be just a 15 minute speedboat ride rom the Male airport, located on ‘Amingiri Island’ within the Male Atoll, and feature 109 villas each with a private pool.
At the beginning of the month I reported that Hilton had raised the top price of an award night to 150,000 points and that this applies only to the Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives. Some redemption nights there are 120,000 points, however.
When this was discovered there were no redemption nights available at all. Even with the higher pricing it wasn’t possible to spend Hilton points for a standard room, and could only use ‘points as money’ to book rooms based on the prevailing room rate (which can cost over a million points per night). All of a sudden that’s changed so act fast.
A new hotel in that Maldives let you book overwater villas using Marriott points, and it starts at just 24,000 points per night and is eligible for credit card free night certificates.
Hilton has confirmed 150,000 points as its new highest award level, but still seems to be charging 120,000 points by mistake for the Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives, when award nights are available.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
