Olhuveli, Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel Review

Good Points
Plenty of manta, spotted and eagle rays on house reef, also sharks. Staff are friendly.

Bad Points
HUGE PROBLEM WITH MOSQUITOS.
Rooms/furniture and linen all seen better days. Food repetitive and unimaginative

General Comments
Arrived at Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel on the 26/07/04. Boat trip from airport longer than expected due to terrible weather. Booked deluxe room. First room taken to was appalling, looked like a bare prison cell, just three beds and a TV, bathroom was stained and dirty looking. All the bedding and towels looked grey and worn and rather frayed at the edges. Requested better room immediately. Credit to the manageress she didn't quibble and moved us to a far better room on the better side of the island. She explained that some of the rooms have been updated and many are still waiting to be done. There is a big difference in the finishing of the newer rooms. One side of the island looks out over the lagoon which is filled with sea grass and not very pleasant to look at, the other side is sand and clear(ish) sea. Also the upstairs rooms are better than the downstairs rooms (Deluxe villa's, we can't speak for the standard rooms). If the management spent a little more money getting the small details right, i.e., replace all the bedding and towels that are worn out, it would help improve the general feel that they actually take pride in the resort.



We have now been eight times to the Maldives and the food is always to a very high standard. This island is the exception. Food is plentiful and edible; however it is not anything special, reminded me of school dinners. All the other islands we have been to vary the menu daily, here it is virtually the same old stuff every day. If you like pasta you will be ok as there is an Italian chef who cooks fresh pasta every mealtime as most of the guests are Italian (very noisy!)



The house reef is ok. We did not experience a strong current and were able to swim easily. We saw rays every time we went out and a five foot white tipped reef shark twice. The water is fairly murky due to the plankton. Learning to dive on this island seems quite expensive. When you go to the dive shop they tell you it is $350 (as did the manager in an email before we left). They fail to mention there is also a $120 'certification' fee, $12 per boat trip and finally a 10% service charge on top of everything. This 10% service charge is applied to everything you buy on the island from drinks to any trips. None of the staff seem to know why it is added. The losers seem to be the boys who take you on boat trips as no one was tipping them as a service charge had already been added, apparently this does not go to them but to the hotel.



If you are going to the Maldives for the first time you would probably be satisfied with this island. It rates itself as a four star island. In our opinion this is a 2.5 star resort.



Take the strongest insect repellent you can find. The mosquitoes are something else. everyone we saw and spoke to had bites. None of the guests we spoke to had seen or heard any spraying/fogging at all. Every other resort we have been to carry out mosquito killing at least twice a week. We have returned covered in bites and we took the best spray we could find (jungle formula).



All of the staff on the island are very friendly, you can not fault them and this review does not reflect on them in any way. Some of the staff we spoke to were very interested in our opinion of this island as we had been to several over the last few years. They tend to move from island to island and the general opinion was that this was not the best island they had worked on.



If you are looking for a quiet, unspoilt romantic holiday (in our opinion, what the Maldives sells its self on and is what it is all about)then you will be very disappointed. It appears to be very geared to the Italian family, apparently the kids all go free. It is very noisy including the evenings when the entertainment begins at 22.00hrs with most rooms able to hear the loud noise, not our idea of quiet and romantic! If you are a family looking for an exotic 'Butlins' type resort you will be more than happy with this island, but do be prepared for a cramped room if you take the kids.



The other islands we have been to are:- Velivaru 7/10, Veligandu 9/10, Coco Palm 8/10, Thudafushi 8/10, Kanaifinulu 6/10, Velidhu 5/10, Kuramathi 4/10. We have given each an overall rating out of 10.