Lap of luxury: new hotel openings in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is always a hotbed of hotel activity, with new resorts arriving regularly, especially at the top end. April Hutchinson finds the openings to have on your radar
I?m sitting in a chic little lounge at the seaplane terminal at Male International airport, where I?m handed a refreshing icy towel and a glass of cool tea, swiftly followed by an iPad.
I?m directed to a video on it, where my butler is seen waving and saying hello to me from the resort in anticipation of my arrival.
Sure enough, when I get there he greets me on the jetty, drives me to the villa in a golf buggy, shows me the room and whisks a couple of garments away for pressing.
He is back in a few hours to escort me to sunset drinks in the Whale Bar, which looks like ? well, a whale. There, I enjoy a signature cocktail while watching a champagne sabering ceremony against a crimson sky.
Welcome to luxury, Maldives-style, and in particular the St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort. Competition in the Maldives is high and the past two years have been particularly exciting for luxury hotels.
Soneva?s second resort in the Maldives, Soneva Jani, has also grabbed the headlines, thanks to its rustic-chic villas boasting slides from the roof deck directly into the lagoon and roofs that slide open to reveal the sky.
And back on the scene this year was Kanuhura after a renovation by Sun Resorts in a ?gypset? style, beginning right from the stylish landing jetty, to Iru, a bar set on one of the nation?s best beach...
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