Update, 8/9: The price for the overwater villa is now 90K points per night and the price for the beach villa is now 120K points per night.
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The S. Regis Maldives is a Starwood category 7 that opens on November 1st. Their photo gallery can be found here:
Overwater villas cost more than $2,000 each at the property and all rooms have plunge pools. They’re not walled in like the completely private pool we had at the Le Meridien Khao Lak in 2010 as people can swim or snorkel by your villa in the Maldives, but I did enjoy the plunge pool at the W Maldives. I just wish it was kid-free and had glass bottom floors like the W 🙂
Note that it typically takes more than 24 hours to fly from the USA until you reach a resort in Maldives as you need to connect somewhere to reach Male (MLE) and then you’ll need to wait for a seaplane to bring you from the Male airport to your resort. That seaplane will also set you back some $700 with tax per person on top of your tickets to Male. You’re also limited to just 50 pounds per person including carry-on and checkin items and will pay a whopping $5/pound for excess baggage. It’s an exhausting and expensive trip, but the water is truly stunning there and the isolation and relaxation is impossible to describe.
Airlines serving Male include Aeroflot (3 days/week from SVO), Austrian (2 days/week seasonally from VIE), British Airways (3 days/week seasonably from LGW), Cathay Pacific (4 days/week from HKG), Emirates (daily from DXB), Etihad (daily from AUH), Qatar (daily from DOH), Singapore (daily from SIN), and Turkish (daily from Istanbul).
DDF member beastieb points out that using points at the S. Regis Maldives are quite a bargain.
I chatted with SPG, confirmed their point rate structure, and booked a stay:
Garden villa: 31.5K/night or 25.2K/night on a 5 night stay.
Overwater villa: 32.5K/night or 26K/night on a 5 night stay.
Beach villa: 60K/night or 48K/night on a 5 night stay.
Sunset overwater villa: 75K/night or 60K/night on a 5 night stay.
Overwater St Regis Suite: 90K/night or 72K/night on a 5 night stay.
2BR Family villa: 120K/night or 96K/night on a 5 night stay.
That can easily be a value of over 9 cents per Starpoint depending on your dates!
This hotel must be booked over the phone or via SPG chat.
Rooms at other Starwood category 7 properties are typically many times those rates as SPG allows hotels that only have suites to charge far more points than the standard award chart. According to SPG those hotels include the “St. Regis Resort Bora Bora, and Le Méridien Bora Bora, Bora Bora, French Polynesia; W Maldives, Maldives; Sunset Key Guest Cottages, A Westin Resort, Key West, Florida; Mystique, Santorini, Greece; Pine Cliff Residences, Albuferia, Portugal; and Cala Di Volpe, Hotel Pitrizza, and Hotel Romazzino, Porto Cervo, Italy.”
I’d imagine that the S. Regis Maldives will eventually be added to that list, but perhaps we’ll get lucky and it will stay a bargain.
Of course this could all be a mistake and they might cancel reservations, so don’t book non-refundable airfare quite yet…
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31 Comments On "The S. Regis Maldives May Be The Best SPG Redemption Of All Time!"
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How does this compare to the St. Regis Bora Bora?
Bora Bora has much prettier scenery than the Maldives. And you can fly nonstop from LA to Tahiti in under 9 hours.
But award flights are harder to find. And an overwater at the S. Regis Bora Bora will set you back more than 100K Starpoints per night, though you can find better deals with paid rates there with the SPG50 rate or other promotions.
The Intercontinental Thalasso Bora Bora is a good option for 60K points for an overwater villa, though finding award rooms can be tough there.
Is there a post about planning my honeymoon with the help of points? Should I consider Maldives?
Put a bowtie on, Dan
Dan, what is your feeling on ok (safe/best) stops from Ny, Dubai, Qatar etc?
Aerosvit went bankrupt a couple of years ago. Do you mean Ukrainian International or whatever it’s called?
@Mike: Yes Mike, there is a post written just so you can plan your honeymoon. Don’t be lazy! Do your research and leverage the search section to find trip reports on your ideal destinations. This is not a blog for custom-built vacation solutions..
emirates is very safe, one of safest ways to fly, even with israeli stamps in passport.
This is ridiculous.Travel literally halfway around the world just to chap the ultimate in gashmius. Just to feel that you got the most value out of your points. Because that will make me really happy. Right?
Any Other Good SPG Deals, looking for someplace rural/mountains within 5 hours to NYC
What are the Kosher options in Maldives if any? Would like to hear from experience. Thanks.
i understand its probably a beautiful hotel….just know that those photos are most likely computer generated…its too perfect.
That aside…
It must be incredible at night….oh well.
we took malaysia airlines red-eye nonstop KUL-MLE 3 yrs ago. truly breathtaking place to visit!
WOW!! I’d love to go there, but I need a Minyan…
Fly ur friends in with points.
@Yitz:
Shut up Yitz!
I’m still trying to find the bargain here. If I lived in NYC, I’d pay lot to escape people too. But…. I’m in my yard looking at the mountains.
@Jo: Says someone who clearly has not been to the Maldives before.
What are some good award flight options using UR points? I’ve looked at united but the business class redemptions are limited.
@Alex:
Throw a line in the water and maybe you’ll catch a kosher fish.
A good part of your luggage will be filled with food until Chabad
sets up in the Maldives.
Aeroflot?
@Alex:
We stayed for 6 Nights at the Park Hyatt Maldives overwater bungalow for our honeymoon.
It was unreal. The experience is unexplainable.
As far as Kosher goes, we spoke to the hotel months beforehand and they sent us the menu of the chabad from Australia. We ordered our meals far in advance so when we got there every single day was accounted for breakfast lunch and dinner.
They served us in our bungalow with fresh fruit and squeezed juices.
The service is excellent there as well. The meals were OK. Not great, but not airplane food either.
we ended up renting a boat for a trolling fishing experience with the hotel and caught two Tuna’s which we had them clean and double wrap and bake. Delicious indeed.
Anyways dont let the kashrut situation stray you away from this trip. Organize in advance and enjoy ma Rabu ma’asecha H’
No, Katz you be quiet. I also think it is ridiculous to travel so far and spend so much and be so tired just to be isolated from the world and say you were there and got good value. My values are being an easy distance, not stressful….as my stress has value too. Yeah for YITZ!!!
Wait…does this mean that even with the “buy points” options, the rate is still an amazing deal?!
@eli104 Yes – this is good for about 9-10 cents per point per night. Even if you buy directly from starwoods at the rate of 3.5 cents, this hotel would get you ~60% off of the list price online…
This place looks like the type that I’d eat peanut butter for 5 straight days and not care about getting cooked kosher food. Truly magnificent.
Booked 5 nights in OWV in Jan , thanks Dan!!!
You forgot CZ, MU, KE, et al
@Yitz: Seriously dude get off the internet
A friend of mine just booked this deal too. Just curious though – why is it written as “S. Regis” on this website – is that because writing “St. Regis” would be un-kosher? I’m genuinely curious that’s all! It is quite impressive how the Jewish community unites on websites like this and works things out together!
Has anyone been able to get this deal still? I called to book yesterday and they are only offering Cash & Points option for a Garden Villa in November. Still good but would prefer to to shell out $290 a night and 80k points
Now all the award redemption are gone even C+P. They will re-evalue it and open later. Not surprised to see the increase to 90K per night.
@Johnny: all gone now. even c+P.