Adaaran Club Rannalhi booking review: why we never stayed

Important context

I’ll preface this review with saying that I never got the chance to stay at this resort, and given my experience during the booking process, I never will. Therefore, this review is purely based on my interactions with the reservations department and does not include my opinion on island beauty, accommodation, food, etc.

The correspondence

About a month ago, I emailed the reservations department to enquire about rates for a one night stay in march. Emailing the resort directly is something that I do on a regular basis whenever I plan holidays to the Maldives as there is always an off chance that the rate thru the reservations department directly will be lower than what I find online. The head of the reservations department got back to me with a very short email, in a timely fashion, with literally a link to the company’s website for me to input my dates and search for prices.

Now, I’m all about short emails, but if I had wanted to check the nightly rates online I would have done that myself! Never in my many years of travel to the Maldives have I received such a low effort email in part of the reservations department. Generally, even if the rates are the exact same, the rep on duty always has the courtesy to reiterate what the rates are and what they include to make sure that the customer is getting the lowest rate possible.

I emailed the reservations department back a couple weekends later inquiring about doing a day trip, rather than a one night stay, and asked how much it would cost inclusive of transfers. They emailed me back saying that it would cost XX dollars but transfer wasn’t included and I would need to find my own way to the resort. I messaged them back asking if there were any way to organize something for me and the other person traveling with me as I know organizing transfer is a huge hassle in the Maldives. They hit me back with a “per my last email” message saying that I would truly have to find my own way to the resort and that they could be of no help.

Why the booking ended

My question now is: are you guys trying to not get business from your customers?! I would understand a hotel in a huge metropolis not offering airport transfers, but for a resort in the Maldives to not so much as offer their standard airport transfer rates to day guests is quite absurd. Especially because there is literally no way, that I know of, to be able to reach Rannalhi than by using their own, private speedboat.

The Guest services department in every other resort I’ve been to in the Maldives (5) has been incredibly courteous and has always offered the best service to potential customers. This is not what I experienced at rannalhi and for this reason I’d be reluctant to ever contact them again about a future stay.