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HERO - Kurumba Maldives

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Transfers are Included in the price of all Maldives holidays.

Transfers Included

The service is terrible, room cleanliness and service is very very bad. We even found bugs (alive) in our bed. We complained and no one bothered to come and check. 
Don’t waste your money here. Go for other island options.

Very bad service, dirty place

We recently had a family holiday here and all I can say is wow, what a great place from The minute you arrive to when you leave is paradise ✨️ all the staff are friendly and helpful, making it a truly memorable experience, if u want a truly great experience this is the place to be,  already looking to book again 

Well maintained property, Superior quality room, Friendly staff’s and many recreation options within the resort. We had a comfortable stay and the best part of it was the photo session at the resort with Ms. Shifu who captured stunning pictures of our family and created a photo album with a slideshow video.

A memorable experience !!

I would like to specifically mention and thank MOSHI AND SHIFU for being so friendly and accommodating to my needs. Pictures were perfect and now I keep them with me with fond memories. Thank you Kurumba for making this solo trip the best so far! 🤍 — Michelle from Malaysia

Best photography service!

Okay, so this was one of the weirder mixed experiences I had and I thought about whether to even write about this - but I look at reviews to help me so I decided to share my honest review. For context, I was a solo female traveller and I had booked a liveaboard on Scubaspa and needed a place to stay as I arrived a day early in Maldives. Kurumba looked perfect - close to the airport, great reviews and also a boutique hotel (as opposed to a chain) so I decided to support a local hotel and stay there. 

THE PROS
The hotel is beautiful. I booked the base room and it was large and lovely with an outdoor balcony (with a lounger) directly over the beach and an outdoor bathroom. 
They even provided 2 large bottles of water which I appreciated. 
(My toilet leaked a bit but as I was staying for a day, it wasn't a huge deal & I informed housekeeping.)

The food at Hamakaze restaurant was amazing -I had the wagyu lobster combo. And the octopus sashimi. Even the veggies were awesome. The chef is amazing and they put on such a wonderful display for us. Humam was very attentive and efficient and I felt very well taken care of (which was a nice change from what you'll read below). There were 6 of us at one end and then 5-6 people at the other end so the restaurant wasn't full at all. I also liked that the hotel had so many choices of restaurants available.

They have a nice shop on the premises - I ended up buying a nice kaftan and a much needed rash guard from them. 

It was actually a less than 10 minute ride by speedboat to the hotel so it's very convenient even if you arrive at odd times (the hotel states it provides the transfer service 24/7). You just go to Counter no. 4 in the Arrivals hall, and then step outside the airport, cross the road and the boat's there. Like a taxi. They give you water and fresh cold towels on the boat, and when I was checking in to the hotel, they gave me coconut sorbet which was very nice. They specifically asked about allergies too which I thought was a good thing.

The beach was really beautiful and accessible and if you're looking for a place to stop over from Male on your way in or your way out - Kurumba is a good choice. Male is just full of buildings and it does not give you that resort feel at all. 

THE NEUTRAL
I didn't know what the transfer prices are generally in Maldives (since this was my first trip) but the hotel charged $99 for shared boats (per person round trip) and $150 for private boat. I took the private option because I had no idea how long I would have to wait for other guests (and having started my day at 2am to catch flights at 4am onwards, I wasn't too keen to hang around). I personally thought this was a bit much for a 6-7 minute ride so it's something to keep in mind while booking.

The view - you see Male in the distance and you see planes landing but it's a close and convenient location so take your pick. The view from my room was open sea and quite nice.

THE NOT SO GREAT EXPERIENCES
When I arrived at the airport, there wasn't anyone to greet me so I made my way to Counter no. 4 but there was no one there either. I asked the other hotel attendants and they asked me to wait till the Kurumba representative came back. He came in about 10 minutes so it was okay. There was no 'How was your flight? Is this your first time to Maldives' or 'Welcome.' It was just "What's your name please? Right, whenever you're ready to go." At that time, I thought it was odd but again, didn't think much of it.

At lunch, the lady who showed me to my seat asked me how many in my party and I said just me. Her surprised reaction was "What?! Just you?" And she looked around to see if anyone else was joining. It was as if she hadn't heard of the concept of solo travellers. I shrugged this off too. The waitress didn't know much about the food and kept having to go back to the kitchen to answer my questions. Like I asked her how big a rice dish would be (enough for one person or could I order a side dish too) etc. Also when I asked what the catch of the day was - she explained to me it was a fish and it came with salad. And I said yes, but what IS the catch of the day and she said she would check. I said can I just speak to someone who knows instead of you going back and forth? Then the Manager finally came and gave me more information for me to make my choice. Okay, shrugged this off too.

After lunch is when the issue started. I asked the restaurant to call a buggy for me and it didn't arrive though I waited a bit. So I walked over the reception thinking I could get one there. There wasn't one there either - so I had a quick walk through the shop and when I came back to reception - there was still no person to operate the buggy. I sat down in front of one of the receptionists - her name was MIUSHA. I told her I wanted a buggy and she nodded. I continued to wait. Then a family of 6 or so turned up, asked for a buggy (Miusha didn't tell them then I was already waiting), and then in a few minutes jumped into the buggy just as the buggy operator came in. I turned to Miusha and said, hey could you tell them to go after me since I came before and have been waiting. No answer. She just stared at me blankly. I walked towards the buggy saying again to Miusha, hey, could you tell them please? No answer. I then asked a third time while going over the buggy - 'they're leaving, could you tell them please? Are you going to say or do anything?". No answer. I told the buggy operator - he just looked at me and left.
So I turned to MIUSHA (who hadn't budged from her chair or said one word) - why wouldn't you say anything and can I speak to your manager - I would like to understand what just happened here. So she started calling the manager and said my name/room number and I requested her to speak in English if she was talking about me so I could understand. She ignored me and continued speaking in Dhivehi (which would never be a problem except she was talking about me in front of me and I requested her to speak in a language I could understand since it was about me). Then the manager for the day - NAFIU - came (he was the same person who had checked me in). There was a very strange dynamic here. 
He proceeded to tell me:
1) We don't offer buggy service. So I said what did that family just use, and then he said we offer it if requested. So I said I requested it. He said that family requested it before - I said they couldn't have because they were still eating in the restaurant when I left and he could check their videos. He continued to say that they didn't offer buggy service and they just do it out of the goodness of their hearts so I said could you please give me that in writing/on video - he said he wouldn't as it was their policy. It was all so circuitous. Like one statement after another and none of it made sense. 
2) Then he said "But they are a family and they are long time guests..." So I said are you discriminating against people travelling solo and who are unfortunately only staying with you for one night? He replied I had misunderstood him. He also replied that there was no need for me to be upset. I told him matter of factly he didn't get to tell me how I was supposed to feel. For some reason, he actively tried to want to gloss over the fact that something rather unpleasant had happened and he was making it worse.
All this time Miusha is sitting there staring at her computer screen. 
I told them I would like to know why she didn't even bother to respond to me the three times I urged her to step in - forget telling the buggy operator I was there first, even if to say "I'm sorry ma'am that they took the buggy, let me get you another one." Is it because you treat different guests differently? It was really weird - her utter disregard and nonchalance. Nafiu looked at her to answer and she kept staring at her computer screen - and I said, I'm talking to you and you are not even doing me the courtesy of looking at me or responding to me, could you please reply? She continued to ignore me and Nafiu condoned this. Then I said, is anyone going to address this or apologize, he apologized (it didn't come unsolicited) and I said well, she needs to address this or at least say a word and look up from the screen. Nafiu told me she didn't need to apologize because he was her senior and her manager and that he was apologizing on her behalf. I found this incredibly weird. And insulting. Like he was condoning her rude behaviour with me right in front of me (and she could do whatever she liked because he was apologizing and that made it all okay). 
Finally when I said “are you serious?!”- he half-heartedly told her to apologize and she did - while smiling/half laughing. I told her you're not apologizing, you're laughing. Then she talked to him in Dhivehi again, he motioned for her to go inside and she went away, he informed me she didn't feel comfortable. I asked him how comfortable he thought I was feeling.
Anyways, when he realized I was standing my ground (and speaking quite firmly, without shouting so he couldn't just dismiss me as a 'difficult' guest, oh and I was a lawyer, oh and that pre-covid I was doing 80 flights a year) - he then suddenly started sympathizing (it’s interesting how I had to provide my ‘credentials’ to him for him to take me seriously) - he said Miusha should have stood up and replied to me, he couldn't believe I had asked three times and she said nothing and blanked me, yes, he would definitely check the videos and have a word with her, this was the wrong thing that had happened, she should never have done that, he would get it sorted it...etc etc. I told him clearly - I don't care about the buggy - I would like to know why your colleague, being a receptionist whose role it is to talk to guests, couldn't be bothered to reply 3 times I talked to her or be asked to look up from her screen. I also told him IF I put this on tripadvisor, please don't write a standard reply saying "We are sorry to hear this and please contact the manager and we will sort it for you." I told him you can sort it for me right now while I am here. He didn't sort anything and I didn't hear from him about this after that. In my opinion, I think Miusha didn't care that I was there first, the family was white (so maybe there were undertones of racism?), I was a solo traveller so probably not worth as much as them (to her), and her management didn't ask her to apologize so why would she bother. I am highly surprised at the hotel having receptionists who randomly decide if they want to speak and/or respond to guests or not. And I did not like the inference that they were being helpful and I was being upset for no reason, and all the ways they tried to make it look like their behaviour was completely acceptable. And then the 180 degree switch - I even asked him - are you trying to be nice just so I go away? 

I wanted to write about this incident in detail because I think it highlights a few things - there's some prejudice still that solo (female) travellers face. And it's not nice. And you have to stand your ground to be heard sometimes. Or just not to be callously disrespected. I doubt Miusha's behaviour would have been accepted had it been a man talking to her, or a family. Or maybe it would have. I don’t know the dynamics here. I don’t know how management is going to reply to this post but I would look into this issue seriously. If you reply with more reasons why this was all okay, I’ll know to look elsewhere when I travel to the Maldives next, not a problem (perhaps the Sheraton next door which had been my first choice as a Marriott Gold member but I chose Kurumba).  

Lastly, they had a sheesha lounge which I was happy to use – but there were problems and they couldn’t get the sheesha started for 40 minutes, and when they brought it, it wouldn’t work so again it was taken away for another 20-30 minutes. So there was a lot of waiting around I had to do (and I told them, if it’s not working just tell me so I’ll go back to my room – and it was no, just 5 minutes, just 10 minutes). Feedback for improvement.

To conclude, I spent $1000+ for the one night I spent there – inclusive of F&B, basic room, airport transfer, shopping, tips and taxes. I write this because I think that’s a decently healthy sum for a solo person to do. And it’s nice to have help guests irrespective of their status – single/family/couple/friends – or the amount of money you think they’ll spend. And it’s nice to be fair and respectful – to everyone.

Good property for a stopover in Male - inconsistent staff (take them with a pinch of salt)

The Kurumba Maldives has a range of services and facilities for everyone. Boasting two outdoor swimming pools, a gym, three floodlit tennis courts, and the popular Veli Spa. Set in the lush gardens of Kurumba offering a selection of treatments including Dhivehi-beys, a traditional Maldivian medicine treatment, beauty treatments, massages, yoga pavilion, and a relaxation lounge. Other sports activities such as volleyball, table tennis, and water sports are also available. 

With a range of cuisines including Middle Eastern delights, vibrant Thai dishes, traditional Indian classics, and varied international buffet-style meals in the main restaurant - you will be spoilt for choice. Please note some restaurants/bars may require booking in advance and may incur additional fees depending on what is included in your meal plan.

##### Guestrooms at Kurummba Maldives:

All rooms feature basic amenities to ensure you have a comfortable stay, including a bathroom with bathtub and an outdoor and indoor shower, hairdryer, air conditioning, safe, TV, bathrobes, minibar*, tea and coffee making facilities, and complimentary internet connection. Room upgrades to Deluxe Bungalows, Pool Villas, and Jacuzzi Villas are available at a supplement.

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Kurumba Maldives

Guestrooms at Kurummba Maldives: