“Very mixed feelings .....”

Find it difficult to write the review ... But will try to be objective and you can judge what is important for you . Upon arrival service was not really good . Hotel is in the middle of a village . Local people are extremely warm and nice , but the village is very "basic" . But you do get to experi… Plus

Find it difficult to write the review ... But will try to be objective and you can judge what is important for you . Upon arrival service was not really good . Hotel is in the middle of a village . Local people are extremely warm and nice , but the village is very "basic" . But you do get to experience real Maldives , kind of unexplored territory . But village is far from what you would expect from a Paradise Island . Hotel it self located o. Small private beach . Water has beautiful color as you would expect in the Maldives . Unfortunately there is a sewage pipe going in the sea next to hotel beach and with the wrong wind it smells pretty bad :( We rented the beach villa , which had a very nice view and was clean . There was not a single cupboard in the villa , so we had to ask for it as we were two people staying for two weeks ... We got it after few days ... Food: we complained about the frozen microwave pizza for dinner and other stuff as we had purchased half board and wanted our money back . We could not get a refund, but the chef Mamoon after that was going out of his way to please us . He was truly the high point of the stay , helping us with everything incl doctors visits etc . He is an absolute gem ! He was really trying but with the limited resources he has , the food is really basic there . Best thing are the fresh fish . Apart from Mamoon only two other staff members seemed to care for the guests . Hotel is small so it was really nice to talk to these people . Main hotel is NOT located on the private ground as the villas and the beach , and has very small windows . Guests staying in the main building were very disappointed . We did not have any problems with transfer , but other guests were overcharged for speed boat transfer - hotel tried to charge them 100 usd per person although they were 9 people !! After lots of discussions they reduced the price . Would I go back again ? :) beach very nice but smelly sometimes , staff nice but food so so , . So probably not , but it was an experience that was worth trying . You experience something different than on usual resort vacation - more local and traditional feeling that is hard to find now a days where all places are very "touristic " . Really loved the smiling local people .

Moins

“Maldives on a shoestring...on a nice beach but dont expect the Ritz..”

This is a new establishment on a local island... First off, this is not the Maldives you see on tv/adverts... but then you are not spending the money to stay on these fabulous islands. The good thing about The Strand is the beach!!They have a few sunbeds but no shelter, and it gets v v hot!! ! bec… Plus

This is a new establishment on a local island... First off, this is not the Maldives you see on tv/adverts... but then you are not spending the money to stay on these fabulous islands. The good thing about The Strand is the beach!!They have a few sunbeds but no shelter, and it gets v v hot!! ! because this is a Muslim Island, you have to keep arms and legs covered when you leave meaning outside of this hotel you can not sunbath.. also there really isn't anywhere else to go on this small island.! 2 little shops, 2 little cafes both very cheap and stock all the necessities. There is nothing to do on Gulhi. So if its peace and quietness you want, hotel the strand is fine. just keep your expectations low and you will be fine. We did go on a day trip to Kandooma resort and paid the 100$ to spend on the resort. This was heaven, everything you expect from a 4star resort island but was hard to come back to Gulhi. IAnything longer than a few days would have cracked me up except i met some lovely Polish friends that made my holiday.

Moins