W Maldives

This was for the domestic flight portion of W. Aisha who received us was great. Perhaps due to lower occupancy we took quite an early seaplane back to the airport and had a 7h layover.

UPDATE TO ORIGINAL REVIEW: In the past few days the W Maldives has received a huge influx of 5 star ratings on Google. Quite odd for a resort that has been closed for the past 10 months. This resort will do anything to not just deal with a situation of their own making! -- My husband and I were scheduled to stay at the W starting March 5th. We knew they were undergoing a massive renovation but felt ok since it was scheduled to be complete around Nov 2024 & they'd already experienced a couple delays. March 1st opening seemed reasonable and when they started reaching out to confirm our booking and collect payment for our seaplane and speedboat transfers, it seemed good to go. Then we received an email just 6 days before we were to check-in that they were canceling the reservation due to a generator issue - no mention of the now delayed reopening to late March. To add insult to injury, their email started with "We hope you're looking forward to your stay with us." and then the very next sentence informed us our stay was canceled! The W informed us that they'd relocated us to the JW but did not confirm which JW property, did not provide us with a confirmation number for this new reservation, did not connect us with anyone from the JW, did not specify if the new room was the same level as the room we'd booked at the W, did not inform us of any next steps. Just told us that our reservation was canceled. That's it. We responded immediately and over 48 hours later no response whatsoever. We ended up canceling our entire trip as we have zero trust in Marriott at this point. The lack of communication and details, as well as the inconsistencies in what we were told and we're reading other travelers were told when reviewing posts here and on Flyertalk, have us very concerned. Like another reviewer stated, we're afraid to travel across the world and possibly find out we don't actually have a reservation. It is unbelievable to me that management at the W has absolved themselves of any responsibility to communicate with guests. The general manager should have reached out to guests. They dropped this information on guests so casually when most everyone is traveling nearly across the world to get there. Had the W been honest and just said "our renovation is still not complete and we are not prepared to reopen for guests. Here are the options we have available to you and how can we support you with this?" And then actually helped us with all the next steps, our decision as to canceling may have been different. But this is too far to travel with that uncertainty. Oh and by the way, I paid $1872 for our transfer costs up front. I emailed asking for an immediate refund since we won't be taking those transfers now and not one person from the W has responded to me. I should not have to chase down a refund for a service not provided.

My husband and I were scheduled to stay at the W starting March 5th. We knew they were undergoing a massive renovation but felt ok since it was scheduled to be complete around Nov 2024 & they'd already experienced a couple delays. March 1st opening seemed reasonable and when they started reaching out to confirm our booking and collect payment for our seaplane and speedboat transfers, it seemed good to go. Then we received an email just 6 days before we were to check-in that they were canceling the reservation due to a generator issue - no mention of the now delayed reopening to late March. To add insult to injury, their email started with "We hope you're looking forward to your stay with us." and then the very next sentence informed us our stay was canceled! The W informed us that they'd relocated us to the JW but did not confirm which JW property, did not provide us with a confirmation number for this new reservation, did not connect us with anyone from the JW, did not specify if the new room was the same level as the room we'd booked at the W, did not inform us of any next steps. Just told us that our reservation was canceled. That's it. We responded immediately and over 48 hours later no response whatsoever. We ended up canceling our entire trip as we have zero trust in Marriott at this point. The lack of communication and details, as well as the inconsistencies in what we were told and we're reading other travelers were told when reviewing posts here and on Flyertalk, have us very concerned. Like another reviewer stated, we're afraid to travel across the world and possibly find out we don't actually have a reservation. It is unbelievable to me that management at the W has absolved themselves of any responsibility to communicate with guests. The general manager should have reached out to guests. They dropped this information on guests so casually when most everyone is traveling nearly across the world to get there. Had the W been honest and just said "our renovation is still not complete and we are not prepared to reopen for guests. Here are the options we have available to you and how can we support you with this?" And then actually helped us with all the next steps, our decision as to canceling may have been different. But this is too far to travel with that uncertainty. Oh and by the way, I paid $1872 for our transfer costs up front. I emailed asking for an immediate refund since we won't be taking those transfers now and not one person from the W has responded to me. I should not have to chase down a refund for a service not provided.

Planned trip for nearly a year, my wife and I booked on points, and had planned on staying at the W Maldives for a week and then moving to Conrad Maldives the second week. Putting this out there for awareness - less than a week before departure the W notified us yesterday February 26th the renovation was delayed again and would relocate us to another resort. No clarity what resort, or quality of room, or really anything, particularly no concern for our experience, just relocate. Now its past 24 hours since the jarring notification, we are past cancelation window for Conrad, and W Maldives has become non-responsive to a Marriott Ambassador Guest. Did speak to Ambassador support, though of little assistance. Marriotts position is its an equal tier resort, though if its of equal desire, how does it have so much availability to accommodate all of these orphaned guests? No response available to this question. Happen to be a Lifetime Hilton Diamond Member and Hilton has been far more helpful and understanding with one phonecall, opening a case and being willing to work with us. The Conrad Maldives has been absolutely amazing in two previous visits and not surprised here, though uncertain how will impact at this time. The entire Marriott response is pure disregard. They moved us to a new resort but didn't say which one, share new confirmation, connect us to the new resort, tell us exactly what room type they rebooked us in, didn't proactively make the adjustments needed, and even advised we needed to book the speedboat we have already paid for. All things considered, most concerning is trust has been broken. Expecting someone to fly nearly 24 hours to a destination with so much uncertainty appears trivial and nonchalant to Marriott - yet, I know as bad as things are here, they could be far worse halfway around the world arriving and learning we now no longer have a reservation, or are in a seriously degraded room versus what we booked. There is simply no way I am putting confidence in Marriott at this time. Have been an Ambassador Elite Tier barely two months and cant remember a time I was treated so poorly and with such disregard by a hotel. My perspective of how Marriott treats Ambassador Guests is a joke. Researching, we are not alone. Social media posts and other stories from travelers paint a picture of repeated delays in renovating the W Maldives resort, which tells me the owner, pretty certain a franchisee, is holding out to the last minute to notify guests due to needing to get the dollars rolling in again. What makes this so egregious is it puts the traveler in harms way without any ability to pivot or make changes. Its dirty pool - and puts the traveler at risk and in a no win situation. Not very hospitable.