Maldives Choices

bellabella

So I have the enviable choice of 2 resorts in the Maldives for the same price in 2022 1st one a new hotel it will be 3 years old middle of nowhere but fab beach and butler service , the 2nd is a little older is offering 2 free trips great reviews on TA and eco friendly has a house reef  but no butler service  both look great there are not many reviews for the 1st one as it is so new then we have had the pandemic  so I just need a bit of help has anyone had butler service ? was it worth it ?  we are 2 couples in our early fifties quite adventurous and love being by the ocean  any hints or tips greatly appreciated TIA

Westin

Can I suggest you post the question on the Maldives forum of Trip Advisor, as well as mentioning the names of the two resorts you have short listed.

whirlyhead

I spent 2 weeks in Kuredu in the Maldives a few years ago which was great but 2 weeks was a long time to be on a small island.  Didn't have butler service but have had that in Cuba - didn't find it all that great to be honest. 

koalakoala

I've had butler service before and never used it !

Placitasgirl

I'm a Destination Expert on The Maldives Trip Advisor forum so would certainly second the suggestion of popping in and starting a thread naming the two resorts and asking for opinion on butler service. 
Butler service certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker for me as I think I'd find it a bit "suffocating" but we're all different. Our favourite resort is rather "middle of nowhere" and that would now always be my preference. The lack of boat traffic (and seaplanes coming and going which I used to love!) was idyllic and not being able to see any other resorts or civilisation close by was simply wonderful. The lack of light pollution meant the most amazing starry skies at night and I'd really struggle to go back to a resort where you could literally see another island and it's villas etc again now. 
I think you'll find that many of the 5* star resorts offer "villa hosts" who are kind of a step down from full butler service. Ours could be reached by mobile 24/7 but on arrival we told her we were happy to be self sufficient and would find her if we needed her. This worked really well as we were still really well looked after but didn't have the "anything I can do for you" requests every hour which we simply don't need on holiday. 
Hope to see you across on the TA forum.... you'll certainly get lots of input there and will likely find members who've visited one if not both resorts.

You might also want to join the Facebook Maldives Holidaymakers group if FB is you're thing. 

bellabella

Thank you for all the input i have been across to TA and also joined the FB pages that were recommended we in the end chose Furaveri as it was a fabulous offer  Thanks for all your help x

Sandtree

Not all butler services are equal and some of what they do replicate what a concierge desk will do anyway. 

I’ve had some fairly run of the mill places with butlers (though they claimed to be 5*) and the butler serves a large number of guests are almost never around and all they do is book internal restaurants/spa etc. The claim was they could squeeze you in etc but in practice if you say you’re in a room that qualified for prioritisation/butler you got the same extra spaces anyway and they were easier to get hold of than the butler.

On the flip side we’ve had one where it was 1 butler to two rooms, and there they did much more like unpacking/packing, planning, arranging complementary pressing/cleaning/polishing etc for outfits etc, getting bookings, making sure what was planned to happen did happen on time etc. Elements of it were nice, though not sure why my socks need pressing etc, but I could really live without it. We’re also happy booking an organised trip to have dinner under the stars in the desert and have others around rather than using a butler to book the whole thing bespoke for us. 

Hope you have a great time in the Maldives