Mercure Maldives Kooddoo All-Inclusive Resort

The Island

Mercure Maldives Kooddoo has welcomed its first savvy travellers on in August 2018 to the island renowned for its lush greenery and pristine beaches. Conveniently situated adjacent to Kooddoo domestic airport, the hotel is the first beachfront property directly accessible via a 55-minute flight from Malé without the need for a speedboat journey.

Upon arrival to the Maldives, the guests shall be met at the outer arrival hall by the resort's representatives and escorted to the Moonimaa Lounge at Malé Domestic airport where they may enjoy Wi-Fi access and the catering facilities to make the travel experience more comfortable. Their staff take care an everything. From checking in your bags to domestic flight till the breakfast offered at the lounge. Upon arrival at the resort you will be offered refreshing welcome drink and smoothly checked in.

From the location to the rooms, to the beach, to the lush grounds, to the pool, to the amazing service and hospitality of the staff the Mercure brand promise of an authentic experience. With its inviting and inimitable décor, a combination of tasteful furnishing and bright hues, and full resort amenities to satisfy the most discerning traveller - everything about the resort is amazing. Vivid colours and decorative motifs are depicted throughout the hotel with added touches of warm textures and design to create a haven of peace with a local character. Download Resort Map

All staff is top notch with service, politeness and professionalism, this includes restuarant, bar , room attendants and reception. From the gardeners to the cleaners, waiters to the chefs and the reception staff to the manager - every single one of them will greet You with smiles and genuine welcome, every time you see them.

Location

Gaafu (Huvadhoo) Atoll lies in southern region of the Maldives archipelago 100 kilometres north of the Equator. The Atoll is renowned for its prodigious marine life and laid-back lifestyle. Kooddoo Island, with its mature vegetation, soft sand beaches and accessible location, is the perfect gateway to myriad places just waiting to be explored. Read More

The Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort is the only resort in the Maldives directly accessible via domestic flight from the main Velana International Airport, with no need for an additional speedboat transfer. The domestic plane transfer to Kooddoo, which also houses a fish processing plant, takes about 55 minutes.

Mercure has, meanwhile, established a VIP Lounge at the Kooddoo Airport, which is serviced by Maldives flagship carrier Maldivian, in order to provide a comfortable environment for travellers while they wait for their scheduled departures. The lounge offers modern facilities and services such as free WiFi, satellite television, secure luggage storage, and a quality selection of food and beverages.

Villas and Suites

The four star resort, developed on the island of Kooddoo in Gaafu Alif atoll, boasts 68 stylish and well-appointed villas, comprising 43 overwater villas and 25 beach villas with 20 of them featuring a private swimming pool. Attesting to the Mercure brand promise of an authentic experience, vivid colours and decorative motifs along with warm textures and local design touches are used tastefully throughout the villas in order to create a haven of peace with a strong local character.

Room facilities for both Villas are identical with the exception of slightly different outdoor bathrooms. Water villas are divided into those that look at the sunset and the airport ... the first ones of course is more preferable.

Beach Villa is very private and shaded with lovely views to lagoon and overwater villas. Room cleaning is well done and no issues. It's a bit further to snorkel out to the reef edge from these but still ok.

Enjoy a dazzling sunset every evening at this west-facing overwater villa. Relax in 40 sqm of space and unwind with lagoon views from a private balcony before retiring to a queen-size bed. The really neat thing at Water Villa is the section with the glass floor to look at fish under the room. There are so many bright and colorful fishes and the occasional baby sharks which you could watch through the glass panel. The rooms also have direct access to the water for snorkeling. However for a direct snorkeling from your room, there is no life guard on duty and they will make you sign a disclaimer form before you check-in.

From our villa we saw a sea turtle, lion fish, many small sharks (including a school of them that swam in circles under our villa for hours one night), and tons of beautiful tropical fish! The MERCURE is definitely a snorkeler’s paradise if it’s your thing! If you are lucky you can also see dolphins splashing about a couple of hundred meters away from the rooms. Makes for a lovely sight sitting on the deck.

Restaurants and Bars

Guests are offered several attractive dining options. The all-day dining Alita Restaurant serves Pan-Asian à la carte cuisine and themed buffets, with both indoor and outdoor seating. Vistas, an overwater restaurant and lounge, serves tapas, snacks and handcrafted cocktails, while the Alita Pool Bar offers cocktails and light bites with a view. Breakfast buffet at Alita has a great spread. The a la carte options for lunch and dinner are a bit limited, but are tasty nonetheless. Vistas is a great option for an evening drink. The ambience is rather pleasing & the service standards are high. The in room dining options are similarly limited, but tasty all the same.

Regarding the food (you'll see mixed reviews about), we found it quite good. The food buffet is amazing and serves all types of cuisines. The variety is excellent at each meal and overall medium to very good. The most guests are quite satisfied. They have three Top quality India chefs - Mr. Juber, Mr. Kewal (I don’t know the name of the pastry chef). If he is not available, ask the Filipino chef who is at the live counter. They are amazing and waiting to serve you. The food is amazing with a big spread of desserts and including unlimited drinks. Perhaps the best part of the food is the desserts and baked goods. One of the fringe benefits at staying at a French branded resort! The entire restaurant staff is amazing.

As for mixed drinks, there is not a huge variety (keeping in mind that the Maldives are a Muslim country and alcohol is not rampant everywhere) and they are ok. The margarita We had was quite enjoyable (and accurately made, coming from someone who is from the American Southwest), but the piña coladas were just ok. The (nonalcoholic) rose ice tea was also quite good and addictive!

The food is very nice, with lots of variety and different themes each evening but if you don't do all inclusive or half board you will be paying around 90 dollars for the dinner buffet including a drink and taxes so quite expensive. Bar food is cheaper but you're still looking at around 20-30 dollars for a meal. Be aware that there is no shop on the resort so everything has to be bought from Mercure. If you are after souvenirs then you will get them at Male airport.

The evenings at the pool bar are super relaxing. They have movie nights and live performances by their musicians on several nights of the week to keep you entertained.

Snorkeling & Diving

From stunning water villas with easy access to one of the best house reefs to a magnificent diving center, this island is ideal for diving and snorkeling fans. Expect to see many corals and marine life, but in particular the tons of sharks that this atoll is famous for.

Suvadiva Divers, the resort’s five star PADI dive and water sports centre, provides aquatic excursions to the many unique and wonderful locations nearby.

You can rent snorkeling equipment for the duration of your stay for free from the dive center. There is a lot of marine life in the shallows around the resort. You can spot Manta Rays, baby sharks, turtles and a lot of colorful fishes. You'll find the best marine life on the resort's sunset side.

Activities

The resort’s water sports centre provides a several water sports options such as snorkelling, sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, catamarans, jet skis and fun tubes are also available.

Additionally, the resort has several recreational activities and facilities such as the 50-metre lagoon-side swimming pool, fully equipped fitness centre, tennis court, kids’ club and off-island day trips.

The marine-themed Suvadiva Spa at Mercure Maldives Kooddoo, meanwhile, offers a range of treatments and therapies for guests in need of relaxation and rejuvenation.

Reviews

Most of the guests rate the all inclusive resort very high. Many visitors state how they love the scuba diving and snorkeling available right off of the beach and would recommend it to their friends and family. Also, the rooms are stated as being very spacious with excellent views of the ocean beyond. The staff members receive lots of praise as well with guests stating how attentive they are and how they seem to remember every detail.

Pros: What Guests Love

• Great location really convenient close to the Airport (for some ones)
• the staff is nice and friendly
• The service is top notch
• breathtaking views
• The over-water pool villa with the sunset view is beyond amazing. The rooms are spacious, clean and well appointed. Beds are really comfy, you can easily drift away into sleep and then wake up again in paradise.
• very good food. A buffet breakfast is fantastic and suitable for all tastes
• house reef snorkeling
• Dive center
• The hotel has a lot of free activities like kayaking, sup surfing, catamarans
• great cocktails and mocktails are available in the pool bar
• All nonalcoholic beverages are inclusive
• evening entertainment
• 'no plastics' policy and use of glass bottled water.
• fantastic hospitality

Things to Know before You Go

• Accor has launched ‘Recharge in the Maldives’ to revive memories in the Maldives with generous dining offers and upgrades. Book Now
• The property is only accessible by Domestic Flight transfer takes 55 minutes from Male International Airport in case of direct flight or 90 minute in case of indirect flight. The return rates are: Adult: USD 360, round trip, Child (2 to 11 years): USD 290, round trip, inclusive of all taxes
• Standard Transfer Times: between 5 am to 11:30 pm subject to the schedule prepared by Maldivian Airline.
• check-in from 2:00 PM; check-out until 12:00 PM;
• Children of all ages are welcome. Children 12 and above are considered adults at this property.
• Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort, the only resort in the Maldives with direct access to an airport
• The noise of planes is noticeable when land or take off
• The drinks is limited to choose from your in-house brands
• If You are pure vegetarians - the veg options are a bit limited.
• You can rent snorkeling equipment, kayaks, standup paddles etc for free.
• If You're Accor's member just book Bed and Breakfast as with AccorPlus you get 50% off food and 15% off drinks, so unless you want to eat and drink lots - it probably works out better value
• there are mosquitoes but fumigation is done regularly
• sunset view from the beach blocked by water villas
• From 4 until 6 pm there are some activities like sunset yoga or bedroom decorations.
• Few items in the mini bar
• The only maybe negative thing is that the resort is enclosed and you cannot take a walk around the island because of the airport.
• noisy groups of Chinese tourists come from time to time

Photos

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