Shangri- La Villingili, Maldives Review

Try to keep some Indian food during breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This resort is an absolute DISGRACE to Shangri-La s name.
Cronyism defines this place. It is operated by a COMPLETELY OUTDATED and INCOMPETENT all French mafia style management headed by Mr Philippe Claverotte who s only interest seems to be awarding jobs and other advantages to friends and associates without proper regard to their qualifications.
It basically feels like time travel back the 80s at a cheap Club Med.
As a guest you re being ripped off (especially on food - which you can t escape as you re hostage on the island) to finance the management as well as their friends and family holidays.
Overall my stay has been a MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT and I would ABSOLUTELY NOT RECOMMEND this resort. If you re looking at visiting Maldives go elsewhere, even if that supposes you spend more. It will totally be worth it. Or wait until Shangri-La has realized the FRAUD and completely replaced the management.

Everything is perfect from start to finish. The service is there. A paradise

Resort is located far away from MLE airport, the price for food and beverage and the other services is expensive.

Your staff were for the most part excellent and well trained and very proactive. At Javuu, everyone was great but Made, Moonis and Josefina were particularly outstanding. However we found the flies to be very annoying and off putting. Why don't you install some fans? That would help alleviate some of the problem. I also think your check in process is flawed. The way we were checked in was haphazard and disorganised. I've never quite experienced such an illogical process. However for the rest of our stay we were very well looked after. I'd also like to mention Mr Ali, the manager of Fassaola restaurant. I saw him pitching in at other outlets during busy periods, it is very unusual to see a manager quietly stepping in to help wait staff. He is a very impressive young man. Also I think it would be nice if you offered a minimal menu between lunch and dinner. Right now, there is no opportunity to have a light early dinner without making special arrangements, which we did once but then we felt bad to be bothering the staff, who were nevertheless very gracious and accomodating.
Overall we had a fantastic experience but I think a couple of changes - such as installing fans in the dining and bar areas would have made it much better.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you are interested in learning more about our experience. Please convey our thanks to your staff at Villingilli.

One day God willing, I can still go to this place. Kkkk ... It must be expensive for krai kkkk

The stay was really awesome and we loved our stay and was really happy to experience the tropical sanctuary
we came to know about the resort through Mrs Prabha from cool zone. A big thanks to her for telling us about the resort

WOW Shangri la what an amazing service
Your staff have the ability to directly connect with the customer upon any request without any problem FANTASTIC
We loved it and we love you.........
Hats off to ANAS he was brilliant
Marco & Yency 109

Staff also 5 stars very good reception, kindness, sympathy, are always available

The staff were amazing especially: Hassan (Food & Bev), Phillipe (Gen Man), Dominic. Andi, Navan, Mani, Mufeed (all Beach Bar), Anas (Host1) Asfar (Host 2), Latif (Dr Ali chef), Shafeu (Javvu waiter),Ahmed (Fashala Rest Man), Lamla (Javuu Hostess with a wonderful smile), Jynkee ( Sustainability Man). They all went to great lengths to enhance our holiday in Paradise.
The Villas (Over water 221 and Ocean View 330) were both stunning in their different ways,

Three Big Cheers to Philippe (GM), Hassan(F&B) and Latif (Indian Chef @ Dr-Ali's) and all the supporting staff at Shangri-la who made our holidays a memorable one. Taking complete care of our 5 nights stay at the Water Villas right from the time of arrival by greeting us with tender coconut water until the speedboat ride to GAN Islands. You see a smile and a warm greet from the staff all time :).

The island is beautiful and big enough to explore on the bicycles or just enjoying a morning stroll to the beaches and golf course. There are 3 beautiful lagoons where you can feed the fishes or put your feet down for a nice fish spa. There are around 17,000 plus coconut trees in the Island along with many other species of animals that make this island a paradise with full of greenery and fresh breeze from the sea.

The Villas are very spacious and Shyam, our housekeeper for the whole stay maintained our nest perfectly immaculate always with a smile on his face and addressed all our needs along with the Island host (Asan). You can take a dip in the water or enjoy cocktails sitting on the hammock facing the sea. We all enjoyed snorkeling watching the corals and Nashath, life guard was very helpful and knowledgeable about the Island. Chaminda, bar attendant made amazing cocktails.

While the locals pay approx 100 USD to fly from Male to Gan , tourist pays 470 USD for this one hour domestic flight! Besides it took us a while to get here with constant flight delays and our return trip was a good 6 hours just to get to Male. My daughter even miss her connection back to Sg. This is definitely not the hotel's fault but the poor organisation and management of the domestic airport, so beware. (Note: Easier and cost 1/4 to fly to Colombo then to Gan by Sri Lanka airline)

Thank God for Shangrila's superb management and staffs, they really saved our vacation. Special thanks to Vasileios whom because of him, we chose this resort as we were spoilt for choice in Maldives like everyone else.

Food is 7 stars - while everything has to be flown in , we were told that they try their best to source for locally grown fruits and vegetables from local farmers (fair trade practice) which is so awesome. At breakfast I found 8 different dishes to go with plain congee which is quite unbelievable given we are at the tip end of the country : )

Be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, if you are a foodie, I highly recommend you this hotel Under the watchful eyes of Vasileios, the F&B director is always present at every meal making sure everything is in order with the word "Beware, nothing but perfect is acceptable" written on his face lols........ where food and service is concern.

Our "room" is a 2000 sq ft villa with our own private pool most idea for honeymooners or those who want to experience what its like to be "just married" since one could do skinny dip in the pool as it is very private. Even the toilet is bigger than most hotel rooms I stayed before.

Service is out of this world especially when there was a crisis on the last night we were there because Male airport closes all airspace due to some unknown reasons and the awful airline failed to inform their passengers even though they have their phone numbers, they failed to sms the passengers. The resort guests who had check out and stranded in Gan airport was brought back to the resort, given complimentary dinner , comfort , constant consolation and keeping them posted and update of news on their flight situation.

For those who dont know where to stay in Maldives, I highly recommend this one. Roberto Kwok would be so pleased to know this is one resort which is way and above the top!!!

An unforgettable vacation, we'll be back! Thank you Shangri-La's Villingili Resort & Spa, Maldives

Our stay could not have been better. We were on our honeymoon and were extremely well looked after by all of the staff at the resort. The staff members could not be more helpful and were a pleasure to deal with at all times. The food was absolutely delicious in all three restaurants and in particular the staff in Javuu went above and beyond to ensure that we had the best possible experience for meals.

The over water villa was amazing and kept immaculate by house keeping throughout our stay who were efficient and discreet. Two minor defects in the room were dealt with immediately without delay.

We used the spa, dive centre and went on the dolphin tour all of which were fantastic.

Overall, this was the best hotel experience we have ever had and we will definitely be back!

Master of Excellence in regards to Service, Food, cleanliness, location, environment and indulgence.

I can't ask for anything more since everything is in perfection.

It somehow comes across as a scam.. why would you have such convoluted schemes and packages.

The hotel is great with other hotel options very close to it and more than one
Please note that my visit was almost two years ago and time was not available at that time

Beautiful villas on a beautiful island. Tranquil getaway.

Awesome
Amazing
I recommend 100%
I will do it again and again
More than friendly all the staff
And really I cannot forget all that moment
I love that resort

We loved your resort. Staff were particularly friendly especially server Azmeel who served us a number of nights and gave us great recommendations at the Buddha Pop up restaurant. We also had a great private extended tour of the village by eco-tour staff with added showing of the staff mosque, orchid garden and herb garden.

Amazing experience. Service is impeccable. Went on our honeymoon and couldn t fault the Shangri La on anything that they did. They made our honeymoon something never to forget.

The entire stay with you was delightful. The villa was beautiful, the food amazing and the staff, hosts and service was second to none.

It was a great experience. I only wish they could have told us about not having room service in our package. But otherwise, we both had a worthwhile time.

The over attention to detail in everything was impressive.
All of the staff were very attentive and got to know us very well.
It was nice to feel "special" though we noted that all the guests were treated the same way.

Lovely Resort, beautiful water villa, food is good, everything is so good and nice.

A sublime week at the Shangri-La Villingili resort we couldn t have asked for a more untroubled, relaxing stay. It seemed we didn t have to think about anything from the time we arrived to the time we had to (sadly) leave. The island itself is paradise and more interesting given the size compared to others. The bikes are great (but need a little maintenance) and we thoroughly enjoyed our daily cycles around the tracks.
The water villas are stunning - roomy, extremely well laid out with first class amenities. The food in all restaurants was of exceptional quality and the service friendly and professional. Also enjoyed many a beautiful sunset relaxing at the M-Lounge bar.
I enjoyed 4 days of excellent diving with the very professional and knowledgeable team.
All in all, the best!

Incredible experience.. friendly staff, good service, you feel welcomed and safe everywhere you go.. My sincere thanks to all staff especially to Mr. Abdullah in the water sport center he s very helpful, and Mr. Nasheed who gave us a good tour of the resort first day..

Quiet and serene, excellent service, varied and tasty food and well-managed management. And upscale .....
thank you...

I couldn't go to this place,but seems to be like haven. if I get any opportunity, will surely be there.

We were disappointed to find that our tree house was on the east coast and therefore exposed to very strong winds, no beach access and no afternoon sunshine. If there had been information about this on your website, we would have chosen a different villa.
We loved all the food and restaurants and excellent staff - also, Chi.

Beautiful place and beautiful people who look after you throughout your stay. Highly recommended.

Service par excellence ! Certain parts of the villa require overall maintenance, but doesn t hamper your stay in any way, hotel staff is at your disposal for any issues.

Relaxing place for both families and couples.

Dive center staff can be more accommodative.

5 star experience all the way from the check-in to the room service. Very friendly and attentive staff. Too bad that we only booked for 4 days; 2 weeks probably would have been better.

All staff are friendly and helpful. They appear to be genuinely concerned with one's well being and comfort. The property is great and is properly maintained. Activities are well planned and arranged.

Villas are very run down, umbrella broken, all the bottles of body gel bottles the thing you push down to dispense are broken on all of them, the do not disturb button doesnt work in a sense you still get people coming in to do cleaning, they play cheap music on loop all day at the resort. Would honestly recommend a bnb alot cheaper and no cheap music on loop

Staff service and attitude excellent at every level
Villa location excellent

Excellent ambience, warm and hospitable staff, scenic views all around and great facilities make Shangri-La Villingili a really exotic leisure destination.

Resort The breakfast was by far the best we ve had, with an abundance of selection and styles to satisfy any palate. On site restaurants were excellent with staff willing to customize dishes according to specific taste requests. Every member of the Shangri-La team we came into contact with, really bent over backwards to make sure our holiday was absolutely perfect. The property was well laid out with swift and friendly transportation available to whisk us to wherever we chose. While we did not avail ourselves to all excursions on offer, those we did experience were of a very high standard.

Assad when we were assigned Assad as our replacement island host, he really upped the service component. His attention to detail and calm assuredness ensured our requests were dealt with and we were pampered with that personal touch.

Haleem our housekeeper Haleem was warm, jolly and very attentive. He worked hard to ensure his schedule did not interfere with ours and provided a level of cleanliness that surpassed our expectation. We really cannot praise his work ethic highly enough. The extra touches with prepared baths, towel sculptures and our preferred supplies being stocked, helped to make sure my wife s birthday experience was complete.

Room our water villa was an exquisite accommodation and left us in awe. The doorstep access to the turquoise lagoon was magical. Truly the best villa we have ever experienced with its 6-star amenities.

Your staff were very helpful and eager to assist at all times. Your resort has the best breakfast bar that we have experienced with a lot of variety. We especially enjoyed the middle eastern and French sweets. Lunch and Dinner were also great especially the 3 restaurants, just superb!

Very clean, amazing food, everyone was so friendly. Will definitely come back again.

We enjoyed our family vacation in this beautiful resort, every staff we met were friendly and well trained, a special thank you to my housekeeper and Naglaa, how could we forget your beautiful smile? This is a place we really want to come back again, really enjoyed every moment in this paradise.

Much appreciated the cleaning services of Jai Singh. Do not sea the added value of the time difference with the rest of the Maldives. It only created confusion, which notably became apparent at my departure.

To expensive. The beach and wather was not like the maledives standard. Seaweed in front the villas.
The Dr. Ali restaurant was the the best experence.
Good asian food and the only nice service personal on this island.
The buffet on the main restaurant for 130 - 150 Dollar??? And this,
for girls they are 13. years old. and eat some pasta and salat???
For the included breakfast was not e resevation table for 8 people possible???...Then we ordered some coffee in the room for 8 dollars each???
Lucky to be at home...

My partner and I couldn't have had a better stay and Shangri-La Maldives. Every moment of our stay was spectacular and each of your staff were extremely attentive and friendly.

Haven't stopped saying wow since we arrived. Soooooo much better than the brochures. Mind blowingly amazing.

My wife and myself came for our honeymoon. It was an experience of a lifetime. Amazing service with very friendly staff. The island is a beautiful paradise with very nice restaurants and activities to keep you busy during the day. We would definitely love to come back.

Stayed here for 6 nights, start to finish service and resort amenities especially the food were excellent. I was particularly impressed with your scuba diving - very well organized and assured that our safety was a priority during our dive trips.

WOW - When we booked this holiday I thought it would be pretty amazing however it has totally exceeded my expectations. The resort is absolutely stunning, the food is absolutely amazing but the best thing is how attentive the staff are. The service is out of this world. We mentioned that my sister and I are celiacs and they have made special deserts specifically for us with our favorite flavors that we mentioned casually. We wanted to have the tuna tartare for entree but that restaurant was closed, so the restaurant we are going to tonight is making it especially for us.

Our driver let s me sing ABBA out loud on the way home and shows us the night turtles

The mango and peach frozen daiquiri are to die for.

Only negative is we booked for 5 nights and at a minimum I would recommend 7 nights.

BTW the snorkeling and diving with mantrays is amazeballs and the pick of accommodation is overwater bungalows.

I m coming back and bringing my pals.

I would highly recommend this resort. It s #OWAF 11 out of 10.

My visit to him was almost years old
Cleanliness and service, spacious rooms, swimming pools and the beach is great
Very beautiful memories of the resort, even though the time to leave was a typhoon and we were late for our plane, so they covered all the expenses of accommodation, food and tickets that we missed because of the hurricane
The island is so wide that you will not be bored with the availability of mountain bikes.
But his disadvantage is the very, very far distance to the point that you cross the equator and they give you a certificate of crossing the equator in your name.

Great place. Very relaxing. Unlike most other resorts in the Maldives, this island is quite large and has a lot of space. One can cycle around the place. The service and quality of food is outstanding.

Is totally a personalize not invacive but always there one person for you as I had it. I travel all around the world I had been before in similar resort in Fiji but I ever had this so personal tranquil feeling and human approach you are no More

The service was impeccable - all of the staff were very efficient and friendly, we did not want for anything, and the food was exceptional - especially Fashala. I was there for my 50th Birthday and the staff made me feel very special with birthday drinks, cakes and bed art - all very appreciated.
The only feedback we felt necessary to mention was the sunset drinks at the M bar - we had to leave and go elsewhere as the music /dj was simply too loud and very disappointing to miss the use of this bar for a sunset drink. Understand music gives ambiance but this was too loud and would have been better at much lower volume.
Overall this resort was spectacular and I would definitely recommend it to anyone travelling to the Maldives. It was very easy to get to from Gan Intl airport, had plenty of activities and food/drink options and loved the bicycles provided for each guest to travel around the island.

We enjoyed so much here. Special thanks to the house keeper who tidy up our room so many times. Also, the waiters located at the Javvu are very nice too; especially thank to a lady who is from Egypt and has been there for about 9 months, who aware my hubby is coughing, she initially offer us hot lemon water with ginger so as to make him feel better. I could really feel her service provided straight from her heart. The buggy services are efficient & the drivers are very helpful & nice too. We love this resort so far and the airport arrangement are so considerate as well. For the coach & the staff from diving center, they are all very professional. Even though the Spanish trainer is not feeling so well, she is still able to teach us the correct way to play snorkelling. Also, she take cares each of us very well when we are at the sea. we love her very much and hopefully she can get well soon!
For the upcoming trip, we would re-consider to travel with Shangri-la again. Thank you so much for the team and the wonderful environment.

Excellent stay and property. Great staff. A big shout to Sanjay who helped us in snorkeling and Sridhar who somehow magically found out my wife's missing earring from the sea in the coral. Also Ayan who helped us to change the room on our request the first day.

We have stayed for 7 nights in this piece of paradise, it was our honeymoon and at the end, we could not be happier with the choice of the destination and hotel. We loved absolutely everything about it, the island itself is quite huge, and you cannot get bored by any means. There are a lot of activities and stuff that you can do, actually, we didn't even had enough time to try out everything. Probably the biggest highlight is very friendly and helpful staff, we really enjoyed chatting with our favorite waiters during the breakfast and dinner. And the food quality is a story for itself... This really exceeded our expectations as we knew that we are going on a tiny island in the middle of the Indian ocean. Hopefully, we can return here in the near future, meanwhile, all we can do is highly recommend it to anyone looking for a perfect vacation - look no further!

it was a very pleasant experience for my husband and myself. All staff at the resort was very helpful and all smiles throughout our stays.

The best holiday I have ever made. The tree house were fantastic, the food is brilliant and the breakfast is marvellous.

We had an amazing, wonderful time in a beautiful setting. The resort was spectacular and our host was very focused on ensuring we had the best experience. However, we would like to note a few areas of improvement:
1) Table service at Javvu is very slow and inconsistent. On the other hand, the chef staff are super attentive and customer focused
2) The New Years Eve event details appeared to be finalized at the last minute. And as customers it was quite obvious
3) We paid for the festive package which seemed to us should have included the NYE tent event with drinks and the Fashala event didn t include live music
4) For the all inclusive package, the $90 per
person per day credit should extend to in villa dining and mini bar consumption with credits for the other meals too

We had an amazing experience and 100% will be back again. The staff were the best we ve experienced and helped us relax and enjoy our stay. We also highly enjoyed the magicians who were very personable and entertaining, we thought it was a great / original idea.

very good service, clean room, great food & friendly staff. amazing spa service in particular

Wow. What a place ! Amazing staff, incredible location and the food... The Shangri La has absolutely nailed it with two of the finest world class Australian chefs money could buy and the Shangri La obviously has very deep pockets.
It's the food that made our trip that much more.

The view is magnificent, the people are very welcoming not to mention the comfort and above all there is always something to do you won't get bored;)

We have lots to talk about our stay at this hotel.
I try to find words to describe the beauty and peace that this place brings. And what I said to all the Staff that we met at the hotel: this is a paradise, but it would not be worth anything without this great team of workers who make the experience unique.
The warmth and the uniqueness that each staff treated us was impressive.
From the moment we arrived we were impressed with details.

We had one night to celebrate our wedding anniversary ... they took care of a babysitter and a lovely dinner at sunset, affordable and honest. But it was something that surprised me with such elegance, delicacy in decoration and freshness in food! The chef and waiter were of a great uniqueness in service.

Our dinners were even more unique. Quality food and all inclusive of great quality. Agility in the service and without delay when bringing the requested drinks.

The room in the water villa is fantastic and every time we left the room, they came to clean and leave some surprise in our bed or in our son's crib.

We had everything we asked for and more! Bicycles and electric transport available at all times and everywhere
Difficult to find words to describe how beautiful and special our trip was. Hotel and staff have done an impeccable job.

I would not want to be unfair to the other staff members who provided excellent service, such as Miss Egypt's daily smile that served us breakfast, other attentive men who served us at breakfast and lunch, the young man who takes care of the children's activities, managers who were always present ... everyone! But I must especially thank to our host Issey who welcomed us and shared his stories and knowledge, tranquility and unique welcoming way, if you imagine something...ask for the lamp genius Issay he will make it true. And to our dear waiter Arif who always made it a point to feel unique in the evening dinners choosing the best places, bringing our food and drinks with agility and affection always with a great smile.

The best people you could ever have the pleasure of being you host on a dream island holiday.
Food was fantastic from all restraints.
One fault....had to leave... thanks for every thing.

A great hotel, where the customer service was perfect. The warm, pleasant staff. The quality of food was at the rendezvous, the cleanliness of the property, villas was just more than perfect.

One of the most beautiful island resort in Maldives. Just 10 mins from Gan International airport so very convenient.

All of the staff were truly wonderful and we felt exceptionally well looked after. Of special note was Hassan who always took the time to come and speak to us and on my girlfriend's birthday on the 27th November, took the time out of his busy schedule to speak with us and ensure a birthday cake was provided.

Wow. Heaven on Earth. Dream come true. We really enjoyed having the villa next to the snorkelling area. Kids love it. Thanks to luxury escapes for giving all inclusive deal for 5 days. Staff were friendly and very good service.

Amazing service in a truely beautiful location. We had a fantastic holiday. All the food was delicious and especially loved the snorkelling and mango daquaris.

We had a wonderful experience in our recent stay. It was the best experience I have had with customer service in any resort. Well done to the Team.

The host not take care like not remind the time, not remind the trip and service was not nice with the front duty manager at the night

It was the most amazing Honeymoon we could've wished for. Stunning place.