Shangri- La Villingili, Maldives Review

Too much for the body. Treatment of excellence by the staff, always with a smile. Retailers You feel like a queen.

Simply could not flaw the resort, from when we arrived and greeted by the wonderful staff to when we check in and explored the island - simply amazing. Could not have asked for a better experience. Lots of choice for our fullboard experience and the food was hands down 10/10 with 3 main restaurants for dinner. Service was extraordinary and staff was always happy to see us. Lots to do on the island. Best place to visit, highly recommend and we will return!

Out of this world. Not only is the place amazing the service is 1st class. Five stars barely does it justice.

Wow, just wow. A dream come true experience. My wife and I had the most amazing time in paradise. Thank you for all your care and warmth from the moment we set foot on the island till the minute we left. Can't wait for the opportunity to come back and visit this wonderful, wonderful place.

A very good luxury place to enjoy ua holidays. Amazing hospitality

Second to none... Hotel facility and service...world best!

The resort was visited several times, its service, its way of reception, its services, and its restaurants were very high, but now the resort is not worth one star for bad management and cleanliness in the resort and the furniture is old and only 3 restaurants are served and some are closed to open only 3 days by week. Restaurants are all bad because there is no specialized chef and repeat food by breakfast and return the same food and past insects. And the cockroaches scary inside the room in a disgusting ways and the resort when riding the bike the whole drilling caused me pain in the back to not pave most roads and corridors inside the resort and the congestion Zone children games dirty and consumer and very small and there are no cadres trained children and workers Coaches for the reception of guests as well as private pools inside the villas is sterile and the swimming pool is very dirty and the corridors inside the resort among the trees, the remains of dead trees gathering insects and dangerous reptiles, and inside the villas, the remains of trees gathering all the dirt, insects and remnants of rain and water collection. Most resort services are consumed because the age of the resort dates from 2009 Furniture consumable and breakers who clean the rooms also need training and workers cleaning island, most do not work unless it is Marit to give him a tap or sitting mobile or listening to music and other resort shows it is random due to poor management and bicycles It will consume him or else the island is big, but you need great care and I advise you to go to the Maldives to go to the resorts chain Anantara Ka Kihava or Diego or Fisli or Niama or Four Seasons or Vermont or Santi this resort is not worth the trouble for the very high prices which I do not deserve to advise the owner of the resort to close it permanently and maintenance Full and open additional restaurants as an Italian restaurant and the expansion of the work of children's games and cleanliness Jizrh and any trees falling and dead are clean because most of the insects and reptiles take care of them and the transfer of diseases and viruses Resort frankness haraam needs attention Sorry I waited for you to conquer me My last visit thanks

Could not fault our stay at the Shangri La Resort at Villingi on the Maldives, the Staff, Amenities, the experience as a whole was something we will treasure forever. Thanks for making our stay one we will remember, will be back for sure. Justin and Maryanne Curtis

One of the best place to see the beautiful sunset ever....

too hard to emphasize, just go and see for yourself

Options for Vegetarians in all your buffets were very less and for non-vegetarians, it was mostly the repetition of the same. Please note that packed beverages and food though are available at fixed prices in the market were exorbitantly priced in resort(nearly 8 times).

All the other facilities and activities are exceptional and we enjoyed our stay at your Resort. Thank You for service.

We found our whole time with you both a delight and a healing. Overall the service, resort facilities, food and environment a marvellous holiday experience.
One of two constructive feedbacks:
We originally expected all restaurants to be open for most days. Fashala was undoubtedly the best gastronomic experience for us on the island, hence we were disappointed to only find it open to the public for three of the 11 days we were there.
We found the buffet to be over priced in comparison to the other restaurants and in villa dining. We do not normally book all inclusive, and are not large eaters, but found the cost at the buffet for what we ate to be prohibitive.
It would have been good to have the fruit dishes in the rooms filled more regularly, and with tropical fruits rather than apples, oranges and plums which we could get at home.
However, we loved our visit, and will certainly include a return in the near future.

Kind regards

Graeme and Tina Allan

We had a great stay. The resort is lovely and made all the better by Shangri-La's people such as Nihad, our Villa Host, Abdul who manages the golf and health clubs and our villa cleaner each day. Great people and a lovely resort.

Picture postcard perfect. The service was excellant and great value for money on the deal we had. We left the resort totally relaxed and could have stayed longer.

My wife, my 11 year old daughter and I stayed at Water Villa for 5 days. Water villas are two of Serenity Bay and Whispering Palm. Serenity Bay is beautiful with emerald light, but the underwater environment is not so good, and the whispering palm has good underwater environment (I have seen turtles) but it is not very popular.

You do not plan to snorkel, you look at the sea and you heal
If you do, you will have a good sunset direction at Serenity Bay.
I will.

Food and service are, of course, wonderful.
Restaurant Pasha is a little bit higher than his own.

Be sure to take the Chi Spa.
It is the therapists who understands the vague boundary of the cool, the cool, the sick and the pleasant thing and thinks from the standpoint of the customer.

I hope to come back when I have a chance ^^

Beautiful place and friendly staff. Loved having a bike to cycle around with, and I came back one day to find my bath filled with hot water, bubbles, and flower petals, which was a lovely surprise. I did have bed bugs, which was surprising for such a high quality place. I understand these things can't be controlled 100 percent, but it would have been nice to have gotten a faster reaction (an investigation, maybe?) upon voicing my initial suspicions... I got to change rooms but not until I found an actual bug. I do hope something was done to immediately resolve the problem!

A beautiful, relaxing slice of paradise where you can forget all your troubles and truly relax. The facilities and service are excellent. Before I came I worried the Maldives would be too quiet but this resort has changed my mind. It's so calm and relaxing but there are plenty of activities if you want something to do, such as water sports, snorkelling in the reef, golf or other excursions. A wonderful place which I'm already looking forward to coming back to.

Overall facilities and services was quite good. However, you should consider variety of foods selection. For example, we stayed there 8 days and finally tired with same breakfast everyday. Also, quality of foods at all three restaurants was poor compare to what we paid.
Every single environment of enired resort was excellent and service and careness of all of your staffs was really excellent.

We chose the resort expecting the quality of service that makes Shangri la s renowned in the world as one of the highest standard hotel chain s.
Once you approach the island the feeling is that the resort is as expected but it takes very little to face reality.
The premises are in general very badly maintained, overall common areas are dirty and attention to the clients is poor.
Other than the check in being made once you arrive, the general feeling is that you are a bit left on your own and no real follow up is given to the clients. Our villa host is a lovely man who surely knows his job but the feeling I had, of him but also of most of the professional staff with experience, is a sense of resilience to some sort of general discontent and unprofessional management. Those that are actually trained and capable of doing their job have to deal with a group of apprentices (the majority of the staff) who have no idea of what the service in a 5 star premises is like. This lowers the quality of the service and the feeling we had is that it makes those who are professionals feel hopeless to make any real difference and frustrated because they are not put in the position to do their job as they should. The management in general is very poor, employees are kind of left unsupervised with no direction by whoever should be in charge and the lack of leading is highly felt. We ended up waiting 35 minutes for a plate of pineapple and mangostin at breakfast.. Tables in the restaurants were often dirty with previous guests food rests not properly cleaned up, we even ended up one day sitting for lunch at the same table where we had breakfast to find that our plates and cups were still there, we are talking about 3 hours later... most efficient and prepared waiter is an indian boy named Javeed, he is the only one that has been able to give some service which did resemble what you would expect from any 5 stars hotel, for sure he did try his best, unfortunately he was not helped too much by the rest of the staff nor by the ones in charge. But this is about it. With the rain the transport to the villas and restaurants became an issue, to the point that we had the restaurant calling 4 times to follow up our request and after again more than half an hour we decided to go by walk to our villa, I do have a 1 year old child with me though.. the living room of our villa smelled horrible because it wasn t probably opened for a very long period of time, at our arrival just after the check in we opened a drawer to get a glass and found a scorpion alive in it.. big insects dead under the main table and sofa in the living room were there too upon arrival and did not get removed untill we requested it specifically 4 days Later... the kids club employees are very nice and the dive center is also working well but thats about it. In general the service is not up to the standard, the premises are kept in very poor conditions and staff is basically not motivated nor directed as it should. I was given a complimentary night upgrade in Laaluu villa, very beautiful indeed but once again terribly maintained. I did wonder where the general manager was and where each sectors responsibles too, i have indeed paid for a 5 star hotel to find myself in a bad maintained and organized premises receiving the service of a 4 stars, really not impressed with it. Food wise, the buffet was a joke also not up to the standards required, small variety not refreshed to the point that even rice would end up looking like a bad version of sticky balls; would be better to stick to a la carte menu if affording a proper buffet ends up being a too high cost. This is just a resumee of what we experienced, i did love the island and wish things would change to enable us to go back and enjoy its beauty. Hopefully something will change.

Shangrila Maldives was just as good as we remembered it 9 years ago. It was nice that the hotel started having half and full board packages and a greater variety of restaurants menus on different night. The staff was always personable and friendly as before. The resort activities were great and the new golf course was a big plus. We really enjoyed the trip and would highly recommend the resort.

Magical. Especially the service. We highly commend all of the staff. Well trained, friendly and efficient.
Suggestion that Dr Ali have a few western alternatives, especially the nights the main restaurant is closed. I was not feeling well a few nights and found it hard to find something that was not so rich or spicy.

Beautiful place with excellent accommodation, food and service. Had a wonderful time.

Very likely one of the most amazing places / resorts you will ever come across!

A)
A unique place on earth, perfect beach and totally clean made it a lovely stay. Perfect staff (especially: Director F&B Hassan Ibrahim, Nihad our personal host, Barkeeper Chalitha and Deeptih who was perfectly taking care of our house) and a beautiful villa (beach villa with private pool and private acces to the beach).

B)
BUT not so nice price displaying policy:

1. Mini Bar content prices not displayed at all (except asking for the prices gives you a hint, no price list in rooms/villas available)

2. there is a beautiful 21m sailing yacht which can be chartered for half day trips or even day trips. We wanted to charter it for one day, trip was called lunch at the equator . Everybody would so assume for the displayed price you pay what is written next to the description: amount X +10% tax & +12% service charge. Worth to us during our honeymoon.
The evening before we were told lunch goes extra with 340$ per person, again +10% tax & +12% service charge. Still affordable, but under these circumstances we felt trapped, and that during our honeymoon which spills a certain flavor over the reputability of the responsible management.

Still recommendable, but be aware to calculate more costs for your stay than written on the price table.

What to say about this paradise below the Equator? This island supports the highest point in Maldives - 5 meters above sea level! The hotel is supperb and the staff makes us feel like at home. The golf couse, that made me decide for this hotel, is that kind of " courses that you must play once in your life".

The best holliday ever!
The accomodation, the staff, the food, the pool, everything was perfect. I have no complaints.

Excellent resort, Friendly staff, a lot of activities, family friendly with kids club, 3 restaurants.

We were absolutely in awe even before we stepped onto the island. Truly a piece of paradise. But what makes a place like this even more special, is the warm and friendly staff, a true asset. Smiling faces every where we went, every one we passed by. We had a fantastic island host, Issey, always service with a warm smile, nothing was too much. And every night, we enjoyed our chats with the resort manager, Mei Pun. And the wait staff who attended to all our needs, always time to stop for a little chat if we ever got curious about anything ! Josephine and Meetheu at Javvu, and Qouri at Dr Ali, were all very good at their jobs. They are many others but I can't remember their names, sorry.
Both Dr Ali and Fashala were great locations, love the lighting and atmosphere. Fabulous food.
Our water villa was Huge, clean and very nicely appointed. Even our housekeeping Haleem was very efficient and friendly.
Overall, a top-class resort on a beautiful island. This is the BEST Shangri-la property we have stayed in, and definitely my absolute FAVOURITE!!! We will be back, for sure.

Fantastic island and the hotel. From the time of the arrival at the airport, there were Shangri-la staff to usher us and take us to the island follow by easy check-in and into the villas. The Water Villa was more than what was expected. Service was excellent. Senior Management team led by the GB, Executive chef and the F&B Assistant Director who was always around for a friendly chat to check our stay. The Sous Chef at the Jauvva restaurant Lokugamage treated us to some lovely food. Went out of the way to ensure the food was to our liking and any special requests were made to order. Plenty of activities in the island kept me and my family with two young children busy. Good snorkelling outside the water villa. Check-out was as good as the check-in. Hotel staff was there all the way from the hotel to the airport check-in desk to ensure our departure as good as the arrival. Overall a fantastic experience and we will visit again for sure.

I ,m. s.lamba from jaipur ,India beutyfull palece of word but unfortunetly i cant join you just now but infutur if i have opertunity ill go there

Amazing place, nice staff, recommended hotel if you want to visit the Maldives

Super premium experience. Would want to visit over and over again! Royal service and a beautiful setting!

-Arrival experience was very nice in general we did like the hotel and specially the line staff's were the people who made our holiday perfect outstanding hospitality and kindness are Hussan (dive centre), Nasif, Saif and Mutheo (Food & Beverage) Asfar had a good manner and a way to encourage guests
- A big disappointment from this resort was when a western executive chef asked me where i was from and the moment he heard of the location he changed his persona, . I am a senior butler and train new butters in a 5* plus hotel so i can read peoples easily , it doesn t matter where i am from or the colour of my skin so in NO circumstance should i be down spoken by any individual, I m a firm believer that the hierarchy in this resort needs assessment , This happened on the night 14th Nov when their was an Asian Buffet in the main restaurant , on the next day my wife wanted to leave the hotel but the line staff's made the deference
- Also on the same night when we were on dinner their was a lady staff walking inside and outside of the restaurant talking to the guests and i did look very carefully that me and my wife was the only one she didn't come and talk to as guests , so from their we knew that their is a big deference on colour in this resort specially withing managers
- We don't want very much attention but what i want say is this not it have to be in beautiful resort like this

i am writing this over and over again because i fell personally very bad choosing a resort with managers like this and if they treat guest like this i can imaging how it will be to the staff's

Their is nothing i can mention about line staffs because they were extremely perfect , so to them i can only say THANK YOU

Great resort. Location, food, service, all the best. It is an obvious choice.

This place is like heaven on earth. I have travelled extensively but this place beats anywhere I have ever been. Love it! Put it on your bucket list.

A wonderful hotel, run by a man whose sense of service is worthy of the heavenly place. It has a sense of hospitality, is very present with its customers during their stay and ensures our well being at every moment. Thank you from the heart !

What an amazing place! I'd definitely recommend going in May and enjoying it while it's a little quieter. We didn't get any rain at all, so the gamble paid off fine.

Superb hotel and exceptional setting
We stayed in August 2019 in this resort, in a deluxe pool villa (villa with private pool)

The bedrooms are really very large, spacious with shower (s), dressing room and all the comforts expected.

The hotel is located on a very large island for the Maldives and travel is by bicycle (which is very nice by the way)
There are pretty sea beds, coral reefs, in the northeast of the island, especially beautiful

The service is very attentive and efficient and the catering part really delicious (3 restaurants in total including 1 buffet type)

We have already tested other resorts in the Maldives and this one is really great
In addition, located in the South Atoll, it is less affected by the effects of the rainy season

Negative point: it is a journey to come from France (Paris - Dubai - Male - Gan / 3 planes) and to finish 10 minutes by speedboat ... we appreciate the swimming pool on arrival!

Absolutely flawless service and experience from Shangri La, Vilingilli island, Maldives. The island is so lush and green with the most turquoise water I ve ever seen. Mai and all the staff were genuinely kind and thoughful. All restaurants were wonderful. The lamb shank at Dr Ali s was delicious as was the service from Qory. The food at Fashala was incredible especially the desserts! The dive center and the dive staff especially the manager Kerry and all instructors Cristelle, Farouk and Amaia were the same, great boats crews and equipment and after 300 dives this was the first time I have ever seen so many mantas and the dolphin cruise was jaw dropping. Thank you for an unforgettable stay!

Best resort I ve ever been to! Staff, facilities, activities, food and drinks all perfect, in a picturesquely and impossibly beautiful location. Will be back!

Just a short stay this time but as welcoming as ever and wonderful staff snd facilities mafe it perfect as can be.

this is a truly beautiful island and property. we had a lovely holiday overall. Positives, all the staff are exceptional and cannot do enough for you. There was plenty of things to do, and excursions, but we felt a number of these we prohibitively expensive, to the point that you just wouldn't go on them, surely reduce the price and sell many more trips?
we liked the ecological credentials and ethos of the hotel, but feel you should promote this much more, and the fact that the hotel is very remote. we felt that overall the hotel needs a refurbishment, and there was some villas where this was happening. we felt that the food, whether influenced by the Budhha Bar or not was generally good, but sometimes inconsistent. and we felt all food and drink generally had too much sugar added.
overall, we very much enjoyed the island and holiday and would recommend it to others without hesitation.

Like:
My husband and I went alone for three night. We enjoyed our time there. The food was good in Dr. Ali restaurant and Javva restaurant. The SPA experience was very nice the lady offered an extra treatment which was good idea to add. The tree house with the pool was spacious.
Did not like:
The towels on the wimming pool were wet and they never changed during our stay.
If you are covered lady you have to make sure to inform the house keeping, the room service to call before coming, i noticed some of the staff were coming in because no one answered.
The bell was only inside, if you were sitting by the pool you will not hear the bell ringing.
During the period we were there the villa host service was slow.

We had the most incredible time! Easily the best resort we have ever visited. The activities were fantastic and the people were so kind. I would visit every year if we could! It exceeded all of our expectations.

Superb
This is amazing

This place is just unreal. Water villas are very spacious and amazing views. Around the reef we say rays and sharks. Lots of fun activities like tennis and golf. Plus a fun island to jog or cycle around. Every guest gets their own bike and snorkel gear. Food has been great, plus great service and very friendly staff. We can't wait to come back!!

Best Experience!! Everything was a delight - the Villa, the pool, the large deck, many sports activites to particpate in, snorkelling (fantastic) and the food was outstanding with healthy fresh choices in abundance. A great atmosphere with warm hospitality from the wonderful people working on the Resort. A big thankyou to all the staff who made our stay so incredibly special.

Absolutely amazing. We visited for our honeymoon and were astounded by the level of service and facilities at the resort. We had the best stay and did not want to leave. Everything from the food to the island activities were first class. We could not reccomend this resort enough. Every little detail is though of. Thank you for an amazing time in paradise.

Great staff and facility. However, maintenance and housekeeping of the villa could be better. Found dusty and non functional shades and the volume control in the bathroom speaker was not functional.

I spent a honeymoon 6 days divided between the beach and aquatic crew very very friendly and ashamed was very happy days I spent in it ... I wish him the best always

A few glitches : pool lights not working , automatic curtain not functioning , bicycle brakes worn out , but rest was perfect

This place is very nice
I'm just reluctant to go home

Beautiful resort with great villas that make you feel real special. Great house reef and a sprawling golf course. The only thing that needs improvement is the service time

From the moment we landed at Male airport to the moment we left we felt like royalty. The service was exceptional, the staff delightful and welcoming, the accommodation superb, the food (in all the restaurants) delicious. For sheer peace and tranquillity I don't think this venue could be bettered. We are definitely planning to return.

Loved it!
The villas were amazing and the staff very friendly! We felt like home!
The Spa deserves an update to match the quality of the hotel.
We had a very special stay, thank you so much!

We had a fantastic stay at Villingilli. From the General Manager right down to the general garden staff everyone was exceptional and made our stay brilliant. I would have liked to see a "shared" tipping opportunity at checkout as it was just too hard to pick individual staff. Having said that full credit to Made and Moonis at breakfast they were exceptionally welcoming each morning and Moonis always remembered how I had my coffee.

Beautiful resort with enchanting scenery.
Warm and superb service in tranquility.
Great times to stay here..

The facilities were amazing with regards to the villa, the pool and the beach. The staff were good but they need to be more attentive to the guests requests and needs.

It is very beautiful here. All day sunshine, 29 degrees water temperature, good food and very nice staff.

Wonderfully set up resort with very helpful staff at all levels. Staff were excellent from the waiters and guest relations staff right up to the management team. Everyone strives to ensure guests were well looked after. Quality of the villas was first rate. A minor problem in our room was fixed immediately, before we got back from breakfast.

The place was amazing, beautiful location and great facilities! But most importantly the staff were fabulous, I couldn t praise them enough! I hope I can return again soon!

All staff from buggy driver restaurant staff and Chef who made our choice Indian meal were very excellent
Few names as follow
Amar Bar attendees
Wishaan look after us everyday
Champok
Mohamed shiftiest
Latif
Nashid buggy
Azmeel
Hassan ibrahim
Sumudu Nikantha Whi made Indian tea
Amaany helping helping Panna

The best place for couple or family retreat. Very professional and friendly staff. Staff was very calm and professional handling issues even though there was a miscommunication regarding the bill on departure. Villingili Island is a paradise!

I was disappointed with a couple aspects of the trip. Specifically, we weren't helped by our island host hardly ever. We told him we wanted to go to dinner 2 nights with no communication in response to that or any reservations made. Secondly, we had a leak in our ceiling that came down crashing with a very loud noise in the middle of the night. After we called the service desk, we had someone look at it but we opted not to move villas since it was our last night. To that avail, we thought someone would at least be coming by to clean up after they said so when they left and no one did. We were left cleaning the mess ourselves.

Beautiful views and the location will ask a fairy tale

We had the most wonderful holiday. The rooms were beautiful. The food was exceptional. The views and location were perfect. We loved Josephine, our favourite waitress in Javvu. She was excellent. We'll be back as soon as we can, with the kids next time. They would have a ball.

Wonderful resort with friendly staff ..
It takes a minute to get to Gan Airport and then to the hotel.

August 2015

Wife has wanted to go for years so we've come for our 10yr wedding anniversary and yeah it's great

Keyword luxury total in the Indian Ocean: spacious beach villa with private pool, day lounge and air-conditioned, separate reception room for guests.
The location at Gan Atoll, right on the equator, requires a one-hour flight transfer from Male, as a guest of the Shangri La has a private lounge for the waiting period available.
After embarrassing my suitcase, the butler informed the resort there and I found a polo and light linen trousers in the room, a service that is typical of the quality of the Shangri La chain.
Of course, the offered has its price, but who has earned a few days of luxury is just right.

The sea view is good, the service is good, the local and leisure facilities are all right, and the food in the three restaurants is good.

Celebrated out Honeymoon at the Shangri La. From the Food, service, facilities and atmosphere everything was a 5 star experience. Cant wait to be back!

We stayed at the Shangri-La for our honeymoon and had an amazing time. The location was perfect, the villas were spacious with everything you would like. We had a few hiccups initially with some dietary requirements but the staff were very gracious in receiving feedback and once we highlighted this to them they went out of their way to make our stay a great and memorable experience. Thank you!

Lovely attol well worth the trip, made even better by truly lovely people

Beautifully located Island love the natural Beauty staff are friendly Wishaan our island host very helpful will definitely visit again

It was clear that a great deal of thought and planning had been put into everything from: the rooms; servicing of rooms; facilities in the rooms; the quality of the food and the friendliness and interest of the staff serving the food; the interaction of the management team with guests; the activities available and the enthusiasm and interest of the staff running the activities; and the general friendliness of all involved with the Shangri-La and the services provided. Finally the proactive approach taken by yourselves to help us solve our flight problem was much appreciated and unexpected.