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Alila Kothaifaru Maldives Now Bookable with Hyatt Points
At long last, the latest addition to Hyatt, the Alila Kothaifaru Maldives, is now bookable and is soft opening from next month (April). I’ve had this in my iPhone tabs for weeks, refreshing daily.
It is a Category 7, meaning that you can use the free night certificates earned when you stay 60 nights in a year here and you’ll pay in a range of 25,000 – 35,000 points a night. Cash rates are in the $300s for the April soft launch then are generally over $800 with peak times like December over $2,000 a night.
There are a few reasons to be pretty excited about this.
One is the chance to talk about the Maldives! (I kid, I kid – inside miles and points blogger joke 😉 )
Selling Points of the Alila Kothaifaru Maldives
- For Maldives lovers, more resorts that can be booked with points are always better.
- Hyatt points redemptions remain on a fixed chart and this means that peak times are exceptional value for points.
- Hyatt points are pretty easy to earn as a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner.
- The base room here is a Beach Villa which includes a private pool. The other Hyatt option in the Maldives, the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, offers beach villas as base rooms, but they lack your own private pool (which would be a huge deal to me when trekking halfway around the world for the experience). The Alila is the same price in points (25,000 – 35,000). Not only that but Globalist Suite Upgrades are not valid at the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa to upgrade into the Pool Beach Villa – whereas this is standard at the Alila.
- Comparable properties from Marriott Bonvoy will be off the charts come 2023- post full devaluation. Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Maldives is gorgeous but is near impossible to string together standard award nights (meaning you’d be paying over a million points a night most days). I will note that IHG’s InterContinentalMaldives Maamunagau Resort has plentiful availability for 120,000 points a night or less in an overwater villa.
Since it’s not open yet, we have no trip reports, but the Alila brand, which is also the brand that the Ventana Big Sur falls under, is up on par with the Park Hyatt in terms of luxury and service, though it’s a bit more nature oriented.
Note that you cannot use confirmed Globalist Suite Upgrade Awards at this property, same as the Park Hyatt.
I did make myself a speculative booking for December using Hyatt’s amazing Points Advance feature for Globalists (where you can book without the points in your account and “pay” for the stay later), although I also have speculative St Regis and JW Marriott bookings around the same time – so we’ll see where we wind up! (If we do at all – I am still not sure about traveling to the Maldives with a 10 month old!
Summary
The new Alila Kothaifaru Maldives is finally available for booking and is soft opening next month. It will be a great option for miles and points enthusiasts in the Maldives, given how expensive many of the other chains have or will become. And given that Hyatt transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards, it’s not that hard to earn enough points for a stay.
Get Hyatt Bonus Points: Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening, plus an additional 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in you first 6 months on purchases that would normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent. | How to apply for this offer.
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