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Review: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island – on Hilton points (Part 3)

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This is part three of our reader’s review of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island focusing on Hilton Honors member benefits and the restaurants and bars.

Part 1 of our Conrad Maldives Rangali Island review can be found here.  Part 2 is here.

Hilton Honors Member Benefits – Gold and Diamond

Complimentary Breakfast (7-11am)

Breakfast is served in two locations. There’s a huge variety of Buffet choices at Atoll on Rangalifinolhu or a mixture of a more selected buffet and à la carte at Vilu at Rangali island.

Complimentary Afternoon Tea (4-5pm)

Comprises of sandwiches, cakes, scones, biscuits and a large selection of teas. This experience was previously complimentary just for repeat guests, but has now been extended to Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond members. It’s usually held at Mandhoo, but can sometimes move to Vilu depending on the prevailing weather and/or the number of Hilton Honors Elite members at the resort.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Complimentary Happy Hour at Vilu (5-6pm)

Located at Vilu Restaurant this was previously open to all guests on Rangali island Water Villas, but is now exclusively for Gold and Diamond members.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

A plate of 4 light appetisers is also served to each guest just after they order their first drink.
review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

From Vilu looking down the beach you can see the Quiet Zone and the bridge.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Managers reception at Quiet Zone

The invites for this event are left at your accommodation the day before. It is usually for Gold and Diamond members and special guests. It normally occurs on a Tuesday (approx 6:30pm onwards).

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Recommendations

1/2 price Happy Hour – this is open to all guests and runs from 5-7pm at the Quiet Zone and Rangali Bar. We visited each on alternate evenings after Happy Hour at Vilu.

Quiet Zone is a short walk down the beach from Vilu.

The Rangali Bar is on the other side of the bridge on the main island, great for sunsets.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Our favourite cocktail was the coffee inspired Affogato, more like a desert than a drink.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Here’s a sunset with George the Heron from the Rangali Bar.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Here’s a couple of sunrise photos from Mandhoo restaurant on the Spa Retreat.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

And here’s couple of the sunrise from the Infinity Pool at the Quiet Zone.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Breakfast – Whilst the buffet selection at Atoll is fantastic, we preferred eating à la carte at Vilu. As we enjoy an early morning snorkel first, we’d arrive at about 10:30am and take our time enjoying the lovely setting. I tried the excellent Oysters Rockefeller on my birthday with sparkling Rosé.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Dining out – As featured in my previous review, our favourites are still Sunset Grill and Mandhoo.

Sunset Grill 

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Steak and Lobster at Sunset Grill.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Mandhoo

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Seared Tuna at Mandhoo.

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Entertainment

Maldivian themed night is normally on a Monday

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

and

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Rewarding Hilton Honors loyalty

Given the appeal of such a special place and the enthusiasm I’ve demonstrated in my reviews, you might imagine the resort has its collection of regular repeat visitors.

For such loyal guests that meet a special set of criteria there are exclusive benefits such as the Sunset Cruise. 

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

and

review of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island

Point Redemptions at Conrad Rangali (and other insider info)

I learnt that Hilton Honors point redemptions currently account for approximately 1 in every 6 bookings at the resort.

I’ve read recent newspaper articles that highlight proposals for substantial foreign investment to develop many new resorts across the Maldives.  There’s even rumours of plans to develop a Waldorf Astoria on a new large resort spanning three islands in the next few years.  I also heard a guest speculate on the possibility of an existing hotel resort rebranding as a DoubleTree.

With this future projected level of increased competition, based on the conversations I had with Conrad staff, I feel the amount of Hilton Honors points required for a redemption in a King Beach Villa will remain at 95,000 points / night for some time yet.

I recommend staying for at least 5 nights but ideally longer to give yourself time to unwind.

Our previous stay was 10 nights on points, this time we stayed 12 nights using a Hilton Visa Certificate each and 760,000 Hilton Honors points.

Note the additional Extras – Resort charges are subject to ++ (“Plus, Plus”). There is a service charge and resort tax that equates to a non-trivial 23.2% extra above advertised prices.

Part 4 of our Conrad Maldives Rangali Island review includes, among other things, some amazing scuba diving photos.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit and debit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

There are two dedicated Hilton Honors debit cards. These are especially attractive when spending abroad due to the 0% or 0.5% FX fee, depending on card.

You also receive FREE Hilton Honors status for as long as you hold the debit cards – Gold status with the Plus card and Silver status with the basic card. This is a great reason to apply even if you rarely use it.

We reviewed the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here and the Hilton Honors Debit Card here.

You can apply for either card here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th April 2025, the annual fee on the basic Hilton Honors debit card is halved from £60 to £30. The sign-up bonus is also easier to earn – you need to spend £1,000 either in the UK or abroad within three months. The usual bonus rule requires you to spend the full £1,000 outside the UK.

NEW: Hilton Honors Plus Debit

10,000 bonus points, Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review

NEW: Hilton Honors Debit

2,500 bonus points, Hilton Silver status and 0.5% FX fees Read our full review

There is another way of getting Hilton Honors status, and earning Hilton Honors points, from a payment card.

Holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton Honors points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points.

Category

Hilton Honors

Comments (22)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • TripRep says:
    7 Apr7 April 07:00

    Just a note on the Additional extras, ie ++

    One of the powerful strengths of using points is that it means you only pay taxes for your incidental spend whilst at the resort.

    Therefore you avoid a fair amount of tax that you would have to pay on top of your room rate for a cash booking.

    A stay on points also excludes you from the bed tax of $6 pppn.

    So whilst it’s still a lot of points for a stay, considering the benefits and the total cash it would cost to stay, I feel staying on points is very good value.

    I believe this tip is also applicable to a few other properties in the Hilton group that charge resort taxes.

    • Sam says:
      7 Apr7 April 10:06

      So ++ is 23.2%, then $6pppn and the seaplane fee of $560pp on top of the room rate? And it’s all in resort dining and activities. Crikey…

      This is the kind of thing I read HfP for. It’s too much in cash but in points it’s possible.

      • TripRep says:
        7 Apr7 April 12:48

        Correct, I wouldn’t be flying business class and staying in such fabulous places unless I’d won the lottery.

        This is why I feel grateful to Rob, Anika and HFPs! 🙂

  • Raks says:
    7 Apr7 April 07:45

    12 nights. 2 certificates leaves 10 nights. Isn’t that 950000 points?

    • Boi says:
      7 Apr7 April 07:52

      5th night free brings it down

    • TripRep says:
      7 Apr7 April 07:59

      As Boi mentions.
      Gold & Diamond get 5 nights for the price of 4.

      95000/ night * 8 = 760000 for 10 nights 🙂

      • jamie says:
        7 Apr7 April 11:05

        Thanks anon,

        just one question, 760,000 is quite a large points haul, could I be cheeky and ask roughly what method u used to generate all the points? do u a lot of Hilton nites for work?

        • Amar says:
          7 Apr7 April 11:32

          Wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy 95k points (when there’s a bonus offer on) and use them to book rewards nights?

      • Tilly71 says:
        7 Apr7 April 16:27

        And old silvers!

  • Ed says:
    7 Apr7 April 08:41

    Broadly speaking what’s the cost of food at rangali?

    • TripRep says:
      7 Apr7 April 12:32

      At the best restaurants it’s pricey (Which considering the resources needed to ship out and cook top quality food is to be expected)

      We were never that hungry in the eves, so when we did dine out with friends or for special occasions we only had main courses.

      With the heat, many days after sandwiches at afternoon tea, a belly full of beer at free Happy Hour & then 1/2 price cocktails with nibbles was plenty for us.

  • Amar says:
    7 Apr7 April 09:04

    If me, my wife and my parents each had a voucher, is it possible to use all 4 vouchers for me and my wife? I.e can we use my parents’ vouchers?

    I was thinking of doing:

    Sat and Sun – vouchers
    Mon to Thur – points
    Friday – 5th night free
    Sat and Sun – vouchers

    So I would only need 380k points and 4 vouchers. (95k points x 4). Would this work?

    I have gold status (via a match), but no points so would buy them when there’s a 50% offer on the points.

    • TripRep says:
      7 Apr7 April 12:34

      Not sure on the T&Cs, but don’t you need to stay as the Certificate owner? Phone Hilton Honors to ask?

  • Peter K says:
    7 Apr7 April 14:51

    I’m sure I read a couple of years ago that the free breakfast at the Rangali Resort was removed for Gold and Platinum guests. Has it been reinstated or is this separate from the MYWAY benefits?

    • Tilly71 says:
      7 Apr7 April 16:29

      Still free for gold & diamonds!

    • TripRep says:
      7 Apr7 April 16:41

      Breakfast has been free for Gold and Diamonds for years.

      What’s new is Afternoon Tea also being Free. 🙂

      And the Free happy hour is now exclusive to Gold & Diamonds.. 😀 (hic)

  • Anna says:
    7 Apr7 April 16:51

    Going back to TripRep’s downgrade, it seems to me that a regulation should be brought in to the effect that if downgrades are necessitated by the airline overselling the flight, the holder/s of the most recently purchased ticket/s should be downgraded. This is very unlikely to be an avios seat, and would therefore make airlines much more reluctant to oversell. Otherwise, there is no incentive whatsoever for airlines not to sell redemption seats from under the passenger, as it were!

    • Genghis says:
      7 Apr7 April 17:06

      Airlines need to oversell. It’s how they then treat affected passengers that needs to be effectively handled

      • Anna says:
        7 Apr7 April 19:05

        I guess I just don’t think like a CEO – if Tesco have sold out of something then you can’t have it, regardless of how many people bought it just before you got there..!

        You’re right, though, about 15 years ago I was on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Miami and they were offering 500 dollars in vouchers to bump people onto the next flight. There were numerous volunteers – we would have gone for it but didn’t think we’d get the opportunity to use the vouchers being Brits. I don’t know if they still do this, it seemed a good incentive as the vouchers were worth much more than the cost of the flight, and the passengers being bumped off were getting a replacement flight as well.

        • Alan says:
          7 Apr7 April 20:50

          The difference is at Tesco when they purchase the food it leaves the store. With airlines people purchase the product but a certain number won’t then actually make use of it and with them being on a flexible fare the airline has ended up leaving a seat empty. I can therefore appreciate the need for them to oversell a percentage (which in fairness they’re normally pretty good at estimating) – however when they do muck up they need to treat customers much much better. This should start by asking for volunteers and recompensing them appropriately, not just bumping down a 241 voucher holder…

        • @mkcol says:
          8 Apr8 April 12:36

          I was on a TP run last week in the USA & there were several instances of American offering $500 in travel vouchers for customers to fly later in the day. Unfortunately my travel plans were too tightly connected to be able to take advantage, but in future if they weren’t I’d be right up at the gate offering myself up.

  • Alan says:
    7 Apr7 April 20:47

    Although a cheeky wee Amex Plat churn will get you the Gold at least… 😉

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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