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Review: the Conrad Maldives Rangali resort – getting there and overview

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This is a review of the luxurious Conrad Rangali resort on the Alifu Dhaalu atoll in The Maldives.

The Conrad Rangali is a popular choice amongst HfP readers, in part because it has historically offered exceptional redemption value, and it remains an excellent use of Hilton Honors points. Remember that elite members of Hilton Honors get ‘5 nights for 4’ when redeeming which really helps on resort stays.

Long-time reader Cat recently stayed at the resort and offered to review it for us. As this is such a beautiful location, and because it is such a great redemption, we were happy to accept.

The Conrad Maldives Rangali website is here.

Conrad Maldives Rangali

It’s not every month that we publish a three-part review of one resort – in fact, the last time was probably in 2017, for this exact hotel before it was refurbished. We hope it is useful for anyone who has already booked a stay at the Conrad Rangali or who is seriously considering it. I’m pretty sure Cat has covered all the bases!

Over to Cat:

“I am aware that the Conrad Maldives can be a contentious topic on HfP, and that the mere mention of Rangali Island can incur a degree of comment-thread polarization normally reserved for the Trump Turnberry, marmite and £220 recycled plastic swimming shorts.

However, the resort has just re-opened following an extensive refurbishment of all 50 over-water villas and the rooms look all sparkly and new again, so here we are.

I’m not here to convince you that this is the holiday to end all holidays, or that you’re missing out, but it is an undeniable bargain as redemptions go. To me and many others, the Conrad Rangali is paradise.

I have been saving my Hilton Honors points with the intention of redeeming them in the Maldives for the best part of a decade now, and I finally had enough for a 10-night trip. When the April 2022 dates were made available, I pounced. Even better that it doubled up as some much-needed post-pandemic pampering!

Conrad Rangali website

Booking Conrad Rangali with Hilton points

If you book the Conrad Rangali as a redemption – and frankly you’d be crazy not to, as it’s far cheaper to buy Hilton points in a points promotion and book a redemption than to pay cash – you have the choice of a Beach Villa or a Sunrise Water Villa.

Both of these options are available as Standard Room Reward redemptions for 120,000 points per night (or 96,000 if you have Hilton Honors Silver status or above, and book 5 nights for the price of 4). We were lucky enough to book before the redemption rates went up, and managed to book for 76,000 points per night (95,000 points per night, with 5 nights for the price of 4). 

It is worth noting that redemptions tend to become available 11 months in advance, usually in the first 6 days of the month. While there is generally good availability for the Beach Villas at any given time, the Sunrise Water Villas are often snapped up pretty quickly – in peak season they can to go almost as fast as HfP party tickets. I checked to see if redemptions were available 3-4 times a day for the first few days of May 2021 to ensure I got them. 

Once you’ve secured the booking, you can email the Rangali directly to get a quote for an upgrade (don’t expect a complimentary upgrade – even Diamond Honors members are unlikely to receive one.)

You will receive a custom quote that seems to vary wildly from one person to the next. I’m assured that this is a function of time of year and relative occupancy levels of the different room categories, but the quotes I received were far more steep than I was expecting.

If you do plan to upgrade, try to book the Sunrise Water Villa, as this is a higher value room than the beach villa, and the upgrade prices are generally significantly lower from the base level water villas than from the base level beach villas.

Conrad Maldives Rangali 1200

Getting to the Conrad Maldives Rangali

The journey to the Conrad Rangali is pretty arduous at the best of times – once you land in Male you have to get a connecting sea plane – but throw in the Easter holiday airport chaos, pandemic restrictions (including one or two details that Qatar Airways neglected to tell me), and luggage that we were convinced had been rerouted to Mongolia, and frankly I think it’s a miracle that we made it at all!

We arrived at Male, desperate to grab our bags and make our way to the Conrad lounge before our sea plane to the Alifu Dhaalu atoll, but it was not to be. Em’s luggage stubbornly refused to appear on the carousel and after waiting a good 90 minutes we decided it was a lost cause and headed through customs.

We were met at arrivals by a Conrad rep who was looking rather stressed, as they had been holding the seaplane and were wondering where we were. The rep took us to the seaplane check in desk, which resembled a scrum, and pushed through with our luggage to get it weighed.

There is a 27kg checked luggage allowance and 3kg hand luggage limit. If you’re over (like I was on my hand luggage – oops) then you are charged at $5 + 23.2% tax per kg.

We then waited in the seaplane waiting room for about five minutes before being taken out to board the seaplane which was alarmingly small: 

Conrad Maldives Rangali sea plane

Not the start to our holiday we wanted, but the excitement finally started to bubble up again through my befuddled jet-lagged state, as we flew past blindingly white coral atolls speckled with palm trees in the midst of azure blue seas that made me repeatedly rub my eyes – surely the sea can’t really be that colour?

Conrad Maldives Rangali sea plane view

We arrived, with the seaplane taxiing/floating to the seaplane dock on the walkway between the islands, where we were greeted by our host, Bema, who came bearing the most refreshing coconuts ever.

The Conrad Maldives Rangali resort

Conrad Rangali actually comprises of two islands, connected a walkway and seaplane dock. It’s more obvious on the map:

Conrad Maldives Rangali map

The skinny island on the left is the adults-only Rangali island whilst on the right is the family-friendly Rangalifinolhu island which is also the main island. The main island has two pools, including a kids’ pool, whilst Rangali island features only a ‘quiet zone’ pool above the water.

We were whizzed across to the main island in a buggy to complete check-in. I took the opportunity to grab us both snorkelling gear, available to borrow free of charge for the duration of your stay from the scuba centre.

We were then shown to Rangali island, the quieter, adults only half of the resort and our over-water villa, which I will tell you all about in a future instalment.

Note that the Rangali has its own resort time zone. Male is GMT + 5hrs, but Rangali (a 30min seaplane west) is GMT + 6hrs. This may sound strange initially, but once you’re there it actually this makes sense – it means sunrise is approx 7am and sunset approx 7:30pm.”

This is end of Part 1. Click here for Part 2 of our Conrad Maldives Rangali review, where we look at the different villa types available and here for Part 3 where we look at the best restaurants at Conrad Maldives Rangali – and at how to keep food costs down.

The Conrad Maldives Rangali website is here.


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

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (December 2024)

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.

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 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:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton 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

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (84)

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

  • Mike says:

    Cat – great review thanks for writing it – I really enjoyed it

  • HH says:

    A data point on upgrades. I’d booked 10 nights in a beach villa on points this March. A week before arrival, they emailed me to arrange seaplanes and I enquired about upgrades for the first 5 nights, thinking I’d split my stay between the two islands. I was pleasantly surprised to be quoted around $200++ a night to go from beach villa to a sunset water villa, and took them up on it. These are newly refurbished villas and feel like quintessential Maldives accommodation.

    We befriended a German-Austrian couple who moved after a few days from a villa like ours to a deluxe water villa (also recently refurbished). They showed it to me and it is on another level for this resort, in some ways as impressive as the Waldorf Maldives villas.

    So on day 6, while riding the buggy at lunchtime to move to our beach villa, I asked about upgrading to a deluxe beach villa on the spot. We worked out a deal where I’d get one night free, effectively making it under $300++ a night. For what we got, this was a bargain and I would urge anyone with a beach villa to upgrade to deluxe if you’re offered anything like these rates.

    • HH says:

      Deluxe beach* villa, I meant.

    • Cat says:

      The sunrise and sunset water villas are amazing, aren’t they? I absolutely would get the upgrade to the deluxe beach villas too – actually having a proper swimming pool all to yourself is amazing, and the indoor and outdoor bathroom are fab!

      • Polly says:

        Great read. We have never been to the Maldives. Might have to add it the list! After reading this. Well done getting there!

        • Cat says:

          It’s definitely worthy of adding to the list, as long as you can cope with all the lazing and relaxing, or if you’re someone who likes to do things, you can cope with mostly water-based activities!

          Where’s next for you, Polly? X

  • HH says:

    Also, Cat’s review makes the journey sound more of a hassle than it felt for us. Sure, it wasn’t as frictionless as hopping straight on the Waldorf Maldives yacht, but getting the seaplane felt way more relaxed than a typical domestic/local flight connection. Due to covid, the Conrad lounge was pretty bare but we spent so little time in there, it wasn’t a bother. I’ll save my other comments on this resort for the next two articles!

    • Cat says:

      I would have felt differently if we hadn’t waited for 90 minutes by the luggage belt of doom, I think! By the end of it, I swear I had a tic in my left eye. I was so worried that the seaplane would go without us!

    • Rhys says:

      To be fair, we did cut out a lengthy section about lost luggage, covid paperwork problems etc so it was a hassle for Cat!

  • Gordon says:

    Great review. Re waiting at the carousel for luggage for 90 mins. In an article a few months back someone mentioned Apple Air Tags, I purchased 4 before we headed to Indonesia last month and they worked great. Only snag is every time we left a hotel to explore there would be a notification that you had left luggage behind.This was not a problem for us, I guess you can take the batteries out while staying in one place.

    • Gordon says:

      Us old folk find it difficult to embrace technology, But that’s handy to know, Thanks Strickers 😉

      • Cat says:

        I think I may need to purchase some – that wait and your suggestion have convinced me! Thanks Gordon (and Strickers for the tip!).

  • Gary says:

    OT: Question re HH/Marriott redemptions in general. Is it like airlines where certain number of rooms are guaranteed to be released for example even over school holidays? So for a family of four, one redeems a base room and proceeds to negotiate upgrade as base room rarely fits whole family? Read countless posts on hotel redemptions (including Creation/IHG of course) over the years but never got into it perhaps with some regret as planning Maldives over Christmas.

    • Cat says:

      They tend to release redemption availability each month, but redemption over Christmas and New Year are really difficult to get. I think you’d be lucky to find a redemption for Christmas 2022 at this stage. If you do end up at the Conrad over NYE one year, you should be aware that there’s a compulsory £1000 pp beach dinner/party, which tends to elicit quite a few grumbles (although it is supposed to be very good).

  • captaindave says:

    Regarding the 5 nights for price of 4 deal :

    Can you book 10 nights for (points) price of 8 ? Or would you have to do 2 seperate 5/4 bookings ?

    • Cat says:

      You absolutely can book 10 nights for the price of 8 in one go – that’s exactly what I did! Sorry if that wasn’t clear!

  • Aziz says:

    Looks amazing. We’re a family of five, does anyone know if the family villas would be suitable for us?

    • Cat says:

      I think, if there’s more than 4 people, your only options are the 3 bedroom beach suite with pool, the two bedroom Rangali ocean pavillion with pool, and the Muraka. Either that, or get two different rooms. Hope that helps!

  • Dac123 says:

    We stayed here as a family in 2020 for a week. Its a big place (for the Maldives), so it’s noisy (buggies, jet skis, people). The reefs aren’t great, and the beaches over manicured. We found the staff distant and rude and the over water villas dated.

    We did use points and guests are either hhonors diamond members or package tourists from Russia. Nothing in between!

    • Cat says:

      The difference in noise levels between the main island and the quiet island is huge! We only went across to the main island for snorkeling and restaurants, so we missed most of the jet ski action, and to be honest, other than meal times and happy hour, we hardly saw anyone. The quiet island is very well set up for a lovely tranquil break.

      The rooms have been refurbished since you stayed, the staffing is back to standard (I think many of the experienced staff were poached by the Waldorf Astoria – when I stayed the staff were wonderful), and to be honest, you’d struggle to find anywhere where the reef isn’t fairly bleached now, unfortunately. It’s a global problem.

      No Russian package tourists at the moment though.

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