Inside a Hawksbill Pool Villa at the Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island resort
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This is part 2 of our review of Waldorf Astoria Seychelles. In Part 1, click here, I cover the history of the island, how to get there and the dining and recreational amenities of the hotel.
In this article, I want to take a closer look at the Hawksbill Pool Villas.
None of the villas are, strictly speaking, ‘beach villas’. This is because Platte Island is still an active turtle nesting site and there has been no development or construction directly on the beach front. Instead, villas are staggered and set back at least 10 metres from the ocean, amongst dense tropical surrounds, with footpaths to the beach.
All the villas are built in the same style. The best way I can describe it is like segments of an orange: one bedroom villas have three segments (one segment for the living room, bedroom and bathroom). Multiple room villas add additional segments. The Hawksbill one bedroom villas have 141 square metres of space.
As a reminder, Hilton provided my accommodation, board and flight to Platte but I paid for all other expenses, including flights to the Seychelles.
Inside the Hawksbill one bedroom pool villas
There are just 50 villas on the island. Apart from the Deluxe Rooms (I will come to those later), all one, two, three and five bedroom villas come with their own private pools.
The front door opens onto the living room. There’s a convenient bench/shelf in the entryway for putting items (and shoes) as you go in and out:
The living room features large curved sofa, armchair and coffee table:
The TV, meanwhile, is behind a sliding panel on the wall so that you can hide it away when not in use.
There are two freestanding mini bars. The one on the right is for hot drinks with a Nespresso machine and kettle.
The other mini bar is for cold drinks. This features a couple of litre-sized bottles of water (complimentary) as well as a fully stocked fridge and wine fridge with full-sized bottles.
These are chargeable and included a bottle of Rock Angel rose, Champagne, Bottega Gold prosecco etc. Several half-sized liquor bottles with rum, tequila, whisky and the like were also available.
A full cocktail shaker set was there, as were a number of champagne flutes, wine glasses and snacks.
Next door was the bedroom, with sliding doors to partition it from the living room and bathroom should you want to.
The king-sized bed sits in the middle with a lovely canopy of white sheer fabric. During turndown, housekeeping pulls the curtains to create an almost fully enclosed space in the style of a four poster bed.
A large bedside table is on each side and you’ll find UK-style mains sockets as well as USB-A and USB-C ports. The room does not feature electric curtains, which is a shame.
Opposite the bed is a free-standing TV with a Bose Atmos soundbar.
Around the back of the bed is the wardrobe space, with a large central luggage rack and two wardrobes either side. This is also where you’ll find towelling robes, an iron and ironing board and other useful amenities.
The last ‘segment’ of the villa is the bathroom. The large free standing bath takes centre stage, whilst two wash basins are on either side:
and
Bath salts and bubble bath were not provided but were delivered very quickly when I called to request them.
The shower and toilet are against the back wall, in their own cubicles. The stone-clad shower is particularly large with rainfall and handheld shower heads.
You also get an outdoor shower right next door.
Toiletries throughout are from Aesop, although sadly not the gritty exfoliating handwash flavour!
Bizarrely (and this seems to be a recurring trend for hotels in the Seychelles) the toilet had a fully transparent glass door. It seems odd not to add a frosted door here.
A dressing table is set against the back wall, between the shower and toilet:
All three ‘segments’ of the villa face the pool and garden with expansive floor-to-ceiling doors.
On the deck, you have a round day bed, a comfortable swing bench and an outdoor dining table:
The large plunge pool is lovely and refreshing and includes a shallow shelf to relax on.
The garden extended about 10 metres and featured two more lounges and an umbrella. At the very rear was a little break in the surrounding foliage and a path to the beach.
Hilton Honors redemptions at Waldorf Astoria Seychelles
Hilton has rightly come in for a lot of criticism for the way it has administered Hilton Honors redemptions at the resort.
Redemptions are priced at 130,000 Hiton Honors points per night for a standard room. Book for four days and you get the fifth night free as part of Hilton’s long standing promotion for elite members (Silver or above), which lowers the cost to 104,000 points per night.
However, there’s a catch. Redemptions are offered for standard rooms, which in this case means the King Deluxe Rooms of 79 square metres, and not the one-bedroom villas with private pool.
These rooms are connected to multi-bedroom villas and can be partitioned off. Despite this being a supposedly all-villa all-private pool resort, someone on a redemption booking may end up with neither. That’s a little sneaky from Hilton and/or the resort.
There is almost no reason to pay cash for a King Deluxe Room, as they are only marginally cheaper than the Pool Villas and are not comparable in terms of size or facilities.
If you were thinking about redeeming Hilton Honors points here, I would strongly recommend speaking to the resort before or immediately after booking to agree a cash deal to upgrade you to a Hawksbill villa.
Conclusion
As you would expect, the villas at the Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island are beautiful. I liked the contemporary, segmented design as well as the use of lots of natural materials including wood and stone to create a warm and welcoming home from home. The only thing I thought was missing were electric curtains!
None of this comes cheap, of course. Hawksbill Pool Villas are available to book from €2,770 per night including breakfast, and you should expect to spend much more when you factor in meals and other activities, plus your seaplane transfers.
Get a special deal via our luxury hotel partner
Our luxury hotel booking partner, Emyr Thomas, is a Hilton ‘Impressario’ agent. Anyone booking via Emyr will receive the following benefits:
- Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
- Complimentary breakfast for two
- $100 equivalent hotel credit once per stay
- Early check-in / late check-out, subject to availability
- Double Hilton Honors points, plus the standard elite night credits
There is also a ‘4th night free’ promotion at the moment which is hugely valuable given the rates here. You pay the same as the flexible rate on the Hilton website and the cancellation / payment rules are identical.
You can contact Emyr by filling in the form on this page of HfP.
You can find out more on the Hilton website here.
If you haven’t already, you can read my overview of the resort, restaurants and other facilities of the Waldorf Astoria Platte Island here. My third review, of Mango House Seychelles (LXR Collection) is here.
How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (October 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
12,000 bonus points (special offer), Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review
NEW: Hilton Honors Debit
3,500 bonus points (special offer), 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
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:
- American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)
and for small business owners:
- American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.
The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.
(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.)
TGLoyalty 
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