Points redemption in Maldives for five nights

[Ash1]

I have saved and played the game and have now accumulated enough points for a 5 night points stay at a top Marriott hotel in Maldives – St Regis or Ritz Carlton.
I am planning to go next year October for my honeymoon.
I am purely going with the SR/RC due to the cash value. I could never imagine paying £3k+ per night for a hotel.
I am also a platinum member.
Has anyone been to either hotel and know what benefits you get as a platinum member? e.g. free breakfast, discount in restaurants. I have emailed both hotels and have not had a response.
Any recommendations on which one to go for?
I know some please offer elite member manager drinks, does anyone know if either of the hotels do them and if so on what day?
A top hotel like SR/RC in Maldives have always been a dream on mine so any help would be very much appreciated.

[NorthernLass]

Platinum benefits should be listed in your Bonvoy account. I can’t remember if you have to be Platinum or Titanium to get breakfast. Also have a look at TripAdvisor, Flyertalk, etc which often have threads on individual hotels and what you get at them with status.
Remember to factor in transfers, F & B costs etc. I’m sitting on nearly a million HH points but just can’t convince myself that Maldives is a good redemption choice because of how ridiculously expensive everything else is!

[Matt]

You will get a free breakfast at the St Regis, but not at the Ritz-Charlton. As NorthernLass says, check the costs for food and drink, transfers and anything else you might want to do – it will be very expensive, with “++” signifying an extra 21% service charge.

Personally I’d suggest saving the points and picking an all inclusive resort in the Maldives

[Kowalski]

I’d imagine that breakfast at the Ritz Carlton will be very expensive, whereas at the St Regis you’ll get this free by way of your status. So that alone could swing it in favour of the St Regis. But like others have said, check other costs also, sea plane transfer etc etc.

But it should be a wonderful trip!

[NorthernLass]

I think I would second the AI suggestion (although the one we did over 20 years ago was distinctly “meh”, I think they have improved in recent years). Prices look scary at first glance but then you see people warning you to budget $500 per day for F & B and it starts looking like a better deal!
What are you planning to do re flights? There is still some limited availability in BA PE on avios if that’s an option for you.

[YC]

STR was outstanding a few years ago and free breakfast with plat+. RC is newer. Not done much research on AI but I would think it will be hard to beat the hard product/service at STR. Crunch the numbers/quality for AI vs STR you will get a better idea on real value for points. It can also be hard to part with £5k cash vs 500k points and using points might mean you get to go on a dream honeymoon. Marriott are also moving to dynamic pricing so its probably not a bad idea to lock in the 5 nights now and burn your stash!

[Tracy]

I’m heading to RC next month for 25th wedding trip. Very little in the way of Elite benefits here from what I can see. No free breakfast at RC. There used to be happy hour, afternoon tea etc for elites on opening but all stopped now. One big benefit at RC is free water throughout the resort and free non alcoholic minibar & snacks in room. Honestly, I’d rather have free water than free breakfast 😂

[Rob]

Not sure how the pricing has moved but when it launched last year the Meridien was excellent value on points.

The slam dunk deal was the Radisson until the devaluation.

The Hyatt may work by buying points – get the max this year with the 25% discount, max early next year when a good bonus runs, repeat for partner, merge points (both of you need a stay in the last year to merge) and you might be there.

Hyatt has guaranteed ‘standard room’ availability so if a base room is being sold for cash, it is yours for points.

[FlyingPtarmigan]

We went to Le Meridien on points in March. It was excellent.

And/but we still managed to spend nearly £4k between us on transfers, food, drinks and excursions – and that was making use of what turned out to be an excellent value meal package.

My advice would be to check out the F&B and transfer prices. Don’t underestimate the value of that free breakfast as I suspect you’ll be paying at least $100 + service charge at the Ritz Carlton.

The FlyerTalk master threads on various hotels are well worth checking out as people post menus (with pricing).