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Hilton has been present in the Maldives for many years. However, Hilton recently opened a new, much more accessible hotel in the Maldives just 20 minutes from Velana International Airport. It is part of the Crossroads Marina complex, which consists of Hard Rock, SAii Lagoon and the public marina. It offers guests a relaxing, yet beautiful dream vacation at a price that is quite accessible to the Maldives.
Location
SAii Lagoon and the Crossroads complex are a 20 minute fast ferry ride from Male’s main international airport, Velana. This makes it incredibly easy to get to the hotel. If you’ve been to the Maldives before, you’re probably familiar with the + per person transfers and half day travel to get to your hotel once you get off your international flight. Fortunately, you don’t have to if you go to Saii Lagoon!
At SAii Lagoon, unlike the Hard Rock Hotel, you can only see the beautiful blue lagoon and the sandbanks in the distance.
The site is part of the larger Crossroads Marina complex, meaning guests have access to a large Disneyland-style marina and the neighboring Hard Rock Cafe site. Crossroads brings a new concept to the Maldives, moving away from the one-island-one-hotel theme that has always prevailed in the Maldives. The marina is reached via a long bridge and offers guests the chance to dine and shop “offsite”. In our opinion you will find the best restaurants on the Marina.
Accessibility and check-in
The only way to reach the hotel, despite being a short boat ride away, is via a PP ferry (for children). Although this is quite pricey for a quick ride, it’s really just part of traveling to the Maldives.
Saii lagoon has a mobile app that guests can use to see activities, request items to be delivered to the room, request reservations, etc.
After we checked in and downloaded the app, we were taken to our sky room by buggy.
Rooms
SAii Lagoon offers guests a wide choice of rooms in different price ranges: sky room, beach room, family beach room, beach villa and water villa.
Overall, we found the unique features of the rooms interesting. Saii Lagoon collaborated with local artists to create artwork for each of the rooms as well as the rest of the grounds. The decor in all rooms is quirky, fun and every room has fantastic views, regardless of room type. Whether you book a sky room or a water villa, you are assured of a beautiful view of the lagoon.
Sky Room
The Sky Room is the basic standard room in SAii Lagoon. These rooms are located on the second floor of the apartments, which also consist of only 2 floors. They have a king-size bed or two double beds, a balcony with a view of the lagoon and a bathroom with double sinks. Choose the side away from the Hard Rock hotel, as it is quieter there at night.
Beach room
Beach rooms are the rooms on the ground floor of the 2-storey apartments. This room type is exactly the same as the Sky Room, but the difference is the direct access to the beach from your patio. Like the Sky Room, they have the same configurations with king beds or two doubles, as well as a double vanity, patio and sitting area. Likewise, we recommend the rooms facing away from the Hard Rock. We absolutely love the beach rooms as you have a beautiful stretch of white sand right in front of your room – it couldn’t be better!
Family beach room
The family beach rooms have an adjoining room. This is a great option for families who want to be sure to sit next to their children with a connecting door.
Beach villa
These cozy detached villas also have a king bed or two double beds, but with the addition of an indoor-outdoor bathroom. The bathroom has a double sink, an indoor and outdoor shower and a freestanding outdoor bath. The outdoor area of the bathroom is completely enclosed. From the bedroom you can access a private patio, lounge chairs and hammock on your own little retreat. You have direct access to the lagoon from your villa.
water villa
These spacious villas have floor-to-ceiling windows, an expansive patio, beautiful views and a large bathroom. There is a dining table for two inside, a sitting area and a king-sized bed, as well as the double vanity sink, indoor shower and freestanding tub outside. The only thing you have to take into account with the water villas is that they are slightly less private than the beach villas. Due to the way they were built and depending on your location, your neighbors may see you on your patio.
The patio has lounges with umbrella and hammock. It also offers direct access to the lagoon. The lagoon is perfect for swimming, both at high tide and low tide. The water villa is worth it if you are looking for the quintessential Maldives experience. As with all resorts, please note that you will need to walk an additional 5-8 minutes from the jetty to get to the property. They also offer buggies and if you want a ride be sure to call ahead.
Beach villa with 2 bedrooms
The 2 bedroom villa is essentially two standard beach front rooms together. This is a fantastic option for guests who want to share a more private space. The bedrooms are connected by a connecting door and each has its own bathroom, patio and indoor seating. They “share” a beach area and an outdoor lounging area.
2 bedroom water villa with pool
The 2-bedroom water villa is the most expensive villa you can book. This is currently the only room type that has a private pool. It has two large bedrooms connected to a large sitting room and a glass floor under the sitting area. There is a beautiful patio with a large swimming pool, hammocks and seating areas. There are two of these villas next to each other and they are located at the entrance of the jetty.
Service
In general, the service was good, with particular highlights in food & beverage and housekeeping. Housekeeping came twice a day and did an excellent job. We were introduced to our housekeeper and he was very focused on whether he was doing a good job or not. We appreciated his effort and personal approach.
The bartenders, waiters and hostesses were friendly, helpful and provided a very personalized experience.
The app was a great feature and worked really well for general questions and room requests. They also support guests in multiple languages through the app, making it very easy for guests to communicate with the front desk in a more comfortable way.
To dine
The food at SAii Lagoon was quite good and having access to the Hard Rock Cafe and Marina makes it a versatile experience for guests, especially if you stay longer. When reviewing Hard Rock Cafe vs SAii Lagoon, we preferred the restaurants at Saii Lagoon.
The property offers a number of meal plans and we were on the all-inclusive plan. The all-inclusive plan is definitely worth the cost if you like to drink cocktails all day long and eat three meals a day. Otherwise, half board and full board are also fine options, especially if you don’t drink alcohol. The all-inclusive plan is comprehensive and gives you access to every restaurant. A few marina restaurants such as Ministry of Crab give a per person meal credit, while most let you choose 3 courses.
Breakfast is served in a buffet across the bridge at the beach club which currently has a wide choice. Hard Rock Cafe guests have access to breakfast at SAii and we noticed it was very busy around 9-10am. The choice was good – we preferred to stick to the omelette kitchen and the Maldivian kitchen. They also serve mimosas, coffee and juice. Service was a bit absent during busy times and the staff seemed a bit overwhelmed. We prefer to eat around 8:30/9 as we found it quieter and less overwhelming.
Lunch is served at Miss Olive Oyl pool bar, or guests can enjoy any restaurant in the Marina. We loved going to Miss Olive Oyl, thanks to the great pool area, with comfortable lounge sofas and delicious cocktails. We loved that the all inclusive menu allowed us to order drinks with our daily meals. Although we wanted to venture out for lunch too, we couldn’t resist- we kept going back to Miss Olive Oyl. This was also an excellent spot for sunset and after dinner drinks.
They also serve food in the evening at the Miss Olive Oyl restaurant. This well-appointed establishment served delicious seafood, despite it taking some time to get served.
Mr Tomyam was also a favorite of ours. This Italian-Thai fusion restaurant had one of the most romantic settings in the complex. Most of the tables were extremely private, nestled between trees on the edge of the lagoon. The food was very good, but the environment was really exceptional. It almost felt like a private dinner.
Facilities
SAii Lagoon can be compared to a boutique accommodation in a larger complex. SAii shares a number of facilities with the Marina, including Len Spa, water sports center and breakfast buffet. Within the grounds, SAii has an excellent gym, a beautiful garden, many beaches, restaurants and also an incredible swimming pool with full beach service for lunch and drinks.
The Len spa is a long way from the resort itself so we recommend requesting a buggy for before and after. The spa has a great choice of treatments at excellent prices, with a bespoke massage starting at just 60 minutes. These prices are quite pricey for the Maldives. They don’t have steam or sauna.
The water sports center offers both non-motorized water sports and motorized sports such as jet ski excursions, scuba, snorkeling, dolphin cruises and fishing as you can see below.
The Marina also holds a Street Market where they invite various outlets to showcase their products. In “normal times” they bring in artists, musicians and vendors from Malé so that guests can buy and experience Maldivian crafts.
Design
SAii Lagoon’s style is unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere. It is quirkily decorated through the home-made artwork of a local artist. It’s certainly not standard, so if you’re looking for “peaceful tones” and “corporate”, there are plenty of other hotels that can provide that, because SAii Lagoon definitely isn’t! The style was well implemented throughout the property and each space felt equally unique and fun. Although the hotel is in this wider complex of Crossroads, it still feels incredibly separate, which is really special.
Conclusion
Overall we are very pleased with SAii Lagoon and wouldn’t hesitate to come back. The price is so affordable that you almost wonder if it could live up to expectations, but it really surprised us. The lagoon is beautiful, the food is good and the proximity to Malé makes it an incredibly comfortable escape. We can highly recommend SAii for those looking for affordable holidays to the Maldives!
