The overwater villas at The Standard Maldives offered a breathtaking and serene environment, ideal for a luxurious island getaway. The staff's hospitality was particularly impressive, with everyone from the attentive resort staff to the engaging restaurant managers ensuring a welcoming atmosphere (shoutout to Dhammika and Jada). The dining experience was another highlight, with both breakfast and dinner providing a wide array of delicious options that catered to all tastes.

There were a few minor inconveniences during our stay. The open bathroom design in the villas was sometimes uncomfortable due to the heat, and we experienced a malfunctioning AC in one of the villas, although it was promptly fixed. Additionally, we were disappointed to find the fun tubing ride was not operational on the final day of our stay, an activity we were particularly looking forward to trying.

What a wonderful time me & wife had. From us arriving at Male airport, to reception at the resort we had the best time. As a young Muslim couple, we felt very welcomed and comfortable. We got the ocean view which gave us the extra privacy we needed as my wife wears hijab. Moreover plenty of halal options for food and they also had a mosque. The staff are really warm, and caring - they’ll take care of all your needs just a phone call away.

They have limited transportation cars, so during the peak hours it could take some time. Sadly a lot of the house coral reef has dried/burned by the heat.

Without a doubt the best place I've stayed, and the perfect hotel for a first Maldives experience. Everything is high-end while still giving you that chilled, tropical island holiday feel - rather than leaning towards the impersonal/pretentious (something I was worried about when choosing a Maldives resort). The staff are lovely, the food is varied and delicious, and the house reef is fantastic for snorkeling. I would recommend the Ocean Overwater Villa, as you are directly over the house reef and can watch the fish and eagle rays and dolphins right from your swimming pool, or walk down your own steps for a snorkel. We absolutely loved it, and are already planning to go back.

We had a wonderful week in the Standard Hotel. For us, it felt like paradise, so dreamy. A beautiful island with white sand beaches and transparent turquoise waters full of sea life. The snorkeling was amazing! We loved our ocean Villa! Very private, with a great ocean view. Riding bikes around the island was also fun. The restaurants offer a variety of different cuisine, we especially liked the Maldiven restaurant GuduGuda. A date night in a private beach cinema was a great experience! So was a full moon bonfire event. All the staff was very friendly and helpful! Special thanks to Eva! We are very grateful for these days in your resort. Hope we can come back soon again!

everything was great from A to Z ALL the staff!!! very friendly and very concerned about your comfortable stay bikes, umbrellas, all snorkeling equipment at your disposal DJ always took care of a good vibe it was our first visit to the Maldives and we did not go wrong with the choice of place didn't want to leave, but we have to return from paradise to reality But we will try to get back to you as soon as possible! Nikolaj and Irma with love for the Standard!

didn't want to leave, but we have to return from paradise to reality

The island is stunning!!! Arrival by sea plane and speed boat is a great start to the holiday with staff waiting on the jetty to greet our arrival. We were upgraded room for the first 2 days which was a nice touch. Shakhawat is possibly the best member of staff we have ever met on our travels. Worked in the restaurant, but basically assisted with every request we had on our holiday, including being in contact on WhatsApp whenever we needed.

Hard to find fault when you are on a paradise Island. If we had to find fault, then the watersports team are not on the same level as the rest of the staff so assume they do not get the same training. Borderline rude when you arrive at midday for a jetski and are told they have a 2 hour lunch break. We were assigned an 'Island guide' to assist while we stayed on the island. After the first couple of days we realised were better asking Shakhawat for whatever we needed rather than our guide. Arriving to be told you cant book a restaurant for 3 days wasn't great! Not down to the hotel, but a set of earpods were stolen from our bags on the seaplane home by the staff who operate the plane! Be careful.

We really enjoyed our stay 10/10. The island is magical and the water is divine. We stayed at ocean side water villa and had an access to the house reef. When we first time went snorkeling right in front of our villa, our minds were just blown away. We saw a plethora of beautiful fishes, corals, mollusks and a couple of sharks. You can also see turtles near villa 13. Absolutely amazed!!! If you snorkl close to dark blue, you will see tons of flying fishes and abyss. A good idea to bring a good snorkeling mask with you (from Amazon) and you can rent fins at diving center + please use a lot of SPF50 on your back (or wear a t-shirt) while snorkeling. Our backs burned soo badly in the first day. If you‘re into snorkeling & want to be more active, water villa is a better choice than a beach villa. We tried to snorkl near beach villas, but there’s not much to discover there. When we were coming here, we were concerned about the size of the island and if it might be too crowded. It’s actually was a perfect choice. Though the hotel was full, we mostly saw people only during breakfast/dinners and most of them are staying at the main pool during the day, while we spend the most of the time at our water villa. We often ordered food (salads) to the room and it was quite good. In general the service was GREAT 10/10. I was complaining sometimes to front desk about the neighbors being too loud 🤣 and they always managed to fix it. The food was good, especially sea food. There are 3 restaurants and one nice beru bar with sunset view. Honeymoon dinner at the beach was a wonderful experience: great food and ambience. We also loved the bikes, but someone was always stealing ours🤣 One thing worth mentioning, there are many couples staying with kids. They are mostly staying at beach villas… or lagoon water villas…so if you are staying at ocean water villa, you are safe :)

This place is paradise. Very comfortable and beautiful water village. Ours was the last one on the oven side and we could see the sunset every day. Food option is quite good as well. Its very nice that you can choose from different restaurants, in such a small island it really makes a difference from other resorts that we were also considering. The stuff is super helpful and friendly. The reef around the island is very well conserved and it's beautiful for snorkeling around.

Everything’s so well organised, once you arrive at Male you are met by a rep who takes your luggage to the sea plane and you don’t touch it again until it appears in your room, you wait in a lovely lounge at the sea plane port until you’re ready to go and taken off to the resort, nice ice cream and cold flannel on arrival to cool down! The resort itself is fantastic, we loved the over water villa it was amazing, clean and well equipped and the house reef was absolutely full of life! One of the reason we picked the standard was for the sea life. Just at the resort alone in 10 days we saw dolphins, stingrays, eagle rays, small black tip reef sharks, a sea turtle and more tropical fish than I can ever list here! And then on boat trips we were lucky enough to snorkel with the incredible manta rays of Hanifaru bay and a separate trip to snorkel with sea turtles, we saw maybe 4-5. The best thing about the standard however was the staff, everyone was so incredibly polite, kind and helpful. There was always loads of staff around and they were all really organised with everything and super reliable if they offered to do something it will happen. They’re all very smiley and polite, always saying hello or good morning and will just ask if you need anything to let them know. No over bearing upselling and pushing excursions like other destinations which was nice. If you need a lift in one of their buggy’s if you get caught in the rain they’ll save the day too! More things we really liked; Bicycles scattered around the resort to pick and ride wherever you’re going Great quality food in the restaurants, we mostly ate at guduguda and the bbq shack, good selection at the buffet for breakfast and lunch. Good selection of activities we enjoyed the outdoor cinemas and beach cocktail party! No plastic! A nice touch is that I don’t think we saw and plastic the whole stay, all the water provided in the rooms and on boat trips came in glass bottles.

Having to leave

I have been coming back to the Maldives every year for the past 10 years. Of all the places, this one had everything I missed elsewhere. Excellent reef, very good location, no breakwater in the water in front of you, and the value for money was surprisingly good. We stayed in an overwater bungalow with its own jacuzzi, which was a special experience. Usually other resorts with similar conditions cost twice as much. What I also really liked was that the separation from the neighboring bungalows was better than elsewhere, because the partition extends over the water, so it is completely private, your own little house, no one can see you. The overwater villas are very well designed, because they lean inward, which also contributes to the feeling of privacy. The room is large, the bathroom is very large. You don't need to bring diving equipment, there is one in each room that you can use. The food is delicious and varied, the staff is very kind and caring. Our personal assistant was also always at our disposal for everything, special thanks to Poula for that! I would like to point out that if you don't like walking, you can use free bikes or order a golf cart to any point on the island. The island is not that big, you can walk around it in 20-30 minutes, it is nice and clean and well maintained.

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