RAAYA by Atmosphere

I had hoped to share my review directly with the hotel manager but a week after asking for contact details I am still waiting a response. Firstly, chasing responses with emails is a common thing with Raaya, the app to book restaurants etc is tempermental to say the least and we couldn’t book anything online. On asking if it was an idea to wait for our arrival for our host to support we were greeted with a response that it would probably be full. Based on this we sent a list of reservations we wanted to make weeks before our arrival and even to the day we arrived this still wasn’t finalised with slow replies and errors. We did finally get there but it was a struggle! My advice would be pre book your restaurants at minimum on arrival!!! Arrival has you extremely excited, from landing in the sea plane the Maldivian drumming, smiles alongside a cold towel and glass of fizz was very welcome. Top tip! Check in online as you’ll go pretty much straight away on your island tour and to your room which after hours of travelling is nice as you want comfort at this point… The water villas are nice and well kept but it would have been nice to be offered a sunset or sunrise when booking like other atmosphere resorts. Being on the left jetty means you get less sun and you really don’t get a sunset which is such a shame as it was one of the things I was most exited about. Villas are stocked with main toiletries; shower gel, shampoo, toothbrushes, bug spray and spf and are stocked regularly. The mini bar is well stocked but it would have been nice to see some spirits, you get beer, wine and soft drinks… Then we get to dining, often we found that restaurants were understaffed and service was incredibly slow and very often done without a smile!! The best service we received was in ‘The Village’ but otherwise service was mediocre.. Even tipping made no difference and staff were often not even grateful!! Food was nice, often very salty and it needs more variety. With the majority of restaurants offering the same menu for lunch as they do dinner after 10 days we were totally bored at the choice. We also got lots of mixed messages about what was open and what wasn’t, we found out at the end of our trip some restaurants were actually open at lunch but we had never been told this by our host. I’d also suggest more staff and longer opening hours at Sebs Shack!! Hosts could be proactive and make more of an effort to make it a holiday to remember, unfortunately unless we had a question we never heard from our host and after arrival we never ever did see him again! To note the WiFi in places is terrible, around the pool and pool bar it is exceptionally temperamental and we found it was better in our room that in public places. Just a watch out for anyone who needs solid WiFi connection!! The fogging on the island needs sorting, I had 8 bites in one night inside a restaurant!! I appreciate there is a jungle in the middle of the island but I’ve never ever been so much as I did on this holiday!! Everyone should paint their wooden boat in the artists shack as it’s a great way to avoid the midday sun and zone out for a little while. The spa is lovely and I was lucky to have one of the best massages ever but on our second visit it was overbooked and straight after our treatment there was nowhere for us to sit and chill out… However, ensure you go to the spa!! Overall it’s a nice place to visit but given the price I truly wish we had spent our money elsewhere in the Maldives, it certainly wasn’t the holiday to remember we hoped for and it was no more special than a trip to Europe other than the views!! Perhaps I’ll get to share my thoughts direct with the hotel maybe I won’t but I’d rather everyone can see a full and honest review… Read less