Ocean Retreat & Spa

This is by far the best hotel on Guraidhoo Island. It is located on the central street with shops and at the same time on the beach. The hotel has its own bikini beach, fenced with deckchairs and canopies. Postcard beach. The hotel staff are extremely friendly and helpful people. All requests are fulfilled immediately. Great apartments on its own upstairs with a huge terrace and a wonderful view of the ocean. Rooms and bathrooms clean and tidy. Cleaned daily and bottled water provided. Air conditioning and fan work perfectly. Manager Zizu very helpful, competent and patient. The cuisine is indisputably the best on the island. People from other hotels booked our restaurant reservations and that means something. Varied and delicious meals. I recommend Zizu's sandbank trips, swimming with sharks and manta rays, snorkeling and traditional fishing followed by grilling. To sum up, this is a great family hotel that offers really high quality for a good price. Dear Abdul who helped us with practically everything. Paradise holidays, jaw-dropping views and great attractions with a thrill. With a clear conscience. We highly recommend.

We entered our room covered by dust everywhere and rapidly noticed that the safe was not working. We opened the fridge and found out that they did not empty it from the previous guests. We informed the reception and the only answer we got was "ok", yet no one care to come and empty it. The day after, when we came back around 16h from Bikini Beach and realized they did not enter the room neither for the housekeeping service nor to empty the fridge, we asked them again to come right away and take the old food and drinks inside the fridge. Also, we did not get any amenity during our stay, but a dirty and refilled mini gel (they could at least clean the cover). To end our stay, we found a bday balloon under the bed from God knows when- covered by dust. Clearly, they never bothered to mop under the bed. Definitely, not sure how they got the 1st position on stays in Guraidhoo.

The experience at Guraidhoo island was really amazing. The island is local, so you have to take in count that it will not be residences and staff like this. This hotel is really pretty, clean and familiar. The food is really good. The staff is absolutely the best; all the people there is so kind and helpfull. I stayed here for more or less one week and every day we went to another trip/excursion. My favourite excursion was the shark excursion, but also the others (we saw the coral reef, the turtles, the dolphins, we went fishing…) were so spectacular. During all the trips the staff will make for you the lunch, that can take on: fresh fruits (orange, coconut, watermelon) some rice, salads etc. One day after an excursion they took us (like always) in another island or it could be a sand board and cooked for us a typical maldivian lunch. So delicious! The staff really take care about every details. You can see in their eyes the real kindness! After my holiday I can say, that the magnificent landscape and the wonderful animals take a back seat. I will always carry with me the memory of the caring and heartfelt people I left on this island.

We stayed 2 nights. Clean room and friendly staff. Nice location. Very near to beach and good ventilation. Good food available from nearby restaurant for cheap. (Kasimbe restaurant) Room service also available. Indoor games available at the hotel.

To be honest, I have somewhat mixed feelings about this place. As I entered my room, I discovered it only had a tiny window, so daylight in our room was virtually nonexistent. The room had plenty of amenities, such as a safe, a water heater, a refrigerator and a TV set, but guess what: none of them worked, for instance the safe couldn't be locked. Upon my complaint they first made the TV and water heater work. They promised the refrigerator should also start working (the electricity was off), but it didn't. They admitted the safe was defective and promissed me a new one - if they knew about it in advance why didn't they do it before (did they think I wouldn't notice?). Since by the next day the refrigerator was still warm, I asked the staff again to make it work. They finally found a switch in the back that was turned off. It took them 3 days altogether to get me a working safe. Our room was not cleaned every day, they just skipped 2 of them. But even when it was cleaned, the cleaning was sloppy. For instance, our trash cans weren't emptied for 3 days. Just to remind you, you're not allowed to throw toilet paper in the toilet but have to put it in an adjacent trash can. So a can full of filthy, smelly toilet paper was left in our bathroom for 3 days before they remembered to empty it. The worst part was the mosque in a close vicinity of the hotel. They make prayers on the speakers 5 times a day, one at 5 in the morning. It woke me up virtually every night, so I was never able to get a good night sleep. The hotel beach is just a sad sight. There are only a few sunbeds and very little shading is provided, enough for about 6 sunbeds. The name of the hotel has a word "spa" in it, but be aware: there is no spa. However, there are some strong points. To have this many amenities in a 3-star hotel in Maldives is surprising, I would at least wish they all worked from the start. Moreover, the staff is wonderful, friendly and respectful. The food choices may not be lavish, but the food is delicious. As tap water is not drinkable, they provide you with plenty of bottled water. I also have to make a separate grading for the excursions they offer, which definitely deserve 5 stars. Whatever they promise for the trip, they will provide. They are making hard effort to make you feel comfortable and welcome, they're very helpful on the sites, they keep taking pictures and making videos which they later send to you. I don't recommend this place, unless you feel staying cheap is your preference. I will not be returning here.