NEWS FLASH: you can actually afford to take a dream vacation in the Maldives and make your Maldives holiday a reality!
Here are three fantastic ways to do just that.
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Emirates Vacations
One of the best resources for deals to the Maldives (and Middle East and Asia) is Emirates Vacations. Their air + hotel packages are very economical and incorporate flights on Emirates Airlines, one of the world’s best airlines! Since flights are one of the largest travel expenses, they are a huge deterrent to traveling due to the large upfront cost to purchase them.
Emirates Vacations packages regularly includes full-board with hotel and flights that can be found for as low as $2,000 per person, which is a huge savings when you consider that flights to Male (the capital of the Maldives) can easily cost $1,000 per person.
I recently found Garden Villas at the Furaveri Island Resort for a Maldives vacation for about $250 per night with breakfast included, an excellent deal since breakfast for two alone can easily be $250 at most resorts!
Groupon Getaways
Another great site to find affordable deals to the Maldives and beyond is Groupon Getaways. I’ve often spotted 11-day flight + hotel trip to Dubai and the Maldives from $2,299 per person from several US gateways, which included half board and air transfers within the Maldives!
Miles, Points, and Flight Deals
Perhaps, the most economical way to take a Maldives holiday is using miles and points. If you earn sufficient points from credit cards like American Express or Alaska Airlines, you can use those points for flights on Emirates, since American Express is a transfer partner of Emirates and Alaska Airlines is a partner airline with Emirates.
Other carriers like Delta, Air France, KLM, United, and Singapore Airlines offer award flights to Male, either directly or through airline alliances.
You could also build in a stopover using miles or a flight deal to fly to a nearby city such as Bangalore, India, or Colombo, Sri Lanka, and book a direct flight to Male from there.
Sign up for airfare alerts with Google Flights, Airfarewatchdog, and the Hopper app and sign up for daily deals from The Flight Deal. If you find an airfare deal from your city, book the available dates and figure out the other logistics later!
For hotels, each of the major American hotel brands has resorts in the Maldives where you can redeem points for free nights, usually in standard rooms with upgrades for a fee.
The award redemption rates range from 25,000 points per night at the Park Hyatt Maldives to 95,000 points per night at Conrad Rangali Island. However, both Hilton and Marriott offer the fifth night free on award redemptions, and Marriott has several properties to choose from for a Maldives vacation, including St. Regis Maldives, JW Marriott Maldives, and W Maldives. Search Award Mapper to find additional hotels where you can redeem hotel points.
For bookings outside of American chain hotels, Accor Hotels has a rewards program that allows members to exchange 2,000 rewards points for 40 euros off the cost. And Accor Hotel has some really amazing properties like the Sofitel Metropole Legend in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Within the Maldives, Accor points can be used at a number of fantastic resorts, including Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, Fairmont Maldives, and the Raffles Maldives.
Using Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book hotel stays via the Chase portal is also worth considering for booking hotels that you cannot otherwise use points for.
Additional costs to consider are internal seaplane flights or water taxis from Male and the cost of meals, each of which can set you back a pretty penny.
However, the experience of relaxing on a remote island paradise in the lap of luxury with unobstructed views of the ocean is truly priceless!
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