Silvia Collepardi – Director of Sales & Marketing, Outrigger Konotta
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]HM: Your educational background is in tourism, even your bachelor’s degree to some extent. What was the pull (of tourism)? When did you get interested? Was there ever a point when you thought that ‘this is what I’m going to do with the rest of my life?’ SC: I am from a little town in […]
Homegrown Hotelier – Shabeer Ahmed, Chairman of Coco Collection
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Shabeer Ahmed is Chairman of Coco Collection, a company with three properties in the Maldives in its portfolio: Coco Bodu Hithi and Coco Privé in Male Atoll and Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu in Baa Atoll. Shabeer’s rise was marked by grit and determination in the face of adversity. But you will also discover that he […]
How the hospitality industry is addressing the needs of modern consumers
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Consumer needs are evolving; what satisfied customers twenty years ago, will not necessarily keep them content today. Keeping abreast of trends is how the hospitality industry, including large hotel chains, deliver great experiences to guests. Some of these trends include: High Definition TV: By and large, guests these days expect televisions in their rooms; not […]
Dining with the Stars – Ana Ros’s scintillating performance at Diamonds Thundufushi
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ana Ros, winner of this year’s World’s Best Female Chef award, delivered a scintillating performance at Diamonds Thundufushi, where some 70 guests were treated to her six-course menu at the resort’s overwater restaurant. The gala dinner saw expectant guests listening intently as the star Slovenian chef explained the menu items in rapid Italian. The menu […]
Binding tradition with wellness; Aishath Zulfishan, Spa Manager at Kurumba Maldives
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Some eleven years back, Aishath Zulfishan (Xubba) decided that she wasn’t going to be in F&B anymore; an earlier visit to Soneva Fushi had cemented her desire to join the wellness industry. She embarked on her wellness career as a receptionist at the spa at Huvafen Fushi. Now Xubba manages the Veli Spa at Kurumba […]
Smart Trends for 2017
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) has picked out top trends driving the global hospitality industry’s move from magnetic stripe (magstripe) and low-frequency (LF) cards to secure, high-frequency (HF) smart card technologies. These trends will enhance guest experiences in 2017. NXP’s 2017 trends in hospitality point to the increasingly smart environment, where mobile keys and a growing […]
VR – Driving Conversion for Travel Brands and Meeting Planners
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]At the CES 2017 technology show in Las Vegas, Tim Baxter, President of Samsung Electronics announced that Samsung Gear Virtual Reality (VR) headsets have topped five million in sales over the past 13 months, Skift reports. 2017 is seeing the mainstreaming of VR, and travel brands are leveraging that to engage consumers in new ways, […]
Mifzal Ahmed, Co-founder and Vice-President, Strategy and Business Development-MEGA Maldives Airlines
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]You started out linking the Maldives to China and Hong Kong. We suppose you saw, rightly, a lot of potential in them. But the decrease in Chinese arrivals this year was enough to prompt lay-offs at your company. How do you see the Chinese market at the moment? Do you think it has peaked? One […]
The Lowrance Elite-5 Ti Touchscreen Fishfinder/Chartplotter
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The new Lowrance Elite-5 Ti Touchscreen Fishfinder and Chartplotter available at Maizan Electronics pairs functionality with power, delivering a superb product at a reasonable price. It is a combination of a fishfinder and GPS with a built in GPS antenna, and the product is highly durable and weatherproof, well suited to the Maldivian monsoons. With […]
A day in the life of Amari’s housekeeping team
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Amari Havodda Maldives’ housekeepers are Maldivian and not all of them are from Gaafu Dhaalu atoll, where the resort is situated. One is from Addu, down south, another from Alif Alif, the middle of the Maldives yet another comes from even further afield, Haa Dhaalu, one of the northernmost atolls. Despite the short time they’ve […]
Nakaiy Nevi – a pretty, handy app
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Maldives experiences two monsoons, Iruvai (Northeast) and Hulhangu (Southwest), yet since ancient times, the monsoons have been subdivided into several patterns or Nakaiy. These patterns serve as a means of organising the islanders’ lives. Each Nakaiy endures for about thirteen or fourteen days and each encapsulates a distinct weather pattern. Though generally Iruvai is […]
Beyond the beach bungalow
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Back in 1972, when the Maldives embarked on its journey of becoming a world-class destination that would eventually find its place on people’s bucket lists, little thought went into the design of tourist accommodation. At the time, such spaces were often made of coral stone, mortar and tin. In some cases, like with Gasfinolhu in […]
