IHG is getting ready to open its InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort on September 1. The property has 81 beach, lagoon and overwater villas and residences, each with private terrace and pool.
The company says it’s the only property where all guests have amenities at the Club InterContinental level. The club experience “means guests are treated to the essentials and luxuries thorough their stay. All guests have access to a butler, complimentary soft drinks, tea, coffee, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and a few extra surprises,” the hotel says. “We want guests to feel completely at home and that they have arrived in a welcoming and generous place.”
There are six F&B outlets, including an adults-only bar with infinity pool, a spa employing traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and kids club.
The property is on Maamunagau island, at the southern tip of Raa Atoll within the country’s biggest natural lagoon, a 35-minute seaplane transfer from Male.
According to the hotel, its differentiator is its location near the Maldives’ only UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and Hanifaru Bay, where guests can snorkel among whale sharks and reef manta rays: The hotel “offers sustainable, marine-related activities and conservation programs to propagate an eco-conscious, sustainably-driven form of barefoot luxury.” As well, a center operated by marine biologists from Ocean Group Maldives will show guests how they can protect the larger marine ecosystem through coral and marine conservation activities such as coral gardening and reef scaping.
Beach pool villas at InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort start from USD $1,250 per night.
Marquis debuts in China: Marriott International opened the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Shanghai Pudong earlier this month, the first of the brand in that country. The 515-room, 39-story property is located in a commercial neighborhood near the Huangpu River and Lujiazui business district, near the city’s convention center and sports arena. Owned by China’s Luneng Group, the new hotel was designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP and employs water elements in the exterior and interior, sustainable exterior glass panels, an indoor infinity pool and spa.
Rooms are “modern meets classic” with cream and white colors, and accent colors in marble, fabric, wood and glass. The hotel has five F&B outlets and an executive lounge, and there is 34,445 square feet of meeting space, including two meeting rooms separated by a live culinary theater with glass walls adjustable from opaque to transparent, allowing for live cooking shows or cooking classes.
Room prices start at about US$225.
