Samann Host is an airport hotel located on Hulhumalé, a reclaimed man-made island, that is about a 10 to 15-minute drive away from Velana International Airport. It makes for a decent overnight hotel if you need to take a seaplane transfer to reach your next destination in the Maldives. Seaplanes only operate during daylight hours (9am to 4pm) and the flight my husband and I were on was set to land at around 10pm, so we booked a night here.
Thanks to a Trip.com promo code and a $20 Trip.com gift card I won from Berrysurprise‘s Instagram giveaway (my go-to guru for all things deals and travel), we snagged this stay at a pretty affordable price! If you’re new to Trip.com, you can sign up with my referral code here and receive up to $20 worth of new user promo codes (:
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Deluxe Double Room
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$55.22 + $20 gift card + $32.16 in Trip coins
Check-in
All guests have access to complimentary airport transfers to and from the hotel. The moment we exited immigration and walked out to the arrival area, we spotted a staff holding up a sign with the hotel name on it. He then brought us to wait at the seats outside Burger King as there were two other guests joining us.
Once we were all present, he led us across the road to the drop-off area to board the transfer. Staff took the initiative to transport, load and unload our luggage for us, very professional (:
Entering the hotel, we were warmly greeted by the reception staff, who were all smiles even at that late hour. They offered peach juice as welcome drinks and cold towels. After registration, they collected a green tax of USD$6 per day from us (an inescapable fee as long as you’re staying at a tourist hotel or resort in the Maldives).
One of the reception staff, Niras, was really friendly. In our conversation with him, he shared that Hulhu means “copy”, so Hulhumalé is actually an artificial replica of the island of Malé. Another fun fact he offered was that if an island has “atoll” in its name, it means it is a round island. Non-round islands are simply called by their names. Interesting to know!
Room
Rubel, another staff, carried our luggage and showed us to our room on level 2 (the highest floor being level 4). As the lift was tiny, he ushered us inside while he took the stairs instead. Such guest-centric hospitality (:
The room itself was a very tight squeeze such that my husband and I had to walk sideways if our paths crossed. With that said, it was generally hygienic and well-kept, complete with clean towels and sheets. There was even a USB charging point beside the bed, awesome. The room was equipped with both air-conditioning and a ceiling fan.
The bathroom was sufficiently spacious with a rainshower to boot. In terms of amenities, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo were provided but no conditioner (thankfully I brought my own).
Some of the other downsides were that they didn’t have the option of firm pillows, plus the bed was way too soft for me. Additionally, the walls were quite thin such that we could clearly hear doors closing and chairs being dragged across the floor.
Facilities
Buffet breakfast is served from 7am to 10am at O’View Restaurant situated on the ground floor. However, as our seaplane transfer to Mövenpick Resort Kuredhivaru was crazy early in the morning (7.45am), we had to check out of the hotel by 6.30am. This meant we wouldn’t be able to utilize the buffet breakfast inclusion in our package (I was told they have a live eggs station!).
It was a nice consolation that the staff still packed us a takeaway breakfast set despite our early departure. The set consisted of basic sandwiches, pastries and fruit. We were informed that we could also enjoy free-flow coffee and tea at the reception area while waiting for our airport transfer to arrive. As the transfer was running a little late, Rubel invited us to partake of the breakfast items that they were beginning to set up. I took one pastry to sample (it looked and tasted pretty good) but Rubel encouraged me to take more, so generous of him!
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. For a 4-star hotel (or 3-star, according to Google), it certainly punches above its weight by delivering a very decent stay experience with a personal touch. The staff were so warm and approachable, taking the intiative to engage with guests and actively providing assistance whenever needed. It was a pity we didn’t get to try the buffet breakfast due to our early seaplane transfer timing but the one pastry I tried from the spread was yummy. The room itself was sufficiently comfy, but a tad too compact to linger any more than one night. Most importantly, they had clean linen, no bugs and a hygienic bathroom with reliable hot water. This is probably as good as it gets for a 4-star property here but it also doesn’t come cheap if you’re paying full rates!
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
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