I was part of the opening team of a new resort in the Maldives, more precisely Vilamendhoo island…
An island country in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives archipelago lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka. It is composed of twenty six atolls from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll to the Addu Atoll. Its capital is Malé, traditionally called the “King’s Island“.
Although a Muslim country, most islands allow alcohol consumption in order to cater to the massive touristic activity, mostly from Europe, and increasingly from China and Russia.
Welcome to Male, capital island of the Maldives
Hotel openings are always challenging, as many deadlines have to be respected in order to be able to offer a finished product on the day of the opening, when the first guests check in… far from easy to achieve, as any hotelier will tell you 🙂
Added to the challenges of a “conventional” opening, the fact that a resort in the Maldives will inevitably be built on a small area of sand in the middle of the ocean makes it an even more interesting adventure…
Maldivian resorts are mostly made of wood, and for this reason construction delays are usually much inferior than concrete made structures. Vilamendhoo island resort was built in just over a year.
Foundations
Concrete walls, tiles, all wrapped up in wood…
A LOT of wood!
more wood…
Don’t forget the staff quarters…. no commuting here 🙂
Removing the rubble… another island issue
Skeleton
Feeling free in the middle of the ocean…
Hotel chains rely very heavily on travel agencies and tour operators, who are not really concerned with the day to day construction work of a new hotel… contracts are signed and hotel rooms booked… the penalties for canceling or changing guest dates of stay are usually very steep, so most hoteliers will have to honor them, even if the hotel is halfway built…
Vilamendhoo resort consists of 250 rooms, spread out on and around the tiny island, which measures 950 meters long, with a width of about 200 meters …
By opening day, about 100 rooms were still not finished, so there was no other choice but to split the island in two : one side for guests, and the other side for construction workers… well, as you can imagine, the two categories did not hit it very well, and understandably, many guests complained of the noise and the lack of access to half of the island…
The main teaching of this : when palming an opening, always allow for some buffer time, as trying to fill up a hotel or restaurant when it is only partly built, is, not only an operational nightmare, but can also have a devastating effect on your reputation and image.
It will also bring unnecessary stress on your opening team, having to deal with many -justified- complaints….
The finished product…
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