Return of the traditional travel agent

The past decade has witnessed the decline of traditional travel agencies on the back of the meteoric rise of online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Agoda and Expedia. Old school travel agents seemed to be on their last breath. But in the…

Conversation – Hussain Afeef

For this installment of Conversation, Hotel Insider has a chat with tourism pioneer Hussain Afeef (Champa). Among other things, we talk about the Maldives’ increase in bed capacity and what that entails, whether the Maldives is losing its luxury tag, developments down…

COMO Shambhala Retreat, COMO Cocoa Island

COMO Shambhala is not just an experience, it’s a journey. I have caught a glimpse of it on COMO Cocoa Island, at the COMO Shambhala Retreat which takes up half the land on the small resort. The area is also home to…

Wellness at One&Only Reethi Rah

We meet up with Angie Tai, spa associate director at One&Only Reethi Rah for a chat about keeping your mind and body on a healing path. She heads a team of 40 so you can imagine how important wellness is at the…

Hirani Hettihewage

A native of Sri Lanka’s hilltop capital, Kandy, Hirani is a young accountant at Cocoon Maldives. She has a background in business management from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Hotel Insider sits down with her and talks, among other things, about…

Jesus Perez

Hotel Insider sits down with Jesus Perez, the new general manager of Mercure Kooddoo. JP, as he likes to go by, was into hospitality from a young age and 2018 marks his 18th year in the field. He studied tourism extensively but…

Soneva Jani

Set in Medhufaru in Noonu Atoll, in a stunning 5.6km lagoon, Soneva Jani has just 25 villas with only one on land. It’s one of the lowest density resorts in the world and arguably the pinnacle of luxury boutique islands. If privacy…

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