TravTalk India Online Magazine
Mar Mora, Director of Sales & Contracting – Asia & Indian Ocean, RIU Hotels & Resorts, shares USPs of their two properties in the Maldives, and unique offerings to the Indian market. There has been no impact on their business of the diplomatic row between Maldives and India, she shares.
Meetu Malhotra
Can you provide an overview of Hotel Riu Palace & Riu Atoll Maldives and its unique offerings tailored to the Indian market?
RIU Hotels & Resorts began its adventure in the Maldives in 2019 with the opening of two hotels: the Riu Atoll and the Riu Palace Maldivas. These two establishments offer RIU’s guests a complete range of options in this destination with a total of 440 rooms, as they are both an ideal choice for families, couples and group of friends. What’s more, both establishments offer the renowned “All Inclusive 24h by RIU” service that allows guests to enjoy a wide range of dining and entertainment options without limits.
The 4-star hotel Riu Atoll — a “RIU Classic” hotel with 264 rooms — is located on the island of Maafushi, while the 5-star Riu Palace Maldivas is located on the island of Kedhigandu. The latter has 176 rooms and belongs to the “RIU Palace” line, which is the ideal choice for customers looking for an extra touch of luxury during their holiday.
The two hotels share a reception area and are linked by a walkway, where the exclusive over water rooms can be found. Here, guests can experience the peace and quiet of this treasured destination while they relax above the heavenly waters of the Maldives. In addition to this, 24 rooms offer a private pool where guests can enjoy an exclusive floating breakfast.
What are Indian travellers demanding? What is the average length of stay for them? Has it changed recently?
Our Indian customers value having a wide range of meals, including some Indian food options. Regarding the average length of stay, since we started operating our hotels in the Maldives, Indian guests usually stay between three and four nights.
How are you working with Indian travel agents? How are you incentivising them to bring in more Indian guests to your property?
We work with several travel agents in India through different distribution channels. We believe that the best incentive is our product. The best strategy is to let our partners experience it by themselves. We do that through Fam trips and other kind of initiatives. We also have our loyalty programme for travel agents: Riu Partner Club, which we promote among travel agents. We invite them to join it in order to have full access to all our benefits.
With the recent issues between Maldives and India, has it impacted your business in terms of bookings from Indian guests?
We have not noticed any impact. On the contrary, we expect to receive more customers from this market because, as of March 1, India and the Maldives are connected by a direct flight.
This new operation gives RIU customers direct access to the Dhaalu Atoll where they will be able to catch the 10 minutes of speedboat ride that will take them to the Riu Palace Maldivas and the Riu Atoll hotels. The great advantage of this new operation is avoiding the connecting flight in Male Airport.
How do you ensure that the needs and preferences of Indian travellers are effectively communicated and met throughout their stay at Hotel Riu Palace Maldives?
Since we opened our first hotel in the Indian Ocean, in Mauritius back in 2014, we started focusing on new markets for RIU since then, such as India.
