TravTalk India Online Magazine
Suresh Dissanayake, Assistant VP—Sales Marketing, Heritance Aarah & Adaaran Resort in Maldives, shares details on how the 150-key resort, set to open by the end of October, will offer localised experiences to tourists.
Kanchan Nath
With a presence in Sri Lanka already, Aitken Space is now ready to open Heritance Aarah & Adaaran Resort in the Maldives. Suresh Dissanayake, Assistant Vice President—Sales Marketing, Heritance Aarah & Adaaran Resort, said, “The DNA of Heritance brand comes from heritage and inheritance. So, where ever a Heritance property is present, we always localise experiences. Our tagline is ‘where tradition is alive.’ After an extensive research with the existing five-star luxury properties in the Maldives, we found out that luxury can be found anywhere in the Maldives, but no one offers authentic local experiences. Hence, we decided to come up with this luxury hotel offering authentic Maldivian experiences.”
Talking more about its infrastructure, Dissanayake revealed, “We requested a local architect to make the design as localised as he could. In its architectural style, the resort has thatched roofs, open-style bathrooms and sandy floors. It’s completely different since we want to make it a barefoot island.” He added, “In the resort, we have also decided to support the dying arts of Maldives. These are lacquer painting, boat building, weaving or handicrafts. In the cultural centre, clients can make their own souvenirs, while supporting a dying art of the Maldives.”
One island, one resort
The island is 26 acres in size and the resort offers six restaurants and six bars. Highlighting the amenities at the resort, he said, “There are 150 rooms in seven different categories starting from beach villas, family beach villas, pool beach villas, family pool beach
villas, luxury water villas and presidential water suite.”
About ADRs, he explained, “With the starting rates ranging from $750 to $5,000 per room per night, the rooms come with a premier all-inclusive package, including top-range liquor and wine. We also offer them excursions free of charge, depending on the category of room booked, such as all non-motorised water sports. Moreover, guests are also entitled for one introductory dive. Comparing with the rest of the Maldives, what we offer as a price point is reasonable. In the second year, I am expecting the prices to go up to $950 to $7,000-$8,000. We will launch a three-nights package for $3500 (entry category) which includes seaplane transfer.”
Seaplane experience
“Seaplane provides you the bird’s eye view of the Maldives. For our resort, we will be chartering the seaplane so that the route becomes point-to-point, starting from the airport to stop at our resort,” he shared.
