Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort 4 stars

We have just got back from a glorious 2 weeks at this resort. We stayed in an over water bungalow which was perfect for our needs. The snorkelling was brilliant, we went daily and saw sharks, rays, turtles and literally hundreds of fish species. The resort was clean and well kept, towels and toiletries abundant. Our room was tended by Jabad who did awe inspiring towel, bed and bath art. The food was perfect for us, my husband loves Asian food so tried every curry whilst we were there, if that isn’t your taste there are plenty of other options which are all good quality. The chefs take a lot of pride in their work, we also went to the cooking demos to get tips to make them at home. The restaurant and pool bar staff really made the holiday, they are so attentive and friendly. Dharmika is the deputy manager and nothing is too much trouble. There are many to mention - Alisha, Shafi, Hassan, Ibrahim, Pradeep to name a few, but genuinely they are all so helpful and efficient in their roles it made our stay a dream. The managers are very visible and are very keen to receive feedback throughout your stay. We wouldn’t hesitate to return.

Spent 10 nights at Mercure Kooddoo Resort with a good friend and it was unbelievable. A perfect setting that provides a sense of peace and rest. The staff were beautiful and so friendly and kind and added personal touches to ensure our stay was perfect. The program on offer was fabulous to fill in our days, but it is also very easy to spend days doing nothing and just soak up the tranquility. The amount of ocean life that we would see swim pst our villa was unexpected and a real highlight. The stay was good for the soul and we felt like we were simply in paradise.

My husband and I stayed in the sunset villa with a pool for 9 days. It was our first time being in the south Maldives and this resort exceeded our expectations. The welcoming when you arrive at Male makes you immediately feel at ease. It was nice to be able to sit in the lounge as we waited for our flight to Kooddoo. We were meet by the resort staff who made our check-in as smooth as possible as we had a long flight and were tired. Our sunset villa was beautiful and loved the pool to soak in after diving or snorkeling. We enjoyed having the viewing window in the room where we could watch the needle fish, picassco trigger fish, surgeon fish and baby black tip sharks. The snorkeling from the villa provided one with the ability to see black tip sharks, nurse sharks, turtles, spotted eagle rays, sting rays-including the cow tail sting ray, pipe fish, trumpet fish and once you got to the house reef the amount of coral and fish were incredible and in really good condition. We enjoyed and appreciated the bed decorations done by our housekeeper, Bawantha. We ate most of our meals at the Alida restaurant which had a wide array of food choices for each individual. We loved how the Alida restaurant provided different ethnic food each evening especially the local Maldivian, Sri Lankan and Asian cuisines. The pastries that were provided each day at breakfast would compete with any Michelin restaurant. The chefs were Anurudda, Desta, Rangana, Amith and Sugath and they need to be commended for the excellent cuisine they provided at each meal. They would come to your table to see if there was anything you needed or wanted. These chefs provided excellent food and were so personable that they made dining an experience each day. A special recognition needs to be given to the staff who work at Alida. The staff are professional, willing to make sure you have your needs met, are friendly and personable and made the dining experience enjoyable. We would like to recognize Dharmika, Abraham, Hassan, Shaheed, Alisha, Stefina, Nakala, and Kamal as these individuals went above and beyond to make sure we were happy and taken care of as well. I know I am missing a few names but the entire staff at Alida and Vista do a remarkable job of providing exceptional customer service. We are scuba divers and the dive shop, Suvadiva Dive Water Sports Center, is a top notch dive operation. Gracia is the manager and ensures that the smooth operation of this center along with it being safe. We dove each day and we had Agus as our dive guide for 6 dives before he left on his vacation. He provided excellent briefings, you knew your dive profile, provided information about each dive site as to what you may see along with the potential currents and dived the way we like to dive. He was very helpful with helping my husband with his BCD as he would put it on in the ocean. Then we had Imir for the remainder of dives. He is like Agus in that he is very experienced, provides excellent dive briefings, communicates effectively about the dive site and dives in the manner that we like to dive. If you are a scuba diver, would we would highly recommend you dive with this dive operation. We also want to give special recognition to our boat captain, Naseer, and boat crew, Motibul and MD:Rukraian. They did an excellent job in getting us to the dive sites and picking us up. We enjoyed the diving as it is very different than North Maldives as it is mostly pelagic. You will not be disappointed as you will see every kind of shark, green and hawksbill turtles, spotted eagle rays, cow tailed sting rays, morey eels, treavalies, jacks, Napoleon wrasse, damsel, fusiliers etc. The water is 30 degrees C and has great visibility. We also partook in the excursions that were offered. We did the dolphin excursion and saw spinner dolphins. We did the snorkeling excursion and were surprised by seeing a 5 m tiger shark! The jet ski experience with Shahid was amazing. He took me out to where we saw 500 spinner dolphins. It was an incredible experience. We would recommend any of these excursions as they are all well run and are very enjoyable. The Mercure Resort was an incredible experience. The assistance at the Male airport was not expected but was appreciated. We had a 40 hour flight back home but the memories of our experiences at this resort made the trip worth it. We will definitely come back for the diving, the staff, the excursions, and the ambience of this resort. Thank you to all of the staff at Mercure Kooddoo and look forward to seeing you again! Diane and Brian

Absolutely the best holiday we have been on. The staff , food , Alcohol, rooms , views, surroundings were the best. The only thing I would suggest is to have more shade from the hot sun at the communal pool and the private pools at the villas with a shade sail. Also to get a vet to fix up the cats so they stop having kittens.

Friendly, polite and helpful staff. Beautiful local. We had a wonderful relaxing time. Great getaway!