Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives - Kids Stay & Eat Free

Holiday Inn Kandooma is a hidden gem, mostly thanks to staff at the resort - kind, sweet people that want to help you in any way possible. Thank you for another wonderful stay at your island and thank you for making me feel special on my birthday. The beach, all the facilities and our bungalow were sparkling clean. Breakfast was delicious, such variety of food that we did not get bored after a week. My daughters loved the ladies at the kids club and all the craft activities they offered.

It was our third time so we already knew about the ugly view towards the constructions happening on the local island. Not the hotel’s fault and not in their control at all, but this is a warning to fellow guests that they may be a bit disappointed with the view if they are looking for an unspoiled tropical island…

The water villa was excellent; we had the big one for family. Perfectly designed and maintained. Awesome. High price but even worth. The outside bathroom both in villa and in bungalow: shower with the stars, top

The standard accommodation - in 2 adults and 2 kids we had to take 2 bungalows - were excellent but by far too expensive. No value for money. The beach and the sea are just ok, no comparison with other Maldives islands

I was browsing to find an affordable and not too overpriced water villa and found this! Thank God. We stayed there for 3 nights. 2 nights for water villa & beach villa and final night at 3BR villa with pool. All rooms are spacious! Staff from front office, servers, chefs were all friendly. All buffet meals from breakfast to dinner were all excellent. We enjoyed everything. There was a cultural performance during one of the dinner buffet and they serve local Maldivian food. But of course there were Western food as well, so you don't have to worry. They offer complimentary snorkeling, free kayak and paddleboard as well although there are other ranges of activities that you need pay. It wasn't too crowded when we stayed there. They even offered us a late check out until 4pm-ish and our boat back to Male was at 5:30pm. They even had staff who assisted us with our luggages from the ferry until the check-in counter at the airport. That's probably because we stayed at all inclusive 3BR villa with pool on the final night. But we were super grateful with the help!

I wish they could have bicycle for the guests to roam around the island. And view from the 3BR Villa with pool is actually another island with a construction going on. But I understand we can't do much on it. Other than that, no complaints!

Everything was so perfect. The resort is kids friendly and my kids loved the resort! They also made special dishes for my toddler. My Son had some stomach issues and the doctor in the Island was so helpful.

If they could have a separate area for Pork (Which we don't eat as a Muslim), that would help the Muslim travelers. I was bit shocked to see oats served in the same place/pot where the pork was served the night before.

We stayed in a 3 bedroom villa with pool. It was spacious and clean and very comfortable. The highlight of the trip was the resort staff. The staff member who looked after us Sreeju was amazing - very happy to help with the smallest detail and genuinely wanted us to have a great time. The free snorkelling was fun, beach, gym, and pool were great and we have the All Inclusive package which had a lot of variety and the drinks flowed freely. The spa was lovely and would highly recommend Putu and Yanik.

Just across from our villa the local island was doing a lot of building which is quite noisy (and not that attractive) as well as the call to prayer 5 times a day. While this is not something the resort can control, and Maldivians need to live their lives, it does somewhat spoil the tropical paradise vibe. If you stay on the surf break side of the island you will avoid this.

We loved everything :) Location of the beach villa was great, next to the small beach but also to main meal hall. The food was amazing! Great quality and a lot of choice, traditional and international food. Even our kids that are very picky found what to eat :) Music at the dinner was perfect - classic hits, 80s- we loved it! We really liked it a lot that we could get a lot of drinking water and coffee in our villa. Also, beach towels, beach bag - that was comfortable to have and not to need to bring ours to such long-distance trip. We enjoyed a lot of bath gel and body lotion - really great quality and that makes a difference when your skin is exposed to tropical sun. We stayed in this resort with 2 kids of 8 and 11 - we felt perfectly safe, as there were security officers walking around all the time, but not disturbing. It was great to have the opportunity to enjoy table tennis, billiards, basketball, volleyball - free of charge. Garden, or better to call it tropical wood is so refreshing and was great to see so many birds. Beaches are beautiful perfectly white sand, warm and clear water. It is protected resort, so we didn't see baby sharks and ray strings - my husband was snorkeling and looking for them all the time :) Transport to the Male airport was great, nice, comfortable and safe boat, with professional crew - this is important, ride is about 45mins - we had different experience in the past, and when you are travelling with kids you need it to be safe.

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Food was excellent, very good breakfast with many options and very nice buffet dinner with international and local foods, the restaurant is literally in front of the beach, facing a fantastic view of the shore and sea. Good infrastructure and places to go around the island, where you can relax in different beaches/pool or go snorkeling around, kayaking with free lent equipment. There are optional paid tours which are worth it, like the shark/turtle/ship wreck/sand bank tour which I definately recommend. Unfortunately missed the whale shark, maybe next time. We really liked the room, beautiful laid on the water. Very relaxing and private.

Nothing really, some trips not possible due to low quorum.

We had short, but amazing stay in Kandooma. Special thanks to Nihaan (our diving instructor). We did not plan to dive, however, he proved it is worth. The only thing we were responsible for was to follow his guidance. Amazing dive, amazing shared emotions after seeing nurse shark, turtles, etc. Nihaan! We hope to come back once to continue diving with you. And he is not the only nice guy doing his job with attitude. If interested to refresh your skills in windsurfing highly recommend to ask for Hetay. Patience, smile and competence. Thank you! You made that lesson wonderful.

Breakfast was divine, with many many options and everything tasted wonderful. The staff was extremely helpful and courteous. Everyone greeted us with smiles. The pool was amazing and we spent most time there. The beach areas are very relaxing and plenty of beach chairs for everyone. The facility is superbly maintained and you get all the bells and whistles you expect from a 5 star resort. The rooms were absolute LOVE. The theme is white and we loved spending time in the rooms as well. The bathrooms in the beach villa has a jacuzzi, a regular shower and an open air rain shower. The patio area has a sofa and a hammock to relax. You can open your room door and the beach is right there. The icing on the cake was the kids play area and kids water park (small but sufficient). Kids eat free with adult meals and they will tell you that so don't worry about that. Smaller kids like infants would probably need to be fed yourself so take all the baby foods you can.

Probably not related to the hotel itself but the to and fro transport is pricey even though the hotel gave us some discount. We were a family of 4 (2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant). We did a private speed boat transfer from Maafushi to Kandooma in USD 50 and a shared speed boat transfer from Kandooma to Male airport in USD 155. The hotel itself is excellent value for money.

the property is located very nearby to male airport.

breakfast is not up to the mark, we were so not sure of food, that we tried only pizzas after having really spicy pasta. even when it’s so near to the airport, the transfer charges are really high.. we could have stayed in some far atoll in such transfer rates probably !