Member Reviews: Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort

Wonderful time in Mercure. The bungalows are private and inviting. Highly suggest the water villa as you can access the water and snorkel right off the villa. The food was pretty good and the drinks are great! Really been enjoying our time.

The resort was great, however they should allow you to book excursions and spa appointments before arrival. Almost everything was sold out so only my husband was able to go to the spa and we were not able to sport fish. They also advertise unlimited paddle boarding and non motorized activities but there are only two paddle boards and one kayak for the entire resort. We love to paddle board so this was a huge disappointment.

Amazing & so peaceful but very far from the US!

Amazing experience, should have stayed longer!

The hospitality was top notch! The rooms and the food were great! I loved it!

Beautiful place, great service , excellent food and very efficient and friendly staff. Would go back anytime. Nothing was amiss to guarantee a great time.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The food, staff and facilities were all top shelf. The spa was especially good.

We would have liked to see less expensive excursions, but other than that, a superb overall experience.

Its amazing, everything we wanted Adults only, its peaceful, magical, high standards. Staff are amazing . Food and accomodation to die for. Great excursions. Its a dream come true. We don't want to go home. Loving the dream.

The most incredible snorkeling/diving at the house reef and the staff is all very friendly and professional.

We loved the experience and enjoyed our stay. One thing that could be improved upon is food option for buffet dining as it was pretty repetitive and lacks variety.

Once in a lifetime trip! Amazing adults only resort! Stayed 10 nights in a sunset water bungalow with pool and it just beautiful; very private, great views, plentiful minibar, attentive staff and vouchers for trips/excursions included as part of the AI package. Would absolutely return at the drop of a hat!!!

Wonderful holiday. Location, resort and staff were all first class

Would have preferred to book as a complete Travelzoo package. Flights had to be booked separately and were much more expensive than suggested in the offer.

Very relaxing resort. Area is beautiful and hotel staff are very friendly. Food is good but not necessarily outstanding. With the vouchers, the various activities are plentiful. Getting to the Maldives from the west coast USA is expensive and not easy. It is a very long flight but we broke it up but stopping in Istanbul for a couple of days. Because of the distance, we’re not likely to come back.

Amazing location, attentive staff, great food and drinks, lots to do, basically heaven on earth

My wife and I had a fantastic experience during our stay at the resort. The location on Koodoo is stunning and the resort facilities are first class. We stayed in an over the water bungalow which was clean and well appointed. The food at the main restaurant was excellent and provided a nice variety food each day for breakfast and lunch. The dinner buffet was a different theme each night. Food quality was excellent. We ate at the specialty Italian restaurant one evening and the food was outstanding. Diving was incredible and the resort dive shop is excellent (safety of divers was the upmost priority). Even with the excellent resort facilities, the staff at Mercure took the guest experience to the next level. All the staff from the front desk Manager, culinary team, bar and wait staff, and house keeping team are focused on serving their guests. The staff is professional but friendly which kept the "feeling" of the resort casual while still providing five star service. Our sincere thank you to the staff for their hard work and dedication to make our stay at Mercure an outstanding experience!!! We highly recommend the resort and happily stay the resort on our next trip! Thanks again to the Mercure team! The Millers.

Anyone who complains about this resort or the staff there has unrealistic expectations, no papaya for breakfast, really? If this deal is available again, we will purchase again, please get this deal again! Our only complaint would be scheduling the dates initially and updates on flight departures from Male to Kooddoo, the day before our reservation began. YouTube videos of this place is what you find on arrival. I plan on posting mine there as well! The staff are fantastic. Frequently asking you if everything is okay or "do you need anything?" There is a scheduled weekly get together to meet management and express concerns or praise. Food is varied and good, we did not try the Italian restaurant. Excursions are easy to book, just follow time schedule on calendar provided on arrival. Dolphins as far as the eye can see, well almost. Sharks, rays and turtles in the lagoon mind you. Scuba is available plus the reef snorkel trips. Suvadiva divers got high praise from fellow guests while we were there. Our snorkel guide "borrowed" my camera and filmed some "clownfish" for me up close! We witnessed poolside yoga as well as pool aerobics and we did not utilize the spa, these are not our things. Our departure international flight from Male was 0145 the next day. They scheduled our Kooddoo flight at 1900 to minimize wait time in Male. Meanwhile they picked up our bags at 1700 and us from room at 1800. We had full use of all dining and drinks way past check out time. Can you say extra tanning and food!

Please look forward to meeting Kasun, Pubudu, Kunal, Ketit, Pradeep at the bar. Hassan Hashim, Nuhadh, Naashidh and Sajuwa in the Alita restaurant. Irosha in the gift shop is so pleasant.

All I can say is wow! Our experience was absolutely amazing. Traveling to the Maldives is no simple feat. My wife and I both work full time and also have small children at home. We have been planning this trip for the past year. From the time we entered the resort until it was time for us to leave, we were in heaven. If you are told by the resort that they will email you the details about the flight from Male the day before the trip and you don’t hear anything, do not worry. This happened to us and there was a staff member from the resort waiting for us as soon as we got off the flight. The travel to/from Male is covered by the government and completely out of the hands of the resort. On the arrival we waited for three hours to take our flight to the resort and on the way back we had a four hour layover to board our flight out of Male. We learned that this is just part of the process. I would recommend keeping this in mind when you are deciding how long you are going to stay. There is an airport on the island of the resort. We found out about this later and wondered if this was going to be an issue. It was actually an asset. After traveling for a long period of time to get to the resort, the reality that we did not have to take a boat or some other form of transportation after the airplane ride was welcomed. We also did not really hear many airplanes during our stay. The resort staff was extremely accommodating. The food was exceptional. I am a tough critic when it comes to food and I can say that there was only one meal that I did not think the food was amazing. The minbar in the room was a great touch. The staff refilled this one time per day with whatever you needed including the snacks. The rooms were dreamy and cleaned fresh every morning. I highly recommend this resort to anyone considering. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime! I am dreaming about the time that we are so fortunate to go back.

Our first trip to the Maldives. This resort was perfect. The staff was gracious and catered to our every need with a smile. It was not crowded at all and the ambiance was perfect for a relaxing week of scuba, snorkeling, and laying by the pool. The food was great and very plentiful. Cannot say enough good things about this resort! The only negative to the whole trip was the humidity, but lots of time in the water took care of that!

Wonderful experience. Staff are very friendly and welcoming, the food is delicious, and the snorkelling is truly what you’d dream it to be.

Wonderful! Dream vacation. Would recommend!

Incredible in every way imaginable!

Fantasy island. Everything was perfect and staff were exceptional.

Gorgeous place for couples! The room is beautiful!! The staff is wonderful.

Very nice staff. Gorgeous place! It would nice to have evening activities.

It was a wonderful stay. We enjoyed snorkelling near the villas and on snorkelling excursion.we enjoyed the food. Mr Anuru the chef patisserie is an artist! We thank him for spoiling us every day. Mrs Koruna,duty manager makes all the efforts For guests comfort. In a word -excellent stay,good staff -we will be glad to return

We had a great and relaxing time at the resort. Enjoyed the food and the staff made every effort to make us feel welcomed and appreciated.

The most amazing views and over water bungalows are perfectly appointed with a mini bar , snacks and everything you need. Service is amazing and will quickly bring you anything else you might need! Good variety of food and beverages..wish we would have booked a longer stay! The property is pure paradise!

Trip of a lifetime. First time I ever really felt "connected" to Earth. It was saddening to leave.

Bring your own sunscreen. Definitely do the scuba. Snorkel off the reef. Do all excursions. Pay for late check out. No need for a jacket. Get the pool over water villa.

Have Maldives on your bucket list? Yes: Add Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort! No: Put it there! Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort (MMKR), was it just a dream? Yes, the water is that color. Yes, the OTWB (over the water bungalows) do look exactly like that! They did not white wash the culture and put another 5-star resort (insert the brand that you like, ie., Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton) that could have interchangeably been in Bali, Hawaii, Cancun or Maldives. If you want that then this is not your place. It feels a bit more rustic like Hawaii must have been in the 1960s or Tahiti in the 1990s but now both of those have become over commercialized. This is not! Thankfully, there were no grand Broadway-style shows! This feels authentic where it needs to be and still insulated from the environment where comfort dictates; for instance, they spray for bugs 2x/day and mostly keep them out. One time we had some ants and within literally 5 minutes there was a guy in our hut spraying! Food was amazing & each of the buffet options had a card that labeled what was the name of the dish, what was in the dish and also what allergens were present! They were happy to accommodate your food sensitivities. Now don't want to look through rose-colored glasses so here are some shortcomings of MMKR: 1) There's a mini-step up from the bathroom to the living area. Toe-stub alert day one! Same thing happened to others in the resort. That should be easily filled in with a cement ramp. 2) The photo-op swing as well as the ladder that comes up from the sea to your hut are algae-riddled. They should be cleaned monthly if not weekly. 3) No Jacuzzi/Whirlpool. This is a major detractor! I think that they should convert a kiddee pool that is adjacent to the main pool into a Jacuzzi! 4) No temperature control of your own private pool at your OTWB. 5) They handle scheduling the 1 hour plane ride in and out of Kooddoo (GKK). On the way in, it was seamless and they take you to an A/C domestic "luxury" lounge. That option was not the case outbound as our 8 pm flight out of Male (MLE) meant that we had to catch the 2PM Kooddoo outbound flight and so we were in MLE 5 hours before our flight. The international terminal opens to you only 3 hours in advance so we stayed in the humid outdoors for about 90 minutes before we could check ourselves in and the domestic lounge was not available to us (even with Priority Pass because it was full). That said, the MMKR staff helped us every step of the way in MLE both inbound and outbound. Some hidden treasures of the MMKR: 1) There are people sweeping the beach morning and night to keep it clean. You may not see them but there there! 2) The WiFi is everywhere. Its reliable. Its fast. ZERO complaints! Even could download movies! 3) The rain shower in the hut was second to none! Great pressure and great hot water! 4) The email communication for months before was an awesome 24 hour turnaround! Lastly a word about tipping. There is no organized way to give tips nor was it mandatory. Staff did not look for tips and were generally happy to be hospitable. I understand that tipping seems to be more an American 'tradition' but wish they had at least a prompt. Felt awkward to go around and tip individually, especially since there were so many people behind the scenes. At checkout I asked, and they had a mechanism to give the tips on a credit card and for them to spread them amongst all the staff; I hope it gets to them! Here's a shout out to some outstanding staff who I'd induct into the SMILE CLUB HALL OF FAME: Layla & Hasan in main dining, Kunal in the Italian restaurant, Pradeep in the bar and Karouna in front office!

PS: A tip about cost? We got ours through TravelZoo; love those guys! Mercure is one of the brands under the Acor hotel chain but you won't get loyalty points on Acor if you book via TravelZoo. PPS: A tip about Over The Water Bungalow choice? As you're walking out from mainland to the huts on the bridge, 300s are to the right & all have sea view with sunset. To the left are the 500s and 500-518 view is the same as the 300s. 519 is the end of the dock and has sea view and a view of the adjacent south island, Maamendhoo. 520 has a view of the sea, Maamendhoo and Kooddoo but may miss the actual sunset. 519 & 520 rival for the best views! Over 520 are all Kooddoo-only lagoon facing.

My sister and I went for my 70th birthday—awesome experience

Beautiful resort, nice staff, property needs some maintenance but overall nice experience.

More options for sit down restaurants will be nice.

It was amazing! Absolutely beautiful, like waking up in paradise every day. The staff are awesome too! Great price for the experience for sure

A piece of paradise. It was worth the two days of travelling. If we will do this again? Unfortunately, can’t afford to do this again $$, so my response is No.

Booking was a bit difficult since everything was done via email, which always had a slight delay. Property is great, and (most) of the staff is wonderful. (Gentleman at water sports desk is horrible). Unfortunately, ALL of their jet skis were broken and have been for quite some time. The food is beyond awesome! More variety than we ever expected or have ever encountered during our travels. This is a wonderful place that everyone should experience at least once. Would recommend this property, but we will not be coming back - as we would like to experience other properties in the Maldives.

Over water villas are absolutely wonderful! Very spacious, with lots of natural light, thanks to a wall of windows along the good sized deck. So much fun walking out your door to the deck, and down the steps into the warm sea. The glass window in the floor is fun too!

The resort was FANTASTIC and all the staff were extremely helpful and friendly. The excursions were a lot of fun and the snorkeling was phenomenal! We really enjoyed our stay and will definitely be back in the future!

Our stay was absolutely perfect. The resort staff are wonderful and made our experience so special! We stayed in the over the water sunset villa for 9 nights. Our stay included 4 vouchers for free excursions and/or discounted services plus a free 30 minute photography session with a free 5x7 print. We ended up using all vouchers and paid for additional spa services and a scuba dive. The free use of snorkel gear, kayaks and paddle boards was also taken advantage of. Overall there was so much to do it was amazing. There was not one negative thing about our stay. We went for our anniversary and the staff put together a special display in our room to make it special. I can’t say enough about our stay and how spectacular it really was. Worth every penny!

Wonderful relaxing time at the resort

Beautiful location about 70 minute flight from Male. Greeting by staff was excellent. Everyone has been so helpful. Hotel Manager Korona was very helpful along with her whole staff. I have some health issues and the staff was very accommodating and provided golf cart rides where ever we need to go in the complex, including all restaurants. The facility is very well kept up constantly. Yes, this Resort is very far from the USA to visit, but we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay thus far. The food is very good thought I wished there was a specialty steak restaurant with printed menu rather that always a buffet. Overall, a dream vacation and another bucket list checked off. Very please we chose Mercure Kooddoo Resort for our Maldives trip. P.S. Be sure to book for at least 9 days of longer to enjoy everything.

Beautiful location about 70 minute flight from Male. Greeting by staff was excellent. Everyone has been so helpful. Hotel Manager Korona was very helpful along with her whole staff. I have some health issues and the staff was very accommodating and provided golf cart rides where ever we need to go in the complex, including all restaurants. The facility is very well kept up constantly. Yes, this Resort is very far from the USA to visit, but we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay thus far. The food is very good thought I wished there was a specialty steak restaurant with printed menu rather that always a buffet. Overall, a dream vacation and another bucket list checked off. Very please we chose Mercure Kooddoo Resort for our Maldives trip. P.S. Be sure to book for at least 9 days of longer to enjoy everything.

Stunning location, beautiful villa - resort went out of its way to make our honeymoon stay unforgettable

Amazing location- truly a paradise- and lovely staff!

Had an amazing vacation here!

We are here at the moment and it’s absolutely stunning better than we expected

It was so relaxing. I’d highly recommend. So affordable with Travel zoo

The resort is a beautiful paradise like setting with amazing views.

Resort staff more than accommodating; anticipating needs and wants. The over water villas require walking a little distance to activities & food/pool bar. Do not recommend if there are any accessibility challenges. Some of the beach villas are closer. I would choose the beach villa with a pool in the future