Soneva, a pioneering luxury resort operator, has won the coveted Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Award for its two properties in the Maldives.
At the 31st annual Readers’ Choice Awards, Soneva Fushi was ranked at the third place amongst the Top Resorts in Indian Ocean with a score of 99.22, while its sister resort Soneva Jani scored 96.68 to secure the 17th spot on the list.
Reviewing Soneva Fushi, which was earlier included in the magazine’s Gold List 2018 as well, Condé Nast Traveler described the resort as an eco-friendly getaway in the Baa atoll. This chic island idyll offers nearly every indulgence money can buy — except those that compromise the resort’s eco-friendliness, it said.
“Go for a beachside picnic, kick back at an open-air cinema, unwind at a Six Senses spa, and sleep soundly in one of the resort’s 59 one-to-nine room villas, which are built with sustainable materials. Your wish? Literally their command: Each villa comes with its own private butler, which means that if you want ice cream at 2:47 a.m., you get it,” the review read.
Soneva, a world-leading luxury resort operator, runs two resorts in the Maldives, Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani.
Established in 1995, Soneva Fushi is the original Soneva. The No News, No Shoes blueprint for all desert island barefoot luxury hideaways is located within the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the Maldives. Soneva Fushi inspires the imagination with 65 spacious beachfront villas, ranging in size from one to nine bedrooms, hidden amongst dense foliage.
The iconic resort has bagged several international awards for eco-friendly tourism and green initiatives, including the 2017 Green Hotelier Award for the Asia Pacific region and the Sustainable Hotel Award by the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) as well as a spot in the Gold List compiled by Condé Nast Traveler China as the Best Hotel in the Maldives and amongst the best resorts in the world in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards 2017.
Opened in December 2016, Soneva Jani is Soneva’s newest property and its second resort in the Maldives.
Soneva Jani encompasses a collection of 24 overwater villas and one island villa set in a 5.6 kilometre private lagoon located in the northern Noonu atoll. The resort spans five islands surrounded by pure white beaches, covered in rich tropical vegetation, offering the ultimate in privacy and luxury.
Each of the resort’s multilevel water villas has its own private pool and a retractable roof that allows guests to sleep beneath the stars. Many villas also have slides that transport guests directly from the top level into the lagoon below. Other hotel highlights include a spa, an observatory — home to the largest telescope in the Indian Ocean — and an outdoor cinema.
Since its opening, Soneva Jani has created a lot of buzz amongst luxury travellers with its exciting features such as the retractable roofs and the water slides. It has been named the Best Over-the-Top Luxury hotel of the year by Jetsetter.com, the best new resort in the world by CNN, and the Leading Luxury Hotel/Resort in South Asia and Leading Luxury Hotel/Resort in Maldives.
The Readers’ Choice Awards epitomises authenticity, personalisation and the unexpected in the travel industry. This year, nearly half a million Condé Nast Traveler readers submitted a recording-breaking number of responses rating their travel experiences across the globe.