Rene D Egle, the General Manager of the Shangri-La Villingili Resort and Spa, spared a few moments of his time to talk to us about his hotel in the Maldives. Here are the highlights of our interview:
Tell us about the new services your resort is providing… for instance, the golf course. Do you see that as a big attraction for tourists in this region?
I’ll tell you first about the size of the island. Shangri-La Villingili is basically one of the larger islands in the Maldives. It is three kilometers long and 800 metres wide. The south end of the island had not been developed since the resort opened, and when we looked at the shape and the general size, we found that it would be perfectly suitable for a nine-hole golf course. Now there are no golf courses in the Maldives but there is a market [of golfers] which is currently going to Seychelles, Mauritius. These are not professional, but recreational golf players… there might be a couple where the husband says, “I’ll go anywhere you want, as long as I can play golf,” and they choose Mauritius because there’s golf, sunshine and the beach.
We believe that this market can now be brought to the Maldives at the Shangri-La Villingi because we offer something similar – and better!
Do you see a lot of tourists from the Middle East?
Yes, it’s one of our largest markets and I think it’s growing.
Are there specific things you offer at your hotel for the benefit of Islamic travelers or travelers from the GCC (privacy on the resort, halal food etc)
The Maldives is an Islamic country so all the meat served is halal. Arab tourists don’t need to worry about that here. We offer a lot of privacy to our guests, rooms and villas are all secluded and depending on which villa you choose it can offer a lot of different ways of seclusion, for instance if you stay in our Pool Villas, we offer a private pool and terrace; the Beach villa offers private beach space. At our spa, rooms are obviously also secluded for all guests. If you take a look at the spa you’ll see exactly how private it is. (Pictured)
Thanks for your time.
Thank you! We hope to see you guys there soon.
To view the Maldives city guide, click here.
