This year so far has been engulfed in chaos, with popular travel destinations closing right and left due to Covid-19. However, borders here and there are starting to gently open up, many with travel restrictions still in place. The Maldives has decided to take a different, yet exciting, approach and open up the entire county to visitors and travel starting in July. At the moment, there are no reports of an exact opening date within July, just that the country will open sometime during the month.

So if you are itching to get back out into the world and travel again, but are still nervous about being within large groups of people, a vacation in an overwater bungalow would make sense. You can read more about that, and more, below.

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What entering the Maldives will look like

When the Ministry of Tourism for the Maldives started talking to the public about reopening last month, they initially said that travelers would need a medical certificate that confirms a negative Covid-19 test. The nation has since changed its mind and instead is allowing visitors back without any type of restriction. In addition, travelers won’t have to pay any additional fees or face new visa requirements. What all of this means is that you can freely fly into the Male International Airport and then freely move around the islands and to your chosen resort.

Essentially, travel within the country will look like it did before the pandemic began. This means you’ll be able to enjoy not only traveling to the different islands within the Maldives, but also enjoy ocean activities, dining in or out of your room, and the beach if the island you’re staying on has one.


Is staying in an overwater villa safe

When you look into what an Maldives overwater villa is, you’ll notice that each one offers a private entry and a private back deck, along with a space of ocean in between, which you can see in the picture above. Some even offer a private entryway into the ocean below via a set of stairs that flow from your private terrace directly into the water. You’ll also find that most villa stays include room service. This is great if you are still apprehensive about eating in the same dining area as other travelers. Because you can easily keep your distance from both staff members and other visitors, staying in an overwater villa is much safer than staying in a large single building resort or hotel.

In addition, the local government is now issuing ‘safe tourism resort licenses’ to resorts that meet the criteria needed. This means that resorts will have to meet the requirements established for cleanliness training, have a medic on call, have a certain amount of personal protection equipment in stock, and allocate 10 percent of resort rooms and resort staff for guests who are in quarantine.


Choosing your overwater resort

Though you may want to just look at the resorts who have acquired the accreditation mentioned above, there are lots of resorts within the nation to choose from that offer a high amount of privacy and make it very easy to keep to yourself and stay away from crowds while enjoying your vacation in paradise. For complete lists of the resorts within the Maldives based on nightly rate, click on the links listed down below:

 


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9 thoughts on "Why you don’t need a travel agent for a perfect Maldives water villa holiday"

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  1. Without a travel agent you are on your own!!! a total misconception
    that agents are a lot more expensive than online. What happens if something goes wrong the computer wont help but an agent will –
    do a bit more research to the original writer and i only hope you
    never need assistance apart from a computer to get you out of a situation!!!!!

    1. Roz,

      If I was a travel agent I’m sure I’d feel the same way. But the fact is that things don’t go wrong very often and even when they do it’s usually easy to fix as long as you deal with legit companies and resorts. For someone who has an extremely low risk tolerance travel agents are probably a great idea. For everyone else, it’s probably not worth it. -Roger

  2. There is so much more to a travel agent than just booking the trip. Yesterday I spend 1/2 my day changing a client’s flights and hotel reservations because her son suddenly got sick during the trip. Last weekend I had 2 sets of clients miss their flights so I spent my time accommodating and reassuring them, while they relaxed at the airport lounge. When a traveler is on vacation, unexpected things can happen. Emergencies can arise. A travel agent can handle all of this for them, so they can focus on their sick child, or whatever the case may be. "In all fairness", you are right. They may not NEED a travel agent for the booking process, but when the unexpected arises, they will need us then! And as the others have said, pricing is almost always the same whether you book online, or with an agent. We also have access to most all the same hotels as online…. plus the extra consortia perks, as Gabrielle mentioned.

  3. I have to agree with others that this article is just not true of what Travel Professionals truly offer a client. Most Travel Professionals don’t charge planning and booking fees. They often offer a low price guarantee and price match if they need to. Many Travel Professionals who do charge a planning or booking fee often apply it towards your balance and/or the tips and money they save you are far more than any planning or booking fee they may charge.

    Booking through a website (just a computer and not a true travel professional) is not a great option. Nobody is asking you the right questions to fit you to the best resorts/flights or council you on the merits of this and that because it’s a computer…..You can’t just go by the pretty pictures on the internet. We say "The Internet is for looking and not booking"

    Each resort has a different vibe, you need to be personally matched to the best accommodations out there that will fit you both because there are so many resort/flight/room choices out there and they’re not all the same or even good. There’s much to think about and consider when picking the right destination, travel dates-weather, resorts/flights/rooms.

    The question that you should ask yourself is, "Why would you take a chance on your Travel Investment and not call a Travel Professional" One whose actually been to the destination with hands on advice? A real reputable Travel Professional wants to talk to you or at least email you and not just put a website out there for you to self-book on while they try to make money on you while they sleep with website bookings that they’re making full commission on, that’s what they don’t want to tell you.

    Trying to talk potential clients out of booking with real Travel Professionals when you’re acting as an "absent" travel agent on a website and doing very little for the client in reality is ironic.
    I feel like this website/article attacks true Travel Professionals in an underhanded way so I will speak the real truth here.

    There are many Travel Professionals who highly specialize in Over Water Bungalows throughout the world, they’ve been to many of these resorts themselves so they have value in their knowledge and have professional relationships with resort owners, management and ground operators. Travel Professionals provide a wonderful service to you and that’s what its truly all about besides offering you some of the lowest prices with price drop guarantees and a host of many other perks!

    1. Heather,

      If I was a travel agent I’m sure I’d feel the same way you do. The point of the article is that savvy travelers (not necessarily first-time travelers) CAN book a Maldives holiday online and still get the exact same VIP experience that other visitors get. Websites like Agoda also book far more resorts than any offline travel agent does, so consumers get more choice. And many resorts do in fact offer lower prices when you book online.

      Some travelers are fussy and require hand-holding and make mistakes and want to make changes. It’s great that you are there for those types of travelers. But there is also a misconception that you NEED to use an offline travel agent to book a Maldives holiday and that’s definitely not true. Thanks for your passion and for all the help you give to those who need you. -Roger

  4. Hi there,
    With respect, I find the information in this article to be largely untrue. Travel agents work with all resorts (and even some B & B’s). They also have buying power and can secure better rates than what is seen online in a lot of cases. I think there is a real misconception out there from people who have only really ever booked online but really, there is a missed value, both monetary and experiential that goes with booking online. Also, many agents are part of a consortium that for example, will provide complimentary meals, complimentary nights, etc, whereas booking online you don’t get these kinds of things. Just my 2 cents anyway!

  5. disagree most of it!, i’ve always secured better deals from travel agents in the UK. Some of them offer upgrades, lounge access which were helpful. And most importantly we need ATOL protection for our whole booking which is only provided by the UK tour operators. This protects our flights all transfers and the resort booking. In any emergency we have the ATOL protection to bail us out.
    If you are not a fussy customer who wouldn’t mind ending up in a room that don’t wish to be, then booking from any other source is fine.
    Anyways, these are my thoughts. Hope you will publish this.

    1. Ryan,

      You make some good points and I guess each person has their own risk tolerance level. These days it’s common for purchases on many Visas and Mastercards to automatically have this kind of coverage, and you can buy travel insurance to cover it as well. Still, many people prefer a traditional high-street travel agent. My main point is that you don’t NEED a travel agent to book an ideal Maldives holiday because the online booking process is now so well organized and you don’t need any hand-holding once you land. Thanks for the comments. -Roger