The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort and The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, are both epitomes of luxury in the Maldives, each with its unique offerings. They are both part of the Marriott brand, so you can earn and burn Marriott Bonvoy points at both resorts.
1. Location: St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort Vs. Ritz-Carlton Maldives
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort is on a private island in the Dhaalu Atoll, requiring a scenic 45-minute but expensive seaplane ride from Malé.
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives is located in the North Malé Atoll, accessible by a shorter 10-minute speedboat ride from Malé International Airport.
2. Style & Character
The St. Regis blends contemporary design and traditional Maldivian architecture, marked by sleek, modern lines and luxurious, opulent details.
The Ritz-Carlton emphasizes minimalist elegance with an eco-friendly design, using organic materials to create a sophisticated yet understated aesthetic. The Ritz-Carlton’s overwater villas are circular in design and feel more modern than the rooms at the St Regis.
One thing worth mentioning is that the service tends to be better and more heartfelt at the Ritz-Carlton and more robotic at St. Regis if this is important to you.
Best Marriott: St Regis Vs. W Maldives
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort and The W Maldives are part of the Marriott brand, so you can earn and burn Marriott Bonvoy points at both resorts. The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort is on a private island in the Dhaalu Atoll, requiring a scenic 45-minute but expensive seaplane ride from Malé. W Maldives is located on North Ari Atoll, a shorter seaplane ride from Mahe airport. The flight takes just 25 minutes. A cheaper arrival option is a domestic flight to Maamigili Airport, which takes about 20 minutes, followed by a speedboat transfer, which takes about 45 minutes.
3. Beach & Pools
Both resorts boast pristine white-sand beaches. The St. Regis features an impressive infinity pool that seamlessly blends into the ocean horizon and private pools. However, the pool and the beach are in the same area of the resort, so they lack variety. As beaching and pooling are the main things to do on the island, the St. Regis can be a little boring as you only have one place to go.
Both islands offer similar activities but the Ritz offers a larger variety of settings, making it feel like there is more to do on their islands than the St. Regis island.
To get around the Ritz-Carlton island, you will be given a bike and can bike around and explore several infinity pools, including a striking circular pool and private pools in each villa. The pool is excellent here and looks directly out onto the ocean. At the Ritz-Carlton, you can spend a morning on the beach and then an afternoon by the pool on a different island, so you can enjoy two completely different experiences.
The Ritz-Carlton is actually laid out over three islands linked by bridges and surrounded by a lagoon protected by a rock wall that ensures the water is calm. The pool is on the middle island, and the beach is opposite most of the villas, which gives two interesting and completely different experiences. The pool and beach have their own restaurants, providing variety its dining locations with all sorts of food, including Italian, Chinese, Japanese, continental, and Maldivian.
Snorkeling is better at St. Regis, as the Ritz reef is not the best. Although you can still snorkel with tropical fish at the Ritz-Carlton, you’re more likely to snorkel with turtles and sharks at the St. Regis.
The disadvantage of the reef at the St Regis is getting to it. You must swim quite a distance from your bungalow to get to the edge of the reef, which has a 100-foot drop-off that can feel weird and uncomfortable for beginners and young snorkelers.
At St. Regis, no wall is built around the bungalows. The underwater wall, which has been built at the Ritz-Carlton makes the water superbly calm, so although the St. Regis reef is better, the water can be fairly rough around the villas so you can’t always step out from your villa into the sea for a swim or a snorkel. If you have children, the roughness may frighten them, so the Ritz-Carlton is probably the better choice for families.
Ritz-Carlton Vs. St. Regis. Which Is Best?
Which is best, Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis? Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis are both high-end brands under the Marriott umbrella. They share this elite spot with BVLGARI, EDITION, and The Luxury Collection. These brands occupy a 5-star luxury category, with room quality and size, service, restaurants, and the hotel as a whole offering an ultra-luxurious setting. There are currently 61 St. Regis hotels. There are 11 in North America, 2 in Africa, 24 in Asia, 6 in Central America and the Caribbean, 6 in Europe, and 10 in the Middle East.
4. Rooms
There are 77 private villas at The St. Regis. The rooms are luxurious villas with a contemporary design, high-end amenities, and private pools, providing a sense of grandeur and exclusivity. They offer high-end marble floors and fixtures but lack Maldivian charm.
The base room here is not overwater but on the edge of the beach, and some of the rooms are tired and worn in places. If you book a standard overwater villa at St. Regis, it may also overlook other villas and lack privacy. We suggest requesting a room as far from the Whale Bar as possible to avoid any unwanted noise.
The Ritz-Carlton has 100 private villas that are luxurious and minimalist in design. Their overwater villas are circular in design and set out in an oval linked by decked pathways. They incorporate natural materials and offer private pools with a focus on sustainability. We prefer the Ritz-Carlton rooms, which have a better design, although they seem a tiny bit smaller, and their hammock setup isn’t as good. Overall, they are in great condition and are more private.
5. Price
Both resorts are among the priciest in the Maldives. The St. Regis generally starts at around $1,500 USD per night, while The Ritz-Carlton’s rates usually begin at about $1,800 USD per night, reflecting that the base room at the St. Regis is a Garden Villa on the beach and not overwater. The base room at the Ritz-Carlton is a much better choice if the prices are comparable, as it’s an all-singing, all-dancing overwater villa.
Because the resorts offer dynamic pricing, which changes much like the airlines, it’s worth checking both hotels before deciding between them. Equally, if you are flexible on dates, you might find that one of these hotels is vastly cheaper than the other on certain dates.
Book either of these hotels via our luxury travel concierge to get a better deal. We can gift you free breakfast for two, along with priority room upgrades, hotel credit, and more. You also get your usual Marriott Bonvoy points when you book via our agency.
6. Conclusion
While both the St. Regis and The Ritz-Carlton offer high-end luxury, the St. Regis oozes elegance, whereas the Ritz-Carlton is perfect for travelers who appreciate minimalist opulence and eco-friendly design.
The dealbreaker between these hotels is the lack of a decent house reef at the Ritz-Carlton. If you want to snorkel with reef sharks and turtles as opposed to just fish, you should pick the St. Regis, regardless of the nitpicking between the other aspects of the resort. St. Regis wins hands down for its snorkeling experience.
Conversely, if you have a family and want to swim and snorkel directly from your villa, St. Regis can be a disaster as the water can get very rough around the villas and unsuitable for safe swimming. The Ritz has built a wall around the villas to protect the swimming area, so you can always just jump right in with the fish without worrying about the bad weather or the safety of swimming, which is much better for families with kids.
If you want to try both you need to return to the airport to get between these two hotels. While it isn’t impossible, there isn’t a direct transfer, which is rather annoying as by staying at both hotels you get the best of both worlds.
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