Hotels

Overwater villa check. Six Senses Kanuhura due to open later this year.

a stuffed animal sitting in a room with a view of the ocean

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Six Senses Kanuhura

I absolutely loved the Six Senses Maldives Laamu where my wife and I spent our honeymoon. We enjoyed both it, and the St Regis Maldives, immensely, but we were in agreement that, if we were to return to the area, Six Senses would get our repeat business. I’d heard rumblings that the area was getting another Six Senses and now it’s populating the website indicating we may see it open later this year!a beach with trees and a bridge

Six Senses has rebranded the Kanuhura Maldives, adding pools to the overwater villas, adding family suites, dining concepts, and a complete refresh. In total there are 80 villas on the main island ( Kanuhura has 3 islands, two of which are deserted) and if I return to the Maldives this resort has shot to the top of my list.

The Six Senses Kanuhura is roughly a 45 to 50 minute seaplane ride from MLE which I’d prefer compared to the commercial flight + boat you need to take to get to Laamu. I’ll have to do more research on the surf and diving near here, but the island looks absolutely stunning.

This is a review that really shows what the resort was like before Six Senses took it over… i’m eager to see the upcoming changes!

Currently the Six Senses Laamu at its cheapest is 136k points per night, but seems to have skyrocketed in the last few days and much of the calendar is well over 200k points per night. The Intercontinental Maldives is 120k. Both properties are eligible for 4th night free when you have a qualifying IHG credit card, and you can often shore up your account at 1/2 penny a point. I’d guess that the new Six Senses Kanuhura will be somewhere in that range meaning a 4 night stay would be roughly 360k+ IHG points ( $1800 ). I’d absolutely love to visit this property with the IHG One Rewards Diamond benefits!

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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7 Comments

  • Gerryd June 13, 2022

    Hey Miles,
    Before you enjoy another over-water villa, stream “The Reqiun”. A couple on a romantic getaway find themselves stranded at sea when a tropical storm sweeps away their villa. In order to survive, they are forced to fight the elements, while sharks circle below. Scary.
    Enjoy!
    GerryD

  • Diego June 12, 2022

    I take it you missed the six senses IHG devaluation? 100k seems to be gone.

    • Miles June 12, 2022

      Ya I havne’t seen these super high prices… I was looking just a few days ago and they weren’t this crazy. Lowest I’m seeing is 136k

      • Diego June 12, 2022

        Yeah, it got all changed about a week or 2 ago. Bummer. I had just booked for 2/23 at 100k. Went to add a few more nights and boom!

  • FabinhoBP June 12, 2022

    My wife and I were at the Laamu 4 months ago and were extremely disappointed with their service. Being a IHG Diamond member only made things even more disappointing.
    We are divers and had to be at the diving shop at 7:45 meanwhile the breakfast only opened at 7:00, so we did not have enough time to enjoy breakfast. We asked our personal butler to either let us have a light breakfast at 6:30 or to arrange a “to go” light basket with pastries and had our request denied. We couldn’t believe it.
    Also, they forgot to schedule our Covid tests and called our room as we were leaving for a dinner with friends to rush us to the “fake doctor” office to have tested. By the time we’re done with the test we had missed our dinner with friends.
    They also changed our departure flight and only informed us on the last night that we had our transfer at 7:00 the next morning, so instead of enjoying our last night we had to rush back to the room to pack our luggage.
    The resort is very beautiful and our overwater bungalow was also very nice, however their service was the worst of the 6 resorts we have stayed in the past in the Maldives.
    We may try their new property, but never going back to the Laamu.

  • Larry D June 12, 2022

    I checked and saw that the Laamu was 100k per night about a week ago. Figured I’d buy some IHG points at the upcoming US Travel daily sale for my March 2023 booking. I checked last night (which incorporates the new IHG rewards programs revamp) and the Laamu was pricing about 230k points per night (which jives with the typical half cent per point value. Yikes. Snooze you lose sometimes. Is that what other people see too? Might opt for the “W” Maldives in that case.

    Also, Flying in to Male arriving about 6AM. Any comments on whether the domestic plane transfers and speedboats will be operating that early, or will we be sitting around the airport for 4-6 hours?

    • Miles June 12, 2022

      ugh! same thing here, I was looking just a few days ago, when did this happen!?

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