Glamming up your getaway

Every island in the Maldives is stunning. So how do resorts offer a luxury upgrade? At Cheval Blanc it's by elevating every experience-food, service, spa and beyond

- VIR SANGHVI

What is real luxury in the hotel business? Many hoteliers I speak to say that these days, luxury is all about resort properties.

Once upon a time, high-end resorts seemed eye-wateringly expensive. Now they are about the same price as city hotels, because rates at city hotels all over the world have shot up.

Most people who stay in city hotels spend few of their waking hours in the hotel, and often breakfast is the only meal they will eat in-house. It's the opposite with resorts. The secret of a successful luxury resort is that even if you spend all of your time in the hotel, you should never get bored.

No destination embodies this principle as well as the Maldives. Because each hotel is on a coral island of its own, 99% of all guests do not leave the resort.

Every island in the Maldives is beautiful and every hotel has its own lagoon with water so clear that you can see the pebbles at the bottom of the sea. So, even if you stay in a mid-range resort, you still have the lagoon to enjoy.

But this also means that each resort has roughly the same natural advantages. How does any hotel rise above the others? I have stayed at about a dozen of the top resorts in the Maldives. Two stand out.

Nine years ago I went to Soneva Fushi and Cheval Blanc on the same trip and wrote a column here comparing the experiences.