How to get to the Maldives for less than $1,500

In this post, I will outline our plan to the Maldives and how we only spent less than $1,000 for flights and our hotel stay! Not only will this be helpful for my future reference, I want to inspire others!

 

The Dream

 

 From the lonely desk in the dark days of my first auditor busy season, I had “the dream.” Exotic islands. Over water villas. White beaches. Superb sunsets. Expensive Holiday. Whether that holiday is in Bora Bora, Sechynelles, or Maldives, these destinations all have one “problem” - they are very pricey.

 

For us, the dream involved over water villas. We didn’t mind the actual location as if it had over water villas, there had to be beaches nearby as well! Therefore, we had a narrow choice of a few islands.

 

The Plan

 

Obviously, one of my favorite hobbies is planning and budgeting. These hobbies were perfect for this trip! In 2017, before we even moved to the UK, I started planning.

 

During the height of our busy season, I made Mary Frances and I sign up for the 100,000 Chase Sapphire Reserve promotion bonus. Although it is no longer available, we essentially had 200,000 to fund all sorts of fun travel. Not only did it fund this trip, we were able to take other round trip thanks to the many point partners.

 

After we moved to the UK, we became engaged! For our honeymoon, we wanted to go somewhere exotic and remote, where we could escape from the world. Since Bora Bora was possibly too far away for our liking (30+ hours), we “settled” for the Maldives!

 

The Flight

 

From London, there are many, many possible flight routes, especially if we considered layovers.

 

Direct

 

Using British Airways, we could fly direct. Although it is a seasonal flight, it would prevent layovers and significantly reduce our stress. However, the plane did not seem appropriate for our points! I used 

 

Indirect

 

There are many lovely options mostly including one stop layovers. Since we had a stash of Chase points, we could only have certain airlines.

 

In the end, I chose the Singapore Airlines’ and their new A380 business class. We could have done their first class, but we would have been waitlisted. In addition, the business class received high reviews and their service is bar none.

 

Therefore, we would fly business class on the new Singapore A380 jumbo jet, lay over in one of the most popular cities in the world, and then travel to the Maldives in style!

 

Total Points: 180,000 points and 400 in taxes and fees

 

 

Total "Actual" Cost: £3,800 per person

 

 

 

 

The Hotel

 

As auditors, we often have to travel and stay in hotels. Since we joined KPMG, we have been loyal Hilton members During our time, we have amassed over 500,000 Hilton Honors points, Diamond status, and many free perks!

 

In the Maldives, there is one Hilton property (at the moment!) - Conrad Rangali. It lies about 30 minutes from Male, the capital, and has many over water villas, beach villas, and amazing views! For “normal” costs, a water villa is usually $888-$1,185. On points, the base rate is 95,000 per night.

 

 

However, a special rate is given to ANY Hilton Honor Members. If we stayed 4 nights, you get 1 additional “free” night ! Thus, instead of spending 475,000 points for a 5 night stay (95,000 times 5 nights), we would only spend 380,000 points!

 

 

Road to 380,000

 

Lingering from our travels as auditor and “for pleasure,” we had around 200,000 in 2017. In early spring 2017, there was a massive Hilton honor sale where we could buy 100,000 points for $500. Easily, one of the best decisions we ever made!

 

From there, we would need the remaining 80,000. In the summer, Hilton released their new American Express cards. While there were 4 levels, we wanted two things: 80,000 points and at a minimum Gold status. We wanted Gold status to “pay” for the many cool perks in the Maldives! In the end, we signed up for the Aspire card which gave us 100,000 points and Gold status once we reach the $3,000 minimum spend.

 

 

The Return

 

Since we booked a one way to Male, we would need a flight out of the Maldives. We had a critical decision to make - either stay in Southeast Asia for an additional week or fly back and “save” the holiday for another time. We chose Southeast Asia! From one of the most expensive places in the world, we flew to one of the cheapest - Thailand!!

 

From Male to Thailand, options can get very expensive, very quickly. There was one cheap direct flight on Air Asia from Male to Bangkok where we would connect to Phuket to continue our travels. We would then travel via Air Asia again to get to Chiang Mai.

 

To return to London, I again researched the routes to see the best options. Unfortunately, we were just short of business class awards so we settled for a free economy flight back on Thai Airways. Thankfully, I had us in one of the best seats on the A380 plane otherwise I think Mary Frances would have my head!

 

 

Cost Summary

 

	Retail	Actual
Singapore Airlines (to Maldives)	$10,011	$500 + 180,000 Chase points transfer to Singapore
Air Asia (to Thailand)	$400	$400
Thai Airways (from Thailand)	$1,150	$45 + 45,000 United points
Conrad Rangali Hilton	$5,625 ($1,125 per night)	$500 + 320,000 Hilton Honors points
Total:	$17,186	$1,445