Hospitality trends: Swimming pools are the stars of the Maldives / Travel News

I jump. Bring your knees to your chest and place your hands on your calves in typical Arschbomben position. Less classic is the pool I’m diving in to the right: he’s buried on the balcony of Suite 401, part of New Delhi’s eight-story luxury hotel The Lodhi, a former Oman resort.

The house is one of the few urban hotels in the world that offers rooms with private pools. In addition to the 50-meter swimming pool in the fitness department and the bathtub next to the shower, the balcony has a basin two by two meters wide and about 1.50 meters deep. It’s a sublime feeling splashing over a city. Not enough room to swim.

Pools on balconies are a logical progression of trends changing the luxury hotel industry: in the mid-nineties, Banyan Tree Phuket was the first luxury resort to offer villas with private pools. Since then, more and more wealthy guests have demanded such plunge pools, enjoyed two-week all-inclusive vacations in Turkey, and spent more per night than other travelers on suites.

Maldives holidays: Today you pay for pool views

The gold rush has hit top hotels, too. In the parks of many resorts, the digging frenzy began. Ornamental plants and rhododendrons were removed, holes dug and concreted, tiles and tiles laid. Some houses are taken out of operation just to remodel. For guests paying private splash. So Four Seasons in the Maldives calls for a $1,300-a-night overwater bungalow rising out of the ocean. $1,900 for an overwater bungalow with a pool.

Pools have been part of the world of hotel adventures for about a hundred years. During 1927, the Huntington Hotel, California, famous for its Olympic swimming pool, was one of several houses that initiated a campaign to have rooms with radios. It sets a standard. After the workout, the fun comes in the bathroom – with slides and water games. You shouldn’t be going to an actual beach when mass tourism means hotels are built on the second or third row with lagoon-style pools that float in front of guests. Swimming pool as an alternative to Lido.

Today, in many of the well-staged swimming worlds, the stars are not the bays but the basins, where the stars are more than the models. Picture books celebrate the “cool pool,” and some hotels, such as the Melia Marbella, now require premium rooms with pool views. In the past, you had to pay to see the sea view.

One of our vacation wishes seems to have changed – a dream of bliss on a deserted island. People who have been on crowded beaches before, yearn for a crescent-shaped bay with white sand and beautiful palm trees, where there is no radio blaring, no children’s bickering, and no coconut sunscreen smell. Alone and only with Schatzi. Suites with private pools are a new interpretation of this bliss.

Maldives Holidays: Dream Pools Leading To The Beach

The pool villa ‘Belle Mare Plage’ in Mauritius is a luxury retreat with butler service on the edge of a slum-like factory. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the pelvis, roughly 8 meters long and 2 meters narrow, can be seen, separated from the beach by a chest-high wall against the might of the Indian Ocean. Hype hotels built by the super rich with friends or family. Wasn’t sure the concept was feasible at first. Are there enough guests willing to pay €1500 per night?

Today this is no longer an issue. According to Enrica Arend of dertour Deluxe, every newly opened luxury resort now offers nature suites with private pools, and the more than 160 houses are the only German organizer program available in the world. Its wealthy guests explicitly demanded pools for millionaires. Why? “Our luxury guests,” says Arend, “primarily want privacy.”

Armando Kraenzlin nods and smiles approvingly at the tourism victim’s account. Swiss is a very polite guy and the director of Four Seasons Maldives. A professional with a lot of experience in luxury hotels is sometimes even surprised by his wealthy guests. Therefore, the water bungalows are all booked first, with private pools. One of the best swimming and diving in the world is taking people’s feet – and taking them to another pool.

Affordable private pool

However, the private pools of the Four Seasons suites are often not used at all. Tourists seem to prefer the luxurious pools of the main building, chatting about sailing with fellow guests while trying to wave the key cards to their special suites. About yearning not sparking the island pool craze, but the global, almost childish “my car, my house, my boat” behavior?

At the same time, there are five-star hotel rooms with small pools. And more affordable than establishments in Maritius and Maldives: the “Infinity Suite” at Westin Costa Navarino in the Peloponnese, Greece, is about 140 euros per person, and the “Pool Villa” at Thai Sala Phuket is about 115 euros per person.

In a metropolis like Delhi with a population of 20 million, smoky, noisy and hot, a mini pool on a balcony is a special treat. Also awakens childlike behavior. So I jumped up and pulled his knees up to my chest and put my hands on my calves. Then splashed water.