The owner of the hotel had told her we could move hotels and they wouldn't charge us a cancellation fee and would refund the unused nights accommodation. We hired a car for the day to check out a couple of other resorts.
Two in particular seemed interesting - Le Muria resort and Raffles (part of The Raffles group). Both on the western tip of the island. We got to Le Muria first which is built around the only golf course on the island. Very nice setup, more along the lines of what we'd thought we were getting at L'Archipel. We saw a couple of rooms and told them we'd get back to them. We then had to backtrack from where we'd come as the road doesn't go all the way around the island. It stops at Le Muria on one side of the western tip and Raffles is on the other side of the western tip. It only takes about 15 mins to drive from one end to the other so not a problem.
Raffles is situated high on a hill overlooking the Indian Ocean and other islands. It's made up of about 60 villas located in tropical gardens dotted all over the hillside. The manager, Thomas, took us in a golf buggy to view the couple of rooms he had available. The room rate was substantially less than Le Muria and greater than L'Archipel but it was heaven, so we decided we'd move to Raffles. We don't think they get many "walk ins" at Raffles as most of these places are prebooked by travel agents. We were lucky to get a room as the place was nearly at full occupancy due to Chinese New Year and Valentines Day.
We drove back to L'Archipel and packed our gear. Doesn't take long when you're only carrying a duffel bag and day pack each. Settled up the small amount we owed for drinks. The manager wouldn't show himself; left it to the reception girl to do all the work. They didn't have a letter waiting for us as promised, about our refund, but Connie assured me over the phone that we'd have it tomorrow. So we'll follow up on that.
We got back to Raffles and were settled in our room by 5.30. Heaven. Had a dip in our plunge pool and got settled in the room, lots of gadgets in the room, fun for Terry to work out! We have our own butler who dropped by to make sure all was OK. We then ordered a buggy to take us to dinner. We had a light meal at the pool cafe with a couple of cocktails before calling it a night.
Raffles is exactly like our accommodation in the Maldives and what we were expecting. We're very happy.
Our plunge pool
The view from the outdoor lounge of our villa
The sun lounges outside our villa
Green gecko outside the window
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