Business
Atmosphere Hotels announces change in senior management
Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts has made two new appointments within its senior management team.
Venkata Giri has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Atmosphere Group.
Over the last four years, Giri has led the operations team under the title of Group Director of Operations. He has been with Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts since 2016, where he first launched OZEN by Atmosphere at Maadhoo to be the flagship all-inclusive luxury resort of the group.
“It’s our great pleasure and honour to have Venkata Giri become COO of the group, we are at a critical juncture wherein we are strategising our growth and expansion into the broader Indian Ocean markets, and we truly believe that Venkata will be instrumental in spearheading the process,” Salil Panigrahi, Managing Director of Atmosphere Hotels, was quoted in a statement, as saying.
Meanwhile, Stephane Laguette is the newly appointed Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He is taking over from Dinesh Bhaskar, the former Group Director of Sales and Marketing.
Laguette, who joins Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts from Anantara Hotels & Resorts where he held the position of Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Asia and Maldives, said: “I am extremely honoured and excited to join Atmosphere and continue to build on the brand’s strong legacy as we slowly spread into the broader Indian Ocean region.”
From Bangkok, Dubai, Cancun and The West Indies, Laguette brings experience from the international hospitality sector where he will work towards taking Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts’ portfolio to a global level.
“The tourism sector in the Maldives is challenging. With the development of the senior management team and the hard work from all members of team, we believe that our ethos and values will stand out regionally and globally,” Salil added.
Since the inception of Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts in 2013, the award-winning Indian Ocean hospitality brand has been rapidly expanding within different market segments: the four-star OBLU by Atmosphere at Helengeli, entry-level five-star Atmosphere Kanifushi, and the luxury all-inclusive OZEN by Atmosphere at Maadhoo.
The high price-performance ratio common to all resorts is crucial for the success of Atmosphere Hotels and Resorts. United under the philosophy of “The Joy of Giving”, the brand has been successful in translating this core value to anything they deliver to the discerning customer consistently and effectively.
The critical objective of Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts is to always understate and over deliver. This is clearly the primary reason for their secret of success at such a rapid pace, culminating in the launch of their fourth resort, OBLU Select at Sangeli early this year.
Photo: Stephane Laguette (R) and Venkata Giri.
Business
Feydhoo Hall opens at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives as new event space
Dusit International, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and property development companies, has announced the opening of Feydhoo Hall, a landmark event venue at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives, redefining the possibilities for meetings, celebrations, and destination events in the Maldives.
Designed to bring scale, flexibility, and creativity to island gatherings, Feydhoo Hall represents a bold step forward in positioning the Maldives as a dynamic destination for conferences, weddings, and large-scale social occasions.
Feydhoo Hall offers a versatile event complex designed to accommodate a wide range of gatherings, from corporate meetings and conferences to weddings and social celebrations.

At its core is the 390 sqm Main Hall, capable of hosting:
- Up to 300 guests in theatre-style setup
- Up to 240 guests for dining and banquet-style events
- Up to 200 guests for cocktail-style receptions
- Up to 144 guests in cluster-round configuration
Enhancing the flexibility of the venue are additional dedicated spaces, including:
- A 110 sqm Veranda Terrace, ideal for welcome receptions, breakout sessions, and pre-event gatherings, accommodating up to 100 guests for cocktail-style events.
- A spacious 1,000 sqm Lawn Space, perfect for large-scale outdoor celebrations, destination weddings, and open-air events, accommodating up to 400 guests for cocktail receptions and up to 350 guests for dining setups.
- The 55 sqm Ekugai Meeting Room, designed for smaller meetings and executive sessions, accommodating up to 30 guests in theatre or dining setup and 24 guests in cluster-round format.
Together, these integrated spaces create a seamless indoor-outdoor event experience, allowing planners to design dynamic and personalised event journeys.
True to the dusitD2 brand’s lifestyle-driven philosophy, Feydhoo Hall introduces a fresh approach to meetings and events — where productivity meets creativity in an inspiring island setting.
The venue offers flexible meeting formats designed to suit different event needs, including:
- Half-Day Meeting Package (4 hours) — ideal for focused sessions, executive meetings, and creative workshops.
- Full-Day Meeting Package (8 hours) — designed for immersive conferences, extended workshops, and large-scale corporate gatherings.
These thoughtfully structured packages provide planners with the flexibility to create impactful and seamless experiences, whether hosting intimate strategy sessions or dynamic full-day events.

Located just seven minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport, dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives combines accessibility with vibrant lifestyle energy, offering event planners and guests a rare balance between convenience and tropical escape.
With the introduction of Feydhoo Hall, the resort strengthens its position as a versatile destination — not only for leisure travellers but also for international conferences, creative retreats, luxury weddings, and large-scale social celebrations seeking something refreshingly different in the Maldives.
Business
BBM expands retail presence with new Hulhumalé outlet
Bestbuy Maldives (BBM) opened a new wholesale store in Hulhumalé Phase 2 on Monday.
The outlet is located on the ground floor of Lot 20286, Nirolhu Magu, and is intended to improve access to BBM’s imported goods for residents of Hulhumalé Phase 2 and for businesses operating in the area.
According to the company, the opening forms part of its plan to expand services closer to customers in line with population growth in Hulhumalé.
With the opening of the new store, BBM’s full range of imported and distributed products will be available at the Hulhumalé Phase 2 location. These include consumer goods from international brands such as Lifebuoy, Vaseline and Unilever.
The store will also stock wholesale food products from brands including Daily, Cavin’s and Redman.
BBM has supplied goods to resorts, hotels and retail outlets across the Maldives for several years.
Action
Ataraxis Grand & Spa hosts integrated work-and-dive corporate retreat in Fuvahmulah
Ataraxis Grand & Spa recently hosted a week-long, closed corporate offsite in Fuvahmulah for a US-based artificial intelligence company, highlighting the island’s growing suitability for integrated work-and-experience retreats. The retreat brought a group of 36 international professionals to the property, which was reserved exclusively for the programme.
Designed as a private company offsite, the stay combined structured daily work sessions with guided diving and beginner-friendly surf experiences, creating a balanced format that blended focused collaboration with physical reset.

A notable component of the programme was dive training and certification. During the retreat, 17 participants completed their Open Water certification, while a further six undertook the Advanced Open Water course, with training and dives scheduled alongside work sessions as part of the integrated itinerary.
Throughout the week, participants worked on-site using dedicated shared spaces supported by reliable high-speed internet, allowing meetings, informal collaboration and scheduled activities to take place within a single, uninterrupted environment. This setup enabled teams to move seamlessly between work periods and organised ocean activities without leaving the property.

Fuvahmulah’s natural and operational advantages formed a key part of the retreat’s appeal. As one of the Maldives’ largest inhabited islands, it offers immediate access to pelagic dive sites, internationally recognised shark diving and surf breaks suitable for instruction, alongside the infrastructure required to support extended group stays.

The offsite reflects a growing preference among technology and knowledge-sector teams for small-scale retreats that prioritise concentrated work environments and team cohesion over traditional conference formats. Such programmes typically involve longer stays and higher per-capita spend, aligning with sustainable, quality-driven tourism models.
The retreat also demonstrates how locally operated properties such as Ataraxis Grand & Spa are supporting this shift by delivering unified environments where accommodation, workspaces, connectivity and curated experiences operate as a single programme rather than separate services.

As organisations continue to explore alternative formats for strategy sessions, team resets and creative offsites, Ataraxis Grand & Spa’s experience positions Fuvahmulah as an increasingly viable destination for integrated corporate retreats.
Ataraxis Grand & Spa offers work-and-dive retreat programmes in Fuvahmulah that combine accommodation, dedicated workspaces, high-speed connectivity and organised diving and surfing.

Further information on retreat formats and dive-inclusive stays is available via the Ataraxis Grand & Spa website.
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