News
Shangri-La launches ‘Shangri-La Private Jet Journey’
Maldives.net.mv – Shangri-La , in cooperation with Ctrip’s top travel brand, HHtravel, and Private Jet Journeys, announced the launch of the “Shangri-La Private Jet Journey” programme providing a personalised, high-quality luxury travel experience to China’s high-end leisure travellers. In so doing, Shangri-La aims to create a new stage for strategic cooperation with high-end travel brands.
The first flight of the “Shangri-La Private Jet Journey” series is set for the Maldives—the most favoured destination of China’s affluent. The “Maldives Double Villa Luxury Journey” will take off on Golden Week in October 2013. It will be China’s first upscale travel group to enjoy a direct flight to a high-end island by private jet and the only group trip of its kind this year.
In the future, the program will introduce private jet journeys to Europe, the Americas and Australasia with travellers staying at Shangri-La’s global luxury hotels and savouring local cuisines and exploring the culture and heritage of the destinations. Among Chinese luxury travellers, Shangri-La was named the most preferred hotel brand for the second consecutive year in the 2013 Hurun Report – The Chinese Luxury Traveler.
“Shangri-La has had years of strong partnership with the industry’s leader, Ctrip,” said Kent Zhu, chief marketing officer of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. “This time, we have teamed up with HHtravel, Ctrip’s subsidiary specialising in luxury travel services, to expand our cooperation to the field of high-end travel. We wish to provide our guests with more exclusive luxury experiences featuring meticulous, distinguished hotel services; high-end, customised itineraries, and a private jet experience. The Maldives trip is only the start of the ‘Shangri-La Private Jet Journey’ series. In the future, leveraging on the close cooperation with HHtravel and Private Jet Journeys, we will continue to launch more exciting private jet trips.”
Throughout the “Maldives Double Villa Luxury Journey,” guests will stay at Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa, Maldives. Boasting a six-kilometre coastline and two kilometres of fine white sand beach, it is the only hotel located in the southern part of the Maldives, nearest to the equator, and the only hotel in the entire country that has its own private executive airport terminal with an exclusive VIP lounge handling entry-exit and check-in procedures for guests. Guests will stay a few nights each in a Water Villa and Tree House Villa while at the resort.
The Water Villas are built on top of the resort’s lagoon. Offering panoramic views and fresh sea air, this private haven is connected to the island by a timber walkway, with azure waters in close proximity. In contrast, the hidden Tree House Villas are built on top of trees, over waters teeming with marine life, where guest can enjoy both the privacy and beautiful scenery with sweeping sea views unfolding like a canvas.
Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa, Maldives is also the country’s first hotel to have a nine-hole golf course, as well as the first to offer bike tours of the surrounding islands. Located in the southern part of Villingili Island, the golf course occupies an area of 7.5 hectares and offers breathtaking views.
A BBJ Boeing Business Jet is slated to be chartered for the Maldives trip. The jet aircraft is a high-performing derivative of a Boeing 737 and specifically designed for VIP customers; the 150 seats of a Boeing 737 are transformed into 26 seats allowing each customer a comfortable seating experience. Moreover, with no overhead luggage rack, BBJ Boeing Business Jet is more spacious both horizontally and vertically.
For the Maldives trip, the private jet will land directly on Shangri-La’s exclusive airport strip, where the hotel’s attentive staff will immediately help guests check in, saving them from the hassles of waiting in the terminal.
“The launch of the Maldives trip, the first private jet travel series product, jointly with Shangri-La, is another major innovation by HHtravel in China’s high-end tourism market,” HHtravel CEO Jack You commented. “With the experience of the Maldives private jet trip, HHtravel will launch more routes in the future. On this occasion, cooperation with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts can be termed as a ‘perfect match’—both sides have harmoniously identified proper interconnection to satisfy respective brand needs, while providing optimal services and products to our guests. This is also an important part of HHtravel’s branding strategy.”
Featured
Four Seasons Resorts Maldives blend family travel with marine discovery
As family travel patterns continue to evolve, with multigenerational holidays and “schoolcations” becoming a growing part of the market, Four Seasons is positioning its Maldives resorts as destinations where families can combine leisure with learning, exploration and shared experiences. Through programmes at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru and Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa, the brand is offering a Maldives-based approach to family travel that extends beyond the traditional resort stay.
In the Maldives, the focus is placed on experiences that allow families to spend time together while engaging with the natural environment in direct and practical ways. At Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru, marine education forms a central part of the family offering. Children and teenagers can take part in hands-on initiatives alongside experts from The Manta Trust, learning about coral restoration, manta ray research and ocean conservation. The programme gives younger guests an opportunity to understand the marine ecosystems that define the Maldives while participating in activities linked to ongoing conservation work.
At Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa, the family experience is also shaped by the surrounding lagoon and reef environment. Younger guests can take part in introductory diving, surfing and marine conservation activities designed to build early awareness of the ocean and its ecosystems. These experiences place the Maldives’ natural setting at the centre of the stay, allowing families to engage with the destination through activity as well as observation.
This emphasis on learning through travel reflects wider changes in family tourism, where parents are increasingly looking for holidays that combine recreation with educational value. In the Maldives, that approach has particular relevance, given the country’s dependence on marine ecosystems and its reputation as one of the world’s leading island destinations. By integrating conservation-focused experiences into resort programming, Four Seasons is presenting family travel not only as a period of rest, but also as an opportunity for younger travellers to develop a closer understanding of the environment around them.
The Maldives setting also supports multigenerational travel in practical terms. Resorts such as Landaa Giraavaru and Kuda Huraa are well suited to families travelling across age groups, where grandparents, parents and children may all be sharing the same holiday but looking for different forms of engagement. Accommodation, marine activities and wellness offerings can be structured in ways that allow families to spend time together while also catering to different interests and energy levels.
The family proposition is strengthened by the Maldives’ ability to combine relaxation with activities that are tied closely to place. Lagoon-based discovery, reef experiences and conservation work provide a clear alternative to more conventional beach holiday programming. Rather than limiting the stay to accommodation and dining, these activities allow the destination itself to shape the guest experience.
In this context, Four Seasons’ Maldives resorts reflect a broader shift in how luxury family travel is being positioned. The emphasis is no longer only on privacy and comfort, but also on engagement, shared discovery and experiences that carry value beyond the holiday itself. In the Maldives, where marine life and island environments remain central to the visitor experience, that model gives families a way to connect both with each other and with the destination.
Through Landaa Giraavaru and Kuda Huraa, Four Seasons is therefore presenting a Maldives offering that responds to changing family travel expectations. By combining marine education, outdoor activity and resort-based comfort, the brand is aligning its family travel strategy with the qualities that continue to set the Maldives apart. The result is a version of family travel that is shaped not only by where guests stay, but by what they are able to learn and experience together while they are there.
News
COMO Cocoa Island blends wellness and ocean experiences for guests
There is a moment, just after arrival at COMO Cocoa Island, when everything softens. Time loosens its grip. The horizon stretches and the only sound is the tide shifting gently beneath your villa.
At COMO Cocoa Island, experiences are not designed to impress, but to unfold. Each one invites guests to rediscover a slower rhythm—guided by water, light, and instinct.
Where the Ocean Becomes the Guide
The island’s house reef lies just steps from each villa—a living, breathing ecosystem that reveals itself gradually. Slip into the water, and the world shifts: parrotfish flicker past, reef sharks glide at a distance, and turtles move with unhurried grace.
Further afield, journeys into deeper waters bring guests face-to-face with nurse sharks in the nearby atolls—encounters that feel both grounding and quietly exhilarating.
For those who choose to dive, the surrounding sites offer dramatic topographies—caves, channels, and coral walls—each shaped by currents that have moved through these waters long before the first footprints touched the island.

Drifting Towards Stillness
Back above the surface, experiences take on a different pace.
A private sandbank emerges from the horizon—untouched, impossibly white. Here, lunch is served with nothing but the gentle rhythm of waves in the background. There are no interruptions, no schedules. Just a sense of being suspended between sea and open sky.
As the day fades, traditional dhoni boats set out across the lagoon. The light softens. The ocean reflects gold, then amber, then deep blue. Sometimes, dolphins appear—not as spectacle, but as part of the natural rhythm of the place.
Wellbeing, Without Boundaries
At COMO Cocoa Island, wellness is not confined within walls. It exists in the spaces between. Morning yoga unfolds overlooking the ocean. Breathing slows in time with the tide and sandbank meditation becomes instinctive—guided by wind, warmth, and the steady presence of the sea.
The COMO Shambhala Retreat complements this with therapies that are precise yet intuitive—designed not to transform, but to restore.

A Philosophy of Less, Perfected
“Cocoa Island has never been about doing more—it’s about feeling more, with less,”says Peter Nilsson, Managing Director, COMO Maldives. “What makes this island special is its restraint. We don’t try to fill every moment—we allow space for the ocean, for stillness, for genuine connection. Guests leave not because they’ve done everything, but because they’ve experienced something real.”
An Island That Stays With You
There are no grand gestures here. No overstatement.
Instead, COMO Cocoa Island offers something increasingly rare—an experience that lingers quietly, long after departure. Not defined by what you did, but by how it made you feel. Because here, in this small corner of the Maldives, the most meaningful moments are often the simplest ones.
For more information, please visit the resort’s website.
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Cinnamon Velifushi Maldives introduces indoor mini golf experience
Resort experiences are increasingly shaped by the need for flexibility, with guests seeking activities that can be enjoyed beyond peak sun hours, creating a natural demand for engaging indoor spaces and particularly in tropical destinations where brief, seasonal rain showers are part of the island rhythm.
Cinnamon Velifushi Maldives builds on this evolving guest preference with the introduction of its new 8-hole Indoor Mini Golf Centre, adding a playful and interactive dimension to the island’s leisure offering. The space was officially unveiled at a recent opening, where a guest was invited to mark the occasion, setting the tone for an experience centred around shared enjoyment and light-hearted moments.

The indoor mini golf course offers a relaxed, air-conditioned space where guests of all ages can take part, whether as a casual game between families, a friendly challenge among couples, or a fun addition to group stays. It provides a comfortable alternative to outdoor activities while maintaining the sense of energy and connection that defines time on the island, regardless of the weather.
The addition builds on the resort’s existing indoor facilities, including billiards, table tennis, and a dedicated kids’ playroom, creating a more rounded leisure experience that caters to different moods and moments. Outdoors, guests can continue to explore a wide range of activities, from beach volleyball and futsal to badminton, diving, and both motorised and non-motorised water sports.

As one of the first resorts in the area to introduce an indoor mini golf experience, Cinnamon Velifushi Maldives continues to evolve its offerings in line with how guests choose to travel today, blending activity, comfort, and shared experiences in a setting designed for both relaxation and discovery.
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