People want to take luxurious vacations in the Maldives more than any other place in the world. The Maldives are a group of over 1,000 coral islands in the Indian Ocean. They are a tropical country.
The Maldives is a beautiful island getaway for a relaxing holiday or a special honeymoon. It has beautiful white sand beaches, huge coral reefs, and water that is as clear as glass.
They can also be a fun place to go on a trip! There are so many water sports to choose from, but some of the best places in the world to swim and dive (think manta rays and whale sharks) should not be missed.
The Maldives does have some cheap places to stay, but most of them are in or close to Malé (MLE), the main city, and might not live up to your high hopes for the Maldives.
This guide will help you figure out which award programs will get you the best deal on your dream trip to the Maldives. You can enjoy the Maldives in style without spending a lot of money. We can help you with everything from flights to hotels.
Best Programs to Book Award Flights to the Maldives
It sounds like it might be hard to get to the Maldives—a group of islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away wouldn’t be very easy to get to!
There are, however, many companies that fly to the Maldives because it is such a popular place to visit. There aren’t any direct trips from the United States to the Maldives, but you can get there in a lot of other ways by using your flexible reward points and partner award charts.
You might have trouble finding award space when looking for flights to the Maldives, but we have a great guide that will make it easier.
American Airlines AAdvantage
This service from American Airlines can help you get to the Maldives, even though American Airlines doesn’t fly there.
Its partner award chart puts the Maldives in the Indian Subcontinent area. From the U.S., these are the one-way prices for award tickets on Oneworld Alliance partners and partner airlines:
- Main Cabin: 40,000 AAdvantage Points
- Business: 70,000 AAdvantage Points
- First: 115,000 AAdvantage Points
When you book through American companies’ partner companies, you can get to the Maldives in a number of great ways. These are our best partners that let you use AAdvantage miles to get to the Maldives.
The Maldives is considered one of the most sought-after luxury vacation destinations in the world. Made up of more than 1,000 coral islands, the Maldives is a tropical archipelago located in the Indian Ocean.
With its incredible white sand beaches, extensive coral reefs, and crystal-clear blue water, the Maldives is the perfect island excursion for a relaxing vacation or special honeymoon destination.
And the Maldives can be a fun adventure, too! With an endless amount of water sports to choose from, no visit is complete without experiencing some of the best snorkeling and diving spots in the world (think manta rays and whale sharks).
While the Maldives does have some budget-friendly accommodations, most of those are in or very close to the capital city of Malé (MLE) and might not meet your high expectations for the Maldives.
This guide will help explain the best award programs for you to upgrade your entire dream vacation to the Maldives. From flights to hotels, we’ve got you covered to help you experience the Maldives in style without the high price tag.
Etihad
Etihad has trips from the United States to the Maldives that go through Abu Dhabi (AUH) in the United Arab Emirates.
If you want to book an award flight on Etihad, American Airlines doesn’t show you any options or let you do it online. You can check Etihad directly to see if any prize seats are available. Look for Etihad Guest seats, as those are usually what American Airlines has.
On its long-haul trips from the U.S., Etihad has great first and business class options, such as the famous Etihad First Class Apartment on its A380 planes that take off from New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport.
Etihad flies to Abu Dhabi from the following cities in the U.S.:
- Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)
- Los Angeles International (LAX)
- New York-John F. Kennedy International (JFK)
- Washington Dulles International (IAD)
Award availability is usually pretty decent. Be sure to search segment by segment to increase your odds of finding the Etihad Guest award seats.
Delta Air Lines
Qatar Airways flies to the Maldives from 10 U.S. cities and Doha (DOH)’s Hamad International Airport. There are also daily trips from Doha to Malé.
When looking on American Airlines, you can’t make award reservations or see if there are any Qatar Airways flights available. Instead of calling AAdvantage, it’s better to use the award search tools on British Airways or Qantas to see if there are any seats available.
When flying to or from the United States, Qatar Airways does not offer any of its first-class goods. If you want the highest level of luxury, don’t let that stop you—its business class product is on par with some other first-class goods!
Its QSuites business class offering is one of the best on the market, so we strongly suggest that you try to get availability on it.
How to Get Enough AA Miles to Go to the Maldives
Amex AAdvantage miles can be earned in a lot of different ways. There are many credit cards that earn AAdvantage miles and can be transferred to American Airlines. These are some of our best ways to get a lot of miles.
Citi and Barclays both have a lot of different American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards that can be used for work or pleasure. Each has its own benefits that will help you earn a lot of AAdvantage miles and other great American Airlines perks.
And to make its airline transfer program even better, Marriott Bonvoy has added even more partner airlines, such as American, to which you can move your points. For every three Marriott Bonvoy points you earn, you can exchange them for American miles. The process takes two days.
Mileage Plan for Alaska Airlines
As an award program that isn’t part of any airline group, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is one of a kind. Instead, Alaska companies works directly with a number of companies around the world to reach more people.
Alaska Airlines has a different award chart for each partner airline. The Maldives is in the India and South Asia region for its awards.
Here are the one-way award rates for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan partners that fly to the Maldives. Also, don’t forget to read about the best ways to get a lot of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan points.
The Cathay Pacific
Up to 50,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for coach
We need 62,500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for business.
This is the first: 70,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
- Boston Logan International (BOS)
- Chicago O’Hare International (ORD)
- Los Angeles International (LAX)
- New York-John F. Kennedy International (JFK)
- Newark Liberty International (EWR)
- San Francisco International (SFO)
- Washington Dulles International (IAD)
We’ve already talked about using American Airlines miles to fly Cathay Pacific. Alaska Airlines may have better prices, but it looks like it has even less award space than American Airlines AAdvantage.
Here, we’ll mostly talk about Emirates award trips that you can book with Alaska Airlines miles.
United Arab Emirates
Emirates has a fleet of only A380 and Boeing 777 planes that fly through Dubai International (DXB) on various routes to Malé. These planes have both first class and business class seating.
It’s easy to use Alaska Airlines miles to book an award flight on Emirates. Using an Alaska Airlines award search, you can quickly find out if an award is available and book it online.
Want to spend a few extra days in Dubai before going to the Maldives? When you get an Alaska Airlines award, you can have a free stopover even if your trip is only going one way.
Emirates’ first and business class products are great, and Alaska Airlines miles make it easy to find prize seats. For example, the showers on the A380 are a great feature. Our in-depth review gives you a full picture of what it’s like to fly first class on the Emirates A380.
Emirates also has the most flights to the Maldives from Dubai. Some of them go straight to the Maldives, while others make short stops in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
How to Get Free Miles on Alaska Airlines to Go to the Maldives
Alaska Airlines and Bank of America work together to offer credit cards that can help you earn extra Mileage Plan points. Alaska Airlines is also a partner airline for Marriott Bonvoy. This means that you have even more options when you want to book Alaska Airline partner awards.
We already talked about some of the great reasons to move Marriott Bonvoy points to partner airlines. If you need more ideas, check out our guide on how to earn a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points.
SKYPASS for Korean Air
Korean Air flies from Seoul Incheon airport (ICN) to the Maldives. However, it’s important to know that the trip from Seoul to Malé stops briefly in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
These are the best ways to use your Korean Air SKYPASS miles: on direct Korean Air award trips.
The Maldives are in Southwest Asia on Korean Air’s award list. Here are the rates for using an award to pay for a one-way flight:
The Maldives falls into the Southwest Asia region on the Korean Air award chart; here are the award redemption rates for one-way flights:
Off-Peak
- Economy: 42,500 Korean Air SKYPASS miles
- Business: 85,000 Korean Air SKYPASS miles
- First: 105,000 Korean Air SKYPASS miles
Peak
- Economy: 70,000 Korean Air SKYPASS miles
- Business: 127,500 Korean Air SKYPASS miles
- First: 157,500 Korean Air SKYPASS miles
When Korean Air flies to the U.S., they have great first and business class options that make it easy to get to the Maldives. There is also first class on the trip from Seoul to the Maldives, but the seats are pretty much the same as in business class, but the food is better.
Korean Air’s website makes it easy to look for and book award flights with SKYPASS miles. You should be careful with those taxes and fees because they are higher than in other systems.
A lot of the time, Korean Air makes it easy to find award space, and most of the time, it’s during off-peak times.
You don’t have to use Korean Air’s own SKYPASS miles to redeem first class seats, but there are other ways to book business class. Check out the best ways to book business class flights on Korean Air to see how you can use points from other travel systems.
How to Get MLM Points to Fly to the Maldives
Korean Air and U.S. Airways do work together on credit cards. Bank. It used to be one of our favorite ways to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but that partnership has stopped.
Mileage Plus from United Airlines
United is a part of Star Alliance, which gives United MileagePlus members a lot of choices when they are looking for award flights to the Maldives.
United MileagePlus’s award prices change all the time, but this is about how much you can expect to pay for miles on trips from the U.S. to the Maldives.
- 44,000 United MileagePlus miles in economy
- A business trip with 99,000 United MileagePlus miles
- Here are the first 154,000 United MileagePlus miles.
Airlines in the Star Alliance like Air India, Singapore Airlines, and Turkish Airlines all fly regularly to the Maldives. Other airlines also fly to the Maldives from time to time during the summer.
With MileagePlus, you can easily fly with more than one airline on a lot of different lines in the U.S. and other countries as well.
The best thing about United MileagePlus is that there are lots of ways to get bonus miles.
How to Get Free United Miles to Go to the Maldives
You can get United MileagePlus miles in a lot of different ways. If you need a one-way business class ticket to the Maldives quickly, read our guide on how to get 100,000 miles in 90 days!
Chase Bank does offer credit cards with United Airlines branding, but our favorite way to earn MileagePlus miles is to move from Chase Ultimate Rewards. It has a lot of great airline transfer partners that transfer miles at a 1:1 rate.
Another flexible way to move points to United MileagePlus is through Marriott Bonvoy.
These are our picks for the best Chase Ultimate Reward credit cards that will help you earn points that you can use to book flights on United Airlines:
The Best Ways to Book a Hotel in The Maldives
A lot of people put the Maldives on their “bucket list,” but you have to book your trip right to make it live up to the hype. If you stay at the right hotel in the Maldives, this dream vacation spot will definitely live up to your hopes.
Luckily, there are many ways to use points to find the right place to stay in the Maldives. We’ll talk about the best hotels in the Maldives that you can stay at with points here.
It’s important to think about how much more it will cost to stay at a popular but out of the way tourist spot.
For instance, taking a seaplane or speedboat from Malé’s international airport to some of these places can cost more than $500 per person!
The Hilton Honors
Being a member of Hilton Honors is a great way to stay in style in the Maldives. A lot of Hilton Honors points can be earned quickly, which means you can stay in paradise for a long time.
At the moment, the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, and the SAii Lagoon Maldives, Curio Collection by Hilton are the only Hilton resorts in the Maldives.
One of the best places to stay in the Maldives with points is the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, which is the only place where you can get an overwater bungalow for the normal award price.
Yes, you can use points to stay in a house on the water in the Maldives! One of Hilton’s best hotels, the Conrad Maldives, costs 95,000 points per night for the regular award rate.
If you don’t want to spend 95,000 points on an overwater house, you don’t have to. The resort also has some great beach bungalows that cost the same amount of points. Beach bungalows are usually twice as big as overwater homes, and they are close to the beach. In general, beach houses are better for small families and overwater villas are better for younger people.
If you are a special member of Hilton Honors, you will get even more value for your points when you stay longer. Hilton Honors members get a fifth night free on a standard room award booking when they reach Silver level.
For just 380,000 points, you can stay in a house on the water for 5 nights. That might sound like a lot of points, but there are many American Express Hilton Honors credit cards that can help you get there and even make your stay better!
If you have one of these Hilton Honors credit cards, you can get Gold or Diamond rank, which is very valuable when you stay at this resort. As an example, if you have Gold rank at this resort, you get free breakfast every day of your stay. This includes breakfast at both of the restaurants (one on each island).
In addition, the Conrad Maldives goes the extra mile to give top guests free afternoon tea and happy hour. Every day at 4 p.m., you can have afternoon tea. to 5 p.m. with small sweets and small meals. After that, from 5 p.m. on, Gold members can enjoy a free happy hour at the Rangali bar with beer, wine, and mixed drinks. to 6 p.m.!
How to Get Hilton Hotel Points to Stay in the Maldives
A lot of American Express credit cards come with the Hilton Honors brand, and it’s easy to get enough Hilton Honors points for your trip to the Maldives.
One of the best things about some of these credit cards is that they can quickly make you an elite member of Hilton Honors. With free food and other perks during your stay at Hilton properties in the Maldives, as we already said, that perk alone can save you hundreds of dollars.
Hilton Honors is also a transfer partner for American Express. There is usually a transfer bonus, but the normal rate is 1:2.
Bring your Hilton credit card to the Maldives and use it for any extra charges during your stay. When you use your card to buy something at a Hilton property, you could earn up to 14 Hilton Honors points per dollar.
Get to Know Hyatt
If you want to stay at a great resort in the Maldives that is far away, the World of Hyatt reward program is another great choice.
To help you get there, there are many ways to earn a lot of World of Hyatt points. You will only be able to stay at one Hyatt, but the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa is a great place to stay.
Each apartment at the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa is just steps away from a house reef that goes around the resort in all directions. An award room that comes standard is a Park Villa. The room has direct beach access, so you can swim right outside your door.
Every night, your award room will cost 30,000 World of Hyatt points. You can’t get an overwater house just by earning points, but hotels often let you pay extra for upgrades that might be worth it in this case. Those rates can change based on status, but they mostly change based on supply.
You’ll have to go big if you want to get bonuses from being an elite member. Extra benefits are only given to Globalist elite users.
As a special member of the World of Hyatt, you can get free breakfast for up to two people and free drinks and snacks starting at 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. There’s also a chance you might get an increase to a Pool Villa for free.
All hotel guests can take snorkel gear from the dive shop for free during their stay. The hotel also offers free yoga classes and kayaking to keep you active.
To really make the most of your time in the Maldives, you can also stay busy by doing some of the paid activities. This could be a picnic on a private island, a trip to a nearby island, or swimming with whale sharks and manta rays!
Bonvoy from Marriott
When you stay in the Maldives, you can use the Marriott Bonvoy reward program in a number of ways. Bringing together two big hotel chains also means a lot of great chances to earn a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points.
The Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa, Lhaviyani Atoll is one of six resorts in the Maldives that are currently run by Marriott.
St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
Remember that as a Marriott Bonvoy member, you get a fifth night free on award stays. This can make your prize stay in the Maldives much more valuable.
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort can cost a lot of money per night, but luckily it’s now a lot easier to get on points. That is, if you can find a spot, which doesn’t happen very often. There are award rates that start at about 70,000 points and go up as demand rises.
It is important to think about how much it will cost to get to these Maldives villas that are out in the middle of nowhere. The cost of the airplane to get to this property is probably one of the highest at $665 per person!
But high prices come with great service, and the St. Regis Maldives will not let you down. It has a butler who can help you plan your stay with meals and activities. You can also rent bikes for free and ride them around the island. Every day, there is free yoga and other group exercise.
You can even rent a private 68-foot boat called Norma to go from island to island or get away from the island for the night!
You can make your dream vacation to the Maldives come true at the St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, which also gives you the most points for your money, especially if you use the fifth night free offer.
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W Maldives
The W Maldives is a beautiful private island resort that is a great place to use your Marriott Bonvoy points.
It might only cost 70,000 points per night, but the price will go up when there are more people looking to stay. One can also book a house that floats on water on points. This will cost more than a regular room; it starts at 135,000 points per night.
Transfers to and from the W Maldives can be done by aircraft or speedboat. The seaplane costs about $500 and the speedboat costs $350.
There is a house reef at the W Maldives, so you can snorkel right from your room. You can also book a lot of other things to do there, like sunset sail trips or swimming with whale sharks and manta rays.
The Maldives JW Marriott Resort & Spa
When JW Marriott opened in 2019, it changed the game in the Maldives.
The resort is on Vagaru Island in the Shaviyana Atoll, which means that you’ll have to pay $600 for a round-trip seaplane journey to get there.
The coolest thing about this property might be that the “base” level rooms are overwater villas. This means that when demand is low, you can book these for as little as 70,000 points per night.
Two outdoor pools, a kid’s pool, a game room, a gym, a spa, and even a salon are just a few of the places that you can visit. Over the course of your stay, you can go fishing, kayaking, snorkeling, jet skiing, sailing, scuba diving, water skiing, and even play volleyball or table tennis!
Resort at Westin Maldives Miriandhoo
The Marriott Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort is all about eco-friendly luxury. When there aren’t many people staying at this hotel, standard rooms start at about 50,000 points per night.
This is one of the newest Marriott properties, which makes it a good choice for couples and other groups.
This resort is also reached by a 35-minute boat flight that costs $550 round-trip per person. However, once you get there, you can enjoy everything the resort has to offer.
This property on Baa Atoll has 3 restaurants, a fancy bar, parties, and even tennis courts. This resort is unique because it is in a biosphere reserve and you can swim with sharks and manta rays nearby.
Of course, you can do water sports like jet skiing, fishing, and more. You can treat yourself at the spa, which has a standard glass floor that looks out into the ocean.
Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort
The Marriott Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort is all about eco-friendly luxury. When there aren’t many people staying at this hotel, standard rooms start at about 50,000 points per night.
This is one of the newest Marriott properties, which makes it a good choice for couples and other groups.
This resort is also reached by a 35-minute boat flight that costs $550 round-trip per person. However, once you get there, you can enjoy everything the resort has to offer.
This property on Baa Atoll has 3 restaurants, a fancy bar, parties, and even tennis courts. This resort is unique because it is in a biosphere reserve and you can swim with sharks and manta rays nearby.
Of course, you can do water sports like jet skiing, fishing, and more. You can treat yourself at the spa, which has a standard glass floor that looks out into the ocean.
Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa
If we were to use points to pay for a stay in the Maldives, the Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa would probably be the last place we would choose.
It only takes 15 minutes by speedboat to get there from the international airport, so it’s not as far away as some other locations. Also, all resort guests can use the shared speedboat trips for no extra charge. That does save you a lot of money, especially when you compare it to other places where you’d pay $500 to $800 per person.
When there aren’t many people staying at the Sheraton Maldives, the price starts at 40,000 points per night.
You will still get a lot of value when you redeem points at this property, but it is generally cheaper to pay cash for regular rates.
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How to Get Points to Stay at Maldives Marriott Hotels
We’ve already talked about a few of our favorite ways to use our favorite Marriott Bonvoy credit cards to earn a lot of points.
You can use your Marriott Bonvoy points to pay for your stay if you don’t want to move them to one of the many airlines that work with Marriott Bonvoy.
It’s easy to find a great place to stay in the Maldives with Marriott Bonvoy points because there are so many to choose from.
Last Thoughts
We hope this guide helps you use your points and miles to get to the Maldives, which is one of the most-wanted dream holiday spots, for a lot less money.
The Maldives is a fancy place to visit, but we don’t want you to pay fancy prices! Now is the perfect time to start using your hard-earned points and miles to improve the way you travel. Take a special trip to the Maldives.
- American Airlines AAdvantage for Qatar Airways QSuites — 70,000 one-way in business class
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan for Cathay Pacific — 70,000 one-way in first class
For the best hotel loyalty reward program to use for your exotic private island resort in the Maldives, we recommend:
- Conrad Maldives for 78,000 points per night using the fifth-night free benefit
- W Maldives for 68,000 points per night using the fifth-night free benefit during the standard season
We know it can be hard to find availability, but you should take the time to look into all of your choices! Things work best if you keep checking in. Hotels and airlines release reward room randomly, so it’s always best to keep checking in.