At the same time as completing over half-a-million dollars of refurbishment work on the award-winning Rehendi Presidential Suite, the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa also added three brand new Premium Beach Villas during 2011. All offer pool, state-of-the art facilities and maximum privacy, along with the new stunning one-bedroom Lagoon taking the villa count to 64.
To cater to guests’ needs a romantic dining venue, the Tree House, has also been built amongst the abundant jade trees. Being elevated from the ground, the Tree House overlooks the spectacular turquoise blue lagoon that is one of the largest in the whole of the Maldives. This setting is the perfect choice for a couple to watch the sunset and sip cold champagne whilst enjoying each other’s company.
Guests will also be delighted to note that the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa Maldives was voted as the ‘7th Best Overseas Resort’ and the only resort in the Maldives to be featured amongst the Top 10 of the Luxury Travel Magazine Gold List April 2011. The award closely followed Trip Advisor recognition, when the hotel was voted one of the Top Ten Luxury Resorts in Asia with the 2011 Traveller’s Choice Award.
Unique dining venues
Dotted along the pearly white sand beaches of the long-stretched Emboodhu Finolhu Island, the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa offers some of the most unique dining spots in the Maldives. Voted as one of the three most unusual dining venues in the Maldives, the Ocean Pavilion offers the ultimate private dining experience. Be transported by traditional Maldivian Doni to your own private over-water pavilion located in the middle of the beautiful lagoon. Romantically lit by lantern and candles the Ocean Pavilion provides the most intimate dining experience possible with nothing but the stars and the moon as company.
The aforementioned Tree House also offers a unique dining venue, nestled and hidden in the tree-tops to provide diners with a magnificent birds-eye view. Enjoy the magnificent sunset over the turquoise blue lagoon from above while sipping on your favourite cocktail or enjoying a romantic dinner.
The Jiva Grande Spa philosophy
The philosophy of ‘Jiva’ or ‘inner force’ is inherently rooted in India’s ancient approach to wellness. Inspired by ancient Indian healing wisdom, Jiva believes that a spa unfolds a holistic path of life that channels and nurtures one’s life force. The Jiva Grande Spa embraces a deep understanding of mind, body and spirit, their individual needs and interdependency.
Jiva’s approach to wellness is essentially formed through Ayurveda, the ancient body of knowledge of holistic wellness in the world. Ayurveda – a way of life that defines wellness as a state of physical and psychological well-being as well as a contented state of consciousness. Ayurveda believes there are four key aspects for the success of any treatment.
The first aspect us es a complimentary consultation with your ‘vaidya’. The expert physician prescribes a course of treatments after careful scrutiny of your lifestyle, medical history, needs, likes and dislikes. The second aspect of the treatment is your therapist, who is trained to channel the energy flow of guests. The aim is to bestow a prolonged sense of therapeutic benefits through healing.
The third aspect is the medicine that catalyses the healing process. Staying true to traditional wisdom, the hotel’s spas only use unaltered and authentic preparations and products in their pristine form. The fourth aspect of the treatment is the guest. As Ayurveda terms it, the guest is the beneficiary of the fourth vital limb of the treatment process. The desire of the guest to be in a state of wellness is central to the completion of the entire cleansing exercise.
Green initiatives
Luxury with a conscience may not usually be what springs to mind when it comes to running a five-star resort in the Maldives. The Taj Exotica has however risen to the challenge to protect the stunning flora and fauna of the Maldives’ single largest lagoon surrounding Emboodhu Finolhu island where the beautiful resort is located.
A range of initiatives have been applied to reduce the resort’s carbon footprint whilst ensuring that guests continue to have a luxury holiday experience reflected by luxury villa and suite accommodations, impeccable service, exceptional spa and recreational facilities and amazing cuisine.
The Taj exotica has meticulously analysed the maintenance of energy efficiency, water management, air quality and handling of noxious substances across the resort. The resort has also installed a unique hot water system, which instead of using electric geysers uses three diesel-generator cooking paths (DGCP) to assist in heat recovery and reduce diesel output. Since fresh water is very precious in the Maldives, water management plays an important role and the resort has initiated some unique measurements to control the daily water consumption. For example, the property has activated a rain water harvesting system, collecting 896,000 litres of water annually. In addition the resort boasts its own bottling plant on site. The Classic Crystal bottling-systems produces both sparking and still water and re-uses glass bottles, thus avoiding the use of thousands of plastic bottles each year.
Contrary to many other resort islands in the Maldives, the fauna on Emboodhu Finolhu island consists mainly of endemic species such as Jade Tree, Sea Hibiscus and the Malikuruva Rose. These species do not require any additional watering, therefore saving the resort 10,000 litres of water daily.
These green initiatives, along with the recycling of metal (which is unique in the Maldives), resulted in a daily saving of 1,045,987 watts of energy per day and a 22 percent reduction in carbon dioxide produced per guest, per night. The constant and caring commitment of the staff to the principles of environment sustainability has been recognised and endorsed by the prestigious Earth-Check Certified Silver Status – the second highest level of Earth-Check’s benchmarking, certification and performance improvement system in the travel and tourism industry.
Ocean sports
The Taj Exotica also proudly introduced its brand-new state-of-the-art Ocean Sports water sports centre. Opened on June 1st 2011, the new centre has re-defined the benchmark and quality of recreational water sports facilities in the Maldives.
The pristine turquoise coloured waters surrounding Emboodhu Finolhi island provide perfectly safe swimming and snorkelling conditions while at the same time offering the ideal environment to try out the state-of-the-art jet skis. Taking noise management to a new level, these modern vehicles have consigned the days of guests being disturbed to the past, with noise levels being further reduced by keeping these facilities away from guest rooms and beach and swimming areas. n
For more information please visit: www.tajhotels.com
