Picnic Inn

After such a long flight and a 90 minute ferry ride, I was excited to just relax and get my vacation on. When we checked in the person working the front desk said that they thought we had cancelled our trip. I don't know where that came from. They put us in another hotel for one night because they oversold the property. I didn't mind that, however, we checked back into Picnic Inn the next day and was put into our room. I really liked the ambiance there as it was laid back and relaxed. The people working there were really nice until we were ready to check out. My traveling partner gave some tips to some of the staff working there as we were happy about the services. As he explained that it was from BOTH of us, they looked at me and asked for tips as well. I was puzzled as we just explained that the money was from both of us. One of the workers said, "no, that's his tip. Where's yours?" I was upset as we thought that the tips were more than sufficient. We walked out with a sour taste in our mouth as one of them was getting a little more aggressive about it. I walked away.

Disclaimer: Not being aware of local laws, you have to understand that this island is different from resort. You are only allowed to wear bikinis at certain Kaani beach on Maafushi but Picnic Inn is only 10 mins walking distance from Kaani beach. And alcohol is not sold by this hotel. Maybe at Kaani beach. Hotel is good if you are okay with being in the presence of locals who are mixed with Maldivians and employees from bangladesh and India. Our stay was mixed with Westerners,Europeans and Australians who were friendly. Now about hotel room, room as you expect for the value of money. It is a small room with okay size bathroom. They definitely need to upgrade their beds for 2 people. And hotel water system needs to have larger tank as they ran out of water so used water that had a weird smell for certain periods through our 2 1/2 day stay. Food was great with large portions and price cant be beat compared to resorts on other island. Breakfast was also great with fresh quality food items. I would recommend this hotel if you are only looking do water activities, relax on the island, and enjoy walks. Prices for water activities are great compared to resorts. They have several hotel restaurants on the island which offer nice candlelight beach dinners. The island is great with natural feeling and peaceful. This hotel blends in with island for guests who want to stay out in the water or beach instead of the room.

We were at the hotel (islan) in Septebner under the monsun period but after2 raine days we had a great weather. The hotel's staff were really great. Very helofull and so kind. There was no problem that they could not solved.

Really enjoyed our stay, the service is excellent, similar to that of a 5 star hotel - airport pick up, plenty of excursion options & great attention to any needs we had during our stay. Staff are very friendly.

great people, tidy environment, all the staff are very kind and lovely which made us HOME. Also a wonderful place to meet like-minded tourists, share experiences and making friends. We enjoyed our stay here and highly recommend to all!

Stay was fine, price was cheap

The hotel is located slightly inside not facing the sea or beach....however it's very clean friendly staff with all basic amenities ....overall experience was good

The island of Maafushi has a number of guest houses/hotels but is a local island. Therefore you must respect local culture. There is a small beach area where visitors can wear bikinis/bathing suits, and the water is crystal clear. The plus side of a local island is that you pay relatively low prices compared to a resort island. The Picnic Inn was a short walk to the beach and shoreline, but it is a small island somnothing is very far. The rooms are advertised as all having a tv with premium channels and a mini bar with free stuff. This is not true. Only a very few rooms have tvs, and the only free stuff you get is a bottle of water, which is offered by all hotels. The breakfast was decent, and if requested would be ready earlier so you could catch the morning ferry back to Male'. I found that the excursions offered were expensive and so I vooked through a different hotel with better customer service, only to be confronted by the main caretaker of the Picnic Inn about it. While I was relatively content with my room, the way I was treated by a worker there would prevent me from booking again as other hotels have better customer service, which for me, is more important than the room I have.

If you are looking for budget stay, then this is the perfect place for you. Joel is a great guy, he will help you in every way. we really enjoyed our stay at Picnic Inn. Room are very clean but door mats are missing, Service is very good! they should have more snorkelling equipment. they have only two bicycles, if none of the guests take then they will be yours. we can ride the whole island in 10mins. Location of picnic inn is very near to the beach,

Good to stay in as far as food and staff is concerned. But location is not sea facing as it was expected.