Atmosphere Hotels announces two new ‘Oblu’ resorts in Maldives

The Maldives-based resort chain, Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts, aspires to attract all segments of travellers by adding two new resorts — the Oblu Select Lobigili and Oblu Xperience Ailafushi — to their ‘Colours of Oblu Collection’ portfolio in the first quarter of 2022.

While the Oblu Select Lobigili is scheduled to open in the last week of February, 2022, Ailafushi will be up and running exactly a month after.

Introducing the new properties under the new Colours of Oblu Collection portfolio to the trade in Delhi, Stephane Laguette, chief commercial officer of Atmosphere Hotels, said that with these two new resorts, they will be able to cater to all kinds of travellers from markets such as India, especially those who like to travel with families.

“Before this, we were not much focused on the family market. These new resorts, especially the Oblu Xperience Ailafushi, is an entry-level affordable luxury resort targeted at just that,” Laguette said in an interaction with ET HospitalityWorld.

The Oblu Xperience Ailafushi is a four-star all-inclusive resort with 268 villas under four different categories, and these include Ocean View rooms, Ocean View Family Rooms, Beach Villas, and Water Villas.

Both the resorts are located close to the Velana International Airport, and adjacent to each other, giving opportunities for guests to use some of the premium facilities at Lobigili, while staying at the Ailafushi.

Oblu Select Lobigili is a five-star ‘adults only’ resort with 68 premium villas under the categories of SunNest Beach Pool Villa and SunNest Water Villa and Nest Water Villa. The highlight of the Lobigili resort is its underwater restaurant, ONLY BLU.

“South Asia in general and India, in particular, are major target markets for us,” said Laguette, adding that the Indian market contributed around 30 percent of the guests for Atmosphere properties in the Maldives during Covid-19.

“We expect big traction from the Indian market for our Ailafushi resort, because of its family-orientation,” he said.

Atmosphere Hotels, which has strengthened its sales and marketing efforts in India in the last couple of years, has also set up a development team for South Asia under-seasoned hotelier, Souvagya Mohapatra as the managing director.

“We are exploring opportunities across the region for new hotels, and are hopeful of some breakthrough announcements in the first quarter of next year in India,” Mohapatra said.

The other resorts in the Colours of Oblu Collection include the Oblu Select Sangli and Oblu Nature Helengeli.

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