Pulse Hotels & Resorts

Written Q&A with Dubai Global News Media Group

1. “Beyond luxury, beyond honeymoon” — which non-romance segments will scale fastest (families, teens, solo, workations, wellness)?

At Pulse, we’re seeing families and wellness travellers grow the fastest. The Maldives is evolving from a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon market into a multi-visit lifestyle destination. Kandima is seeing repeat guests travelling with children for longer holidays, while Nova sees momentum in creating recurring wellness retreats, to cater to the demand for immersive, unique experiences, and different travel motivations that go beyond romance.

• Do you expect dynamic packaging (air + stay + ancillary) to become default for the Maldives?

Absolutely. With Pulse and Manta Air working in tandem, we already see how integrated packaging can drive conversion and guest satisfaction. We anticipate dynamic packaging will become the new baseline for Maldivian travel, with simplified logistics unlocking more opportunities and increasing the average booking value, benefitting both resorts and carriers.

• How did Kandima prove that all-ages immersive programming can drive RevPAR and length of stay rather than dilute brand equity?

Kandima showed that when programming is authentically designed, it enhances, rather than dilutes brand value. Kandima’s age-inclusive, lifestyle-led concept is a unique formula that attracts a broader audience, from young couples and families to groups of friends – effectively extending guest demographics without losing our identity. New experiences such as the Fast Track go-karting circuit and PlaySpace indoor entertainment hub have created new touchpoints for engagement, giving guests reasons to return to sustain revenue growth while fuelling the brand’s playful and contemporary spirit.

• How should international capital read the Maldives’ 2030 tourism strategy?

The 2030 vision reflects a strategic maturation of Maldivian tourism — shifting from a focus on volume to one on long-term value creation. For investors, this means opportunities beyond traditional resort models: in experiential mid-scale hospitality, sustainable infrastructure, and domestic aviation that enhances connectivity.

• How will hardware vs software (programming / UX) evolve at Pulse to keep products future-relevant?

At Pulse, we’ve always seen hardware as the frame and software as the story, evolving alongside each other. Our newest concept, The Coral Residences at Kandima, reimagines the “hardware” of hospitality through a new collection of luxury, Pulse-managed, residential two-three bedroom apartments that expand what a Maldivian holiday can be – flexible, extended, and deeply personal. Alongside this, we’re refining the K’App to make our guests’ stay — from getting around the island to engaging with facilities and services — even more seamless and intuitive. Guests can now browse, book, and manage reservations for dining, spa treatments, excursions, and activities directly through the app, ensuring an effortless experience from arrival to departure.

In what ways can domestic carriers and resorts coordinate to compress total transit time and reduce perceived distance?

With Manta Air under the same leadership as Pulse Hotels & Resorts, coordination is built-in. For many travellers to the Maldives, the biggest friction comes after landing: confusion around transfer options, lack of clear information, and long waits between flights often create unnecessary stress at the very start of their holiday. By aligning Manta Air’s flight timings with international arrival peaks and integrating real-time tracking of weather and logistics, we remove that burden from the guest entirely.

It means less time planning and waiting, and more time enjoying the journey itself. Our goal is to make arrival feel like part of the holiday — seamless, scenic, and time-efficient.

• What demand signals are you reading for 2025/2026 that are not yet visible in public statistics?

In terms of demand geography, we are observing a quiet broadening of source markets within the region – travellers from secondary GCC and Indian cities, and a nascent European “micro-season” of flexible remote workers staying 3–6 weeks.

In terms of behavioural drivers, travellers today are shifting towards mindful, purposeful, and values-driven experiences, prioritising sustainability, personal growth, and ethical alignment over traditional markers of luxury. This is seen in the rise of “slow luxury” and climate-conscious travel, where time, space, and sustainability take precedence over excess; in the evolution of wellness travel from passive escapism to active transformation and meaningful reconnection; and in values-led choices that favour locally sourced offerings, fair employment, and authentic cultural experiences rather than sheer luxury.

• What failures or friction points did you observe in the Maldives pre-Pulse that you consciously set out to fix?

Before Pulse, Maldives hospitality often prioritised exclusivity over inclusivity – beautiful, but not always accessible or connected. The destination is perceived as a place reserved for milestone moments rather than meaningful, everyday escapes.

Pulse is founded with the mission to remove those barriers: Kandima Maldives offers accommodation ranges to suit different budgets and lifestyles, from stylish studios to expansive beach and water villas; while our newest addition, Eri Maldives, offers a new level of accessibility to the market. Located just a 45-minute speedboat ride from Malé International Airport with no domestic transfers required, it offers guests a seamless, time-saving alternative that makes spontaneous travel to the Maldives easier than ever.

• What is the clearest policy lever government could pull that would most accelerate responsible tourism growth?

The most effective policy lever to accelerate responsible tourism growth is a performance-linked incentive framework that ties financial rewards directly to measurable sustainability outcomes.

Governments can offer tax breaks, credits, or low-interest financing through local banks to tourism investors who meet verified environmental and social standards, such as energy efficiency, local employment, and waste reduction. This approach makes responsible practices financially advantageous rather than burdensome.

By embedding sustainability certification into licensing processes and linking it to benefits like access to green financing or sovereign guarantees, policymakers can create conditions where doing good is also good business — where responsibility becomes a driver of profitability and both pull in the same direction.

In essence: rewarding sustainable performance with fiscal and regulatory incentives is the fastest and most effective way to scale responsible tourism.

• What is the single greatest misconception the industry still holds about the Maldives as a destination?

That the Maldives is only for honeymoons or available at certain price points, a notion we’ve long sought to challenge. Today, it’s an evolving playground of experiences.  At Pulse, we see it not just as a destination, but as a canvas where travellers can craft their own story.

At Nova, for example, we introduced new wellness diving experiences this year, inviting hobbyists and curious first-time divers alike to explore the benefits of diving in a different light. Another signature experience, the weekly Holhuashi ceremony at Nova, offers a culturally immersive experience that reimagine Maldives’ traditional rituals as a social space for learning, connection and community-building.

1. Which new geographies realistically open once domestic and seaplane connectivity are tighter?

Connectivity will open up emerging secondary markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East’s secondary cities, and Southeast Asia. With direct domestic links, even remote atolls can support high-value, low-density tourism.

1. Which segment today is most undercapitalised relative to future demand?

Affordable soft-luxury remains a segment with strong momentum, especially pronounced among Millennials and Gen Z travellers based on the latest research. These groups show a robust appetite for luxury purchase, periodic leisure travel, and interest in homegrown-brands.

1. With Manta Air and Pulse under one leadership, how soon until a true ticket-to-villa integrated UX is live?

This initiative is a key strategic priority with transformative potential. Manta Air has taken the lead by introducing a pre-published schedule, enabling partner resorts to issue transfer tickets alongside their hotel booking confirmation — a level of convenience rarely seen in the destination, where most resorts must wait for transfer availability to be confirmed separately. This single coordinated framework eliminates the uncertainty and delay typical of the current process, laying the foundation for a seamless, end-to-end ticket-to-villa experience.

1. You speak of sustainability beyond greenwashing — what one operational change has had the highest quantifiable impact?

At Pulse, the highest-impact change has been the implementation of a comprehensive, auditable sustainability management system, a framework that integrates sustainability into every operational decision and tracks hundreds of measurable actions.

Our Sustainability Management Framework is built on four pillars, each with clear indicators for performance, covering areas from energy and water use to waste diversion, staff engagement, and local sourcing. With a dedicated Head of Sustainability providing strategic guidance across properties, we monitor both quantitative and qualitative progress to ensure continuous improvement. Crucially, we are pursuing third-party sustainability certification across all properties, ensuring that our claims are verified and transparent.

Operationally, several key initiatives have delivered measurable impact:

• Comprehensive water management systems, including RO plants, rainwater harvesting, and consumption monitoring, complemented by wastewater treatment plants (STP) that recycle treated water for landscaping.
• Composting systems at every resort, converting wet and organic waste into nutrient-rich soil for our gardens, eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers.
• A waste sorting and recycling program, and active collaboration with the Maldives Ocean Plastic Alliance (MOPA) to recycle PET and aluminium waste.
• Ongoing efforts to eliminate single-use plastics across all properties.

Equally transformative has been our farm-to-fork approach through local procurement and onsite cultivation. In an import-reliant economy like the Maldives, we have built direct partnerships with local producers, for instance, Kandima has a long-term supply contract with Eco Center, a hydroponic farm on Kudhuvadhoo island. This commitment helps local producers scale operations, create jobs, and supply other resorts. Alongside this, our Fresh Labs farm grows fresh produce onsite, ensuring ingredients reach the plate within hours of harvest, cutting food miles and enhancing quality.

Together, these initiatives deliver measurable returns — reducing emissions, supporting local livelihoods, and improving guest experience through quality and freshness. When sustainability enhances both the planet and the product, it creates real, shared value for everyone involved.

1. Will you be participating in the Arabian Travel Market 2026 Dubai?

Yes — Pulse Hotels & Resorts will be present at ATM 2026. We are seeing growing interest and momentum in key hub cities such as Dubai and Riyadh, characterised by surging outbound travel during key festive periods such as National Holidays and Eid. We look forward to showcasing our latest offerings and regional partnership opportunities to cater to the evolving preferences of GCC travellers.