- Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives will rebrand as Kandooma Maldives within a month, backed by owner investment from Hotel Properties Limited.
- The transformation includes a new brand mark, reimagined dining and leisure concepts, and five brand signatures shaping the whole guest journey.
- An experience-led All-Inclusive concept moves beyond meals to include scuba diving, surfing, watersports and new family and teen activities.
With less than one month to go until Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives becomes Kandooma Maldives, the South Malé Atoll resort has unveiled its new brand mark and shared details of a wider transformation focused on one thing: creating more memorable holidays.
Far more than a change of the name, the transition brings together investment in the resort by owners Hotel Properties Limited, reimagined and new dining and leisure concepts, new accommodation options and an experience-led approach to All-Inclusive.
The new brand mark takes its inspiration directly from Kandooma. Its three organic forms represent life in, on and under water, life on land and the vegetation that connects them, reflecting an island experience shaped by nature, the ocean and everything guests can do within it.
“We are shaping the guest experience around the island and what makes Kandooma special,” says General Manager Andrew Drummond. “This isn’t about changing the sign above the door and calling it a new brand. We are looking at the whole customer journey and what our guests see, taste, hear and do, how they spend their time and, ultimately, what they remember when they go home.”
The resort team is reviewing that journey through the lens of five new brand signatures: Kandooma Blue, Kandooma Flow, Kandooma Table, Kandooma Social and Kandooma Ways. Together, they will shape experiences in and around the ocean, opportunities to move, play and recharge, memorable food, social connection and ways to discover more about the Maldives and island life.
“Our marketing director has a simple test,” adds Drummond. “If we can replace the name Kandooma with another resort name and the sentence still works, we need to start again. It keeps us focused on what makes this island different.”
Experience-Led All-Inclusive
Central to the new proposition is an experience-led All-Inclusive concept, moving beyond the traditional emphasis on meals and beverages to include more of what guests actually come to the Maldives to do.
Scuba diving will be among the experiences included, building on Kandooma’s long-established reputation as a dive destination and its location close to some of the Maldives’ most celebrated dive sites.
“All-Inclusive should be so much more than a meal plan,” says Drummond.“People rarely go home talking about their room rate or listing what was included in their package. They remember swimming with a turtle, catching a wave, sharing an incredible meal, laughing with their children or trying something for the first time. “Those are the memories people bank. That’s where we want to invest our energy.”
Kandooma’s extensive programme of diving, surfing and watersports will remain central to the island experience, complemented by greater emphasis on land-based activities, sustainability and new experiences for families and teenagers.
Investing in the Island Experience
The transformation extends across accommodation, dining and social spaces. Some changes are subtle – new menus, furniture layouts, music and ambience – while others involve completely reimagining existing spaces, including the creation of a new Kandooma Beach Club.
The resort is also undertaking a phased refurbishment of guest villas, installing new private pools and upgrading key public areas while remaining open, with works carefully scheduled to minimise disruption.
Once completed, the resort will offer 146 villas, including new two-bedroom accommodation options providing greater flexibility for families, groups and multi-generational travellers.
“We’re taking everything people already love about Kandooma and making it better, while creating new reasons to come, new things to discover and new memories to take home,”says Drummond.
Established in 1984, Kandooma has built a loyal international following for its relaxed island style, surfing Kandooma Right, award-winning scuba diving, family holidays, and wellness at Kandooma Spa by COMO Shambhala. These experiences remain part of Kandooma’s DNA, with the new brand building on what has made the island special for more than four decades.
Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives will continue to operate under the Holiday Inn brand until the end of the month (30 September 2026), becoming Kandooma Maldives on 1 October 2026.
Further details of the new Kandooma Maldives experience will be revealed throughout September.
