Hotelier Maldives has opened nominations for the Hotelier Maldives Awards 2026, inviting resorts nationwide to submit entries over a one-month period starting 2 January 2026 through an online nominations portal.
The 2026 edition expands the awards programme with the introduction of eight new team-based categories, placing greater emphasis on departmental excellence and collective performance across resort operations, Hotelier Maldives said.
The eight new team categories for 2026 are: Sales & Marketing Team of the Year; Rooms Division Team of the Year; HR & Training Team of the Year; Engineering Team of the Year; Finance Team of the Year; F&B & Culinary Team of the Year; Wellness Team of the Year; and Support Team of the Year. Together, these awards recognise performance across revenue generation, guest services, people management, technical operations, financial oversight, dining, wellness offerings and essential support functions such as IT, security, marine and logistics.
According to Hotelier Maldives, the additions complement the existing portfolio of individual awards, which in 2025 included categories such as Young Hotelier of the Year, Chef of the Year, F&B Personality of the Year, Finance Personality of the Year and PR and Communications Personality of the Year, alongside a wide range of operational and leadership recognitions. Combined, the individual and team awards aim to provide a comprehensive view of excellence across all layers of resort operations.
Resorts may nominate eligible teams working at properties in the Maldives during the qualifying period. Multiple nominations across different categories are permitted, subject to meeting the published criteria. All nominations must be submitted within the one-month window via the official Hotelier Maldives Awards portal, where full guidelines and category descriptions are available.
Launched in 2024 as the first awards programme dedicated to hospitality professionals in the Maldives, the Hotelier Maldives Awards were established to recognise the individuals and teams whose expertise underpins the success of the country’s tourism industry. The programme has since become a fixture on the industry calendar, acknowledging both front-line and back-of-house contributors.
The most recent ceremony, the Hotelier Maldives Awards 2025, held at Barceló Nasandhura Malé, marked a milestone for the programme. It attracted more than 450 nominations and over 600,000 public votes, with winners selected through a combined scoring system of expert judging (60 percent) and public voting (40 percent). Awards were presented across 23 individual and four team, programme and special categories.
A dedicated segment also honoured long-serving hospitality professionals. At the 2025 ceremony, the Hotelier Maldives Awards for Dedicated Service were presented to Mohamed Hashim of Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma Maldives, Mohamed Fuad of Bandos Maldives, Hussain Manikfaan of Coco Bodu Hithi and Ali Rasheed Adam of Villa Resorts.
As in previous editions, winners of the 2026 awards will be selected through a combination of expert judging and public voting. Details of the awards ceremony will be announced in due course.
Further information on eligibility, judging and nominations is available at hoteliermaldives.com/awards. Queries may be directed to info@hoteliermaldives.com.
