Coco Bodu Hithi has been named Best Commitment to Sustainability at the Condé Nast Johansens Awards for Excellence 2027, in the Africa, Asia & Middle East category. That makes three years running for the North Malé Atoll resort, which previously took Best Service (2025) and Best Waterside Hotel (2026). The awards are a respected benchmark among travellers and trade professionals, so a hat-trick says something about consistency.
What's behind the sustainability nod? Everyday operational choices rather than one-off gestures: coral restoration work, phasing out single-use plastics, producing drinking water on the island instead of importing bottled, and energy-saving measures across the property. Guests can get hands-on too, with marine conservation programmes, talks from the team and regular island clean-ups woven into the stay. General Manager Mohamed Sobe frames it as an ongoing effort rather than a finished achievement — the usual hotel line, but the three-year award streak does lend it some credibility.
The resort itself sits about 35 minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport, which matters if you hate long seaplane waits after a long flight. It's a 100-villa property, and every villa comes with its own private pool — unusual at this price of convenience versus seclusion.
Coco Bodu Hithi wasn't the only Maldivian name picking up hardware. Milaidhoo Maldives, in Baa Atoll's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, won Best Hotel Spa for its overwater Serenity Spa, which pairs an on-island wellbeing consultant and daily yoga with tech-forward treatments like the LYMA Laser, plus a Chef's Garden feeding wellness-focused dining. The ceremony was held at The Montcalm Mayfair in London on 2 November 2026.
Separately, .Here Baa Atoll — a nine-residence luxury retreat spread across two private islands, Somewhere and Nowhere, inside the same biosphere reserve — claimed three World Luxury Hotel Awards 2026 titles, including World's Best Luxury New Resort. The Nowhere island can be taken exclusively by groups, with eight bedrooms, a private cinema, spa and gym.
And away from the resort bubble, Ruth Franklin, co-founder of tour operator Secret Paradise Maldives, received the Regenerative Travel Pioneer Award at the Inspiring Women in Travel Asia Awards in Bangkok. Her company, founded in 2012, builds locally led experiences — marine conservation, cultural visits, community partnerships — for travellers who want to see Maldivian life beyond the airport-transfer deck.
Why does any of this matter if you're planning a trip? The Maldives has plenty of gorgeous water; what's getting harder to find is proof that a resort is doing more than greenwashing. Awards like these, especially ones rewarding measured environmental work and genuine local engagement, are a useful shortlist filter. If a low-carbon footprint matters to you, Coco Bodu Hithi and Milaidhoo both make sustainability visible and participatory rather than buried in a corporate report. And if you'd rather your money reach local communities, a locally owned operator like Secret Paradise is a different way in — guesthouses, local islands and reef conservation included.
Coco Bodu Hithi is currently promoting a Double 11 offer and a festive-season package for year-end travellers, bookable via the Coco Collection website.
