Dreaming of sleeping in a villa on the water? This is what you should know

The concept of water villas, which can now be found in places like the Maldives and Bora Bora, has become the symbol of a desirable and luxurious belly vacation. These are large rooms built on stilts on the water, with wooden bridges connecting the different rooms and between them and the land. The photos are spectacular, the experience is out of the ordinary and the price accordingly.But it wasn’t always like that. When the concept was invented somewhere in the late 60s of the 20th century, it was about rooms that were sold at the lowest price, about 30 dollars a night. At the time, the assumption was a third party on the water, without the ability to sunbathe on the beach, or to get freely from place to place in one exotic destination or another, this is something that the majority would not want. Therefore, at first the villas were marketed as a cheap solution in the desirable resorts that did not have the ability to expand on land.

The first place to use the concept of villas on the water was the island of Raiatea in French Polynesia. One of the inventors of the idea – Hugh Kelley, points out that he knew it would become a hit, but in the beginning the reason why we built these villas was, as mentioned, to provide an accessible solution in a destination where there are not many vacant spaces left for tourism. Thus, after he was able to prove that building in water would not harm nature, permission was given to build the first villas.

 

 

 

“Everybody saw these villas as the entry-level category, because they didn’t think people would want to stay over the water,” Kelly said. “Everyone was very surprised that people fell in love with this product.”

From 30 dollars a night to 1,000 dollars and more

The American tourists who came to Raitea Island in those years, fell in love with the special accommodation on the water, in that you can jump from the room straight into the sea, look through the transparent floor at the fish and even fish from the balcony (nowadays this is not allowed). The villas spread to all of French Polynesia, including Bora Bora and then also reached the Maldives and became a symbol of the place.

What definitively made the villas on the water a desirable thing and a symbol of luxury, were two things that happened in recent years. The first is the entry of Instagram into our lives. The beautiful photos provided by the villas became something that everyone wanted to take for Instagram, and from there the road to becoming a trend was short.

The second thing is the corona virus, which has greatly strengthened the desire to travel to isolated destinations in Baten Gav, rather than large urban hotels, which has further raised the prestige of the villas on the water and made them in demand. Thus, about three years ago, the transformation of the coveted product was finally completed, and what started as a basic option became the most requested, photographed and expensive thing there is. Today you will pay for it starting at 1,000 dollars and much, much north, in prestigious chains such as the Four Seasons, Mandarin, Intercontinental, Kempinski and more.