Gold Medal has rolled out new safety guidelines for its overwater villa product in the Maldives, which sees the properties it sells categorised according to age-range suitability.
Tricia Birmingham, trading director, Gold Medal, commented: ?Prior to these guidelines being produced, we had a blanket policy to prohibit bookings in Maldives hotels with overwater villas if anyone under the age of 12 would be travelling in the group. With the growing popularity of the destination, and its gradual shift to the mainstream family market, we?re delighted to be leading the way in ensuring agents can be confident they?re making the appropriate recommendations and booking the correct properties for their clients, based on the ages of the kids they want to take with them.?
The guidelines provide accommodation owners with clarity over what is expected in terms of the presence of the barrier to the edge of decking, childproof locks or latches on the access door to a villa deck, whether there is an overwater hammock on the villa deck, and the existence of child safety signage mandating adult supervision when on the villa deck at their property - among other factors.
Gold Medal?s inventory of properties in the Maldives with overwater villa room types are now categorised as open to all ages, suitable for children aged eight or over, for those aged 12 or over, or finally as being suitable for young people aged 16 and above.
Similar guidelines have been rolled out across all of dnata Travel Group?s UK travel brands, and the enhanced expertise of the group in this area has seen it work directly with Pullman Hotels and Resorts in the Maldives in the pre-opening stages of its Pullman Maldives Maamutaa Resort - to ensure the new requirements were incorporated in to the design of its Family Ocean Villas and enable the suitability of this new accommodation for children of all ages.
