ultra luxury

One&Only

5 properties in our collection.

FV16.6/20avg. score

One&Only

One&Only The Palm

One&Only The Palm is a 95-room bet that scale matters more than spectacle, and the reviews back it up: this is the rare Dubai resort where staff remember your name, your drink, and your last stay without being told. Guest after guest names the same butlers and restaurant managers unprompted, months apart: Andrew, Forever, Ian, Delly, Brendan. That kind of repeated, specific naming doesn't happen by accident, and it's the strongest argument for booking here over the bigger, flashier properties down the beach. The trade-off is real and it's location: this is the far tip of the frond, and transfers run long and occasionally unpredictable with construction on the access road. The Guerlain spa, recently redone, gets consistent, specific praise, and the multiple pools and private beach genuinely don't feel fought-over the way they do at Dubai's larger resorts. The architecture is a real split, though: some guests read the Moorish-Alhambra styling as elegant and calming, others (mostly on forums, not in direct guest reviews) call it overwrought, comparing it unfavorably to actual old-world palace hotels. That's a taste call, not a defect. One traveller with over a decade of repeat stays flagged a general post-pandemic softening across the brand's service standards, worth noting even though it's an outlier against the overwhelming staff-by-name praise here. Villas with private pools and butler access via WhatsApp draw the strongest reviews, and this is clearly built for honeymooners and families rather than solo business stays. If you want low-rise and quiet over big-brand scale, and you're not counting airport minutes, it delivers.

Fat Favorite

One&Only

One&Only Palmilla

Los Cabos, Mexico

One&Only Palmilla is the property Cabo regulars keep coming back to, and the reviews back up why: the service culture here is consistently singled out as the best in the corridor, ahead of Las Ventanas and the Four Seasons, with staff who remember names and preferences trip after trip. Guests describe assigned pool loungers held for their entire stay (no 5am towel-scrambling), unprompted birthday setups, and hosts who solve problems before they're mentioned. That's rare enough in Cabo that people name it as the reason they return. The trade-offs are real and specific. Food and drink pricing gets flagged constantly and recently: $30 margaritas, a $35 guacamole, a $20 horchata that guests say tastes like any other. That's not a one-off gripe, it shows up across years of reports and should be budgeted for, not brushed off. The rooms are also a genuine split: some guests find the older suites full of character, others (often comparing directly to Four Seasons Cabo del Sol next door) call them dated, especially the bathrooms. And more than one recent stay mentions spa scheduling errors and slow management response when something actually goes wrong, plus the odd but persistent complaint that there's nowhere on property to just grab a bottle of water outside meal service. What you're paying for is the grounds and the staff, not the room category or the wine list. If a lush, decades-old hacienda with a genuinely swimmable beach and old-school personalized service matters more to you than a modern bathroom, this beats the newer competition. If you want the biggest, newest rooms in Cabo, Four Seasons is the better bet. We haven't stayed ourselves; this is the pattern across a large, fairly recent body of guest accounts.

Fat Approved

One&Only

One&Only Reethi Rah

North Malé Atoll, Maldives

Reethi Rah's whole pitch is scale: 109 acres and twelve beaches, connected by bike paths and buggies, with a 45-minute yacht transfer from Malé that skips the seaplane circus entirely. Guest after guest names individual staff, unprompted, months apart: butlers who find a hidden beach path, dive instructors who narrate the reef in real time, a general manager who personally checks in. That kind of repeated naming doesn't happen by accident, and it's the strongest thing this property has going for it. But the island is man-made, and it shows where it matters most: the house reef is thin, so snorkeling means a boat ride rather than stepping off your deck, which is a real trade against a property like Soneva Fushi's natural reef access. Money mechanics are the other soft spot. More than one recent guest describes being told water-sports gear was "included," then billed hundreds of dollars afterward, and dining credit that can't cover room service is a small but real irritation at this price. One recent account also flags rooms and pool decks as smaller and more basic than expected for the category, with service that read as inconsistent rather than uniformly excellent, a contrast to the wave of praise elsewhere. So: the beaches, the scale, and the staff recognition are the draw, worth it if you want a big, social, activity-heavy island. Confirm what's actually included in writing before you sign anything at the water-sports desk. If house-reef snorkeling from your villa matters more than square footage of island, look elsewhere in the Maldives first.

Fat Approved

One&Only

One&Only Cape Town

Cape Town, South Africa

The location is the whole argument here: this is the only true luxury resort you can walk out of, safely, straight into the V&A Waterfront's shops and restaurants. Guest after guest, from honeymooners to a former Cape Town resident, lands on the same point: the ground beneath it is unbeatable. What you're paying for on top of that is genuinely strong, consistent service. People name staff unprompted, months apart: a fitness director organizing hikes and tailored yoga, a bar host at Vista running the room with real personality, an assistant manager hand-delivering an entire cake because a guest mentioned liking a slice at the spa. That's not a one-off; it shows up across nearly every recent review through late 2025 and into 2026. Where it costs you is character. More than one traveller who's compared it directly to The Silo or lived locally makes the same case: the building is spacious and well-run but reads as an international resort dropped into Cape Town rather than a Cape Town hotel — fair against the price, since you're paying a premium that buys polish rather than place. There's also a live complaint worth flagging: construction noise hitting some rooms as early as 7:30am despite being told 10am, and one recent guest noting that basics like daily coffee replenishment weren't automatic, which stings more at this rate than it would elsewhere. Book it for the location and the service floor, which rarely dips. Go to The Silo instead if soul and Cape Town specificity matter more to you than convenience and reliability.

Fat Approved

One&Only

One&Only Mandarina

Riviera Nayarit, Mexico

The setting is not exaggerated: Kerry Hill's treehouse villas are scattered across 565 acres of jungle cliff so effectively that guests report barely seeing another villa from their own, and every one comes with a private plunge pool and a view down to the Pacific that repeat visitors still call surreal. This is one of the most dramatic pieces of architecture in the catalogue, and the intimacy (120 guests, max) is real. When the staff is on, it's exceptional in the specific way that matters: hosts arranging surprise gifts for a newborn, a WhatsApp butler who answers in minutes, someone remembering a guest's mango preference. But the buggy system is the recurring headache across nearly every account from the past year, not an occasional gripe: 20-25 minute waits are common, turning a trip to dinner into an hour round trip, and one guest was told it would improve and found it hadn't on a return visit. Staff turnover is a named, specific problem too, with guests reporting the property doesn't match pay elsewhere, hire and lose people constantly. Add a 2026 upgrade that arrived with carpet stains and a bed bug rash needing a child's urgent-care visit, and a Virtuoso booking quietly downgraded a category until the guest pushed back: the inconsistency isn't limited to service tone, it extends to what you're actually assigned. Book it for the architecture and the isolation, not for flawless execution. Reserve buggies ahead of every meal, ask directly about your exact villa category before you fly, and know that dining here runs expensive even against other One&Onlys. Worth it if the setting is the point; frustrating if you need five-star consistency to match the rate.