The "MIB Guesthouse Awards 2026" arranged by the Maldives Islamic Bank's (MIB) to be held for the first time will have eight main categories guesthouses can apply for, with the application window having opened.
The eight categories are:
- Service Excellence & Hospitality: An award for guesthouses offering the highest quality of hospitality and services.
- Authentic Maldivian Experience: An award for guesthouses that offers the most complete Maldivian culture, food and lifestyle.
- Island Excursions & Experiences: An award for guesthouses that provide lagoon activities, island tours, and safe and well-rounded services.
- Culinary Experience: An award for guesthouses that prioritizes Maldivian tastes and quality culinary services.
- Eco-friendly: An award for guesthouses that prioritizes environmental protection, waste reduction and energy saving.
- Community Impact: An award for guesthouses that works to advance an island's social and economic progress, and creating employment opportunities.
- Digital Presence: An award for guesthouses that have been successful in using digital resources and social media to advertise.
- Iconic Marine & Dive Experience: An award for guesthouses that offer underwater activities and diving services in a safe manner that does not harm the environment.
MIB said the awards will be given under a transparent system based on the evidence and documents submitted for the award. MIB also said in order to maintain fairness among guesthouses of various tiers, it has been decided to evaluate the awards by dividing them into two groups based on the number of rooms.
These are Tier 1, dedicated to small guesthouses between 3 to 10 rooms, and Tier 2, dedicated to guesthouses with 11 rooms and above.
Applicants for this award can submit forms online through MIB's dedicated portal.
