Fan Qianyi, the dive center coach at Vommuli. [Photo by Fan Qianyi/provided to China Daily]

"My English vocabulary was very limited when I first came," Cui says. "Now I have absolutely no problem communicating with my English-speaking clients and colleagues. The secret? Before I learned by brain; now I learn by heart."

Apart from Cui, the St. Regis Hotel at Vommuli also has a guest experience manager and a dive center coach who are Chinese. The hotel's spa has one masseuse who is Chinese Malaysian, and when I was there, in early December, the hotel had also invited a Chinese chef from St. Regis Shenzhen to work with local chefs on Chinese cuisines with twists.

Xue Rui, the associate director of St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Greater China, says the hotel management clearly has its high-end Chinese customers in mind.

"It's true that the Maldives, the country of a thousand islands, has myriad choices, and the bulk of Chinese customers still head for middle-priced destinations. However, we believe in the potential the Chinese market holds for luxury travel."

Fan Qianyi, 37, is the Chinese dive center coach. A former merchandiser bitten by the travel bug, she decided to be a coach not long after she learned diving. Over the past few years the job has taken her to some of the world's most beautiful beaches, from Thailand and Malaysia to the Maldives.