VanMan

We recently got back from our free four night stay. We were personally met by Alain at the boat dock and escorted to a seating area near the stairs to the restaurant. Alain took the opportunity to give us an overview of the hotel's facilities, as we enjoyed a complimentary fruit drink. All of the check-in documents were prepared in advance. He apologized for only being able to upgrade us to a premium OWB for the first night, since the hotel was about to receive a large intake of Universal Studios people who were filming in the St Regis, who would occupy 50 bungalows. He said they always upgraded Platinums if they had space available.

We enjoyed the OWB, it was at the furthest distance from the beach, but were woken early by the bright sunlight entering from the glass floor. However, we actually preferred the beach bungalow facing the lagoon...just four or five steps to the water, with a multitude of friendly fish and, of course, the turtles.

We got the free shuttle boat, it runs frequently all day, to the Meridien "base" on the main island, where there is a reasonable supermarket with the usual, including fresh baguettes, and limited French wine.