Just finished my stay at the Thalasso and now at the Conrad. My vote goes to the Conrad and here's my comparison:
1) Service (Conrad)
-Thalasso: At Thalasso, the only time I felt that service was outstanding was from the housekeeping team. Other than that, service widely varied. I had good service from the Concierge who provided information outside of the activities booklet and responded to emails reasonably, and from the front desk agent who removed the second transfer charge. I’ve had average service at breakfast. Like @
italdesign, I had meh service on check-in and a poor experience on check-out to the point where I felt like I was an inconvenience and unwelcome due to issues caused by the hotel. @
Corridor! mentioned the lack of email responses, and I had the same experience with no responses to my two requests for paid upgrades.
-Conrad: I was lei’d, given a tour of the resort and my room (refused at the Thalasso since I was told I arrived too late by using the 8:30pm Le Moana shuttle). Usually, I don’t really need the extra welcome, but my agent was a superstar, funny and charismatic the entire way. I wasn’t aware the resort recently cancelled the 3:30pm shuttle to the resort, however they ran one for the staff from Vaitape and the boat still stopped by the Robert Wan pier to pick me up! They always responded to emails and service at breakfast was wamer. Service was just better than the Thalasso in all regards except housekeeping, and Conrad’s housekeeping was still good.
2) Elite Recognition (Conrad)
-Thalasso: To be fair, the Thalasso fulfilled all Ambassador benefits in its entirety on an award stay. Guaranteed 4pm check out, one category upgrade, $20 F&B credit, welcome fruit, daily water. It’s simply that Hilton’s loyalty program is more rewarding, so it’s an unfair disadvantage. Happy to see the generous change given the previous DPs on Ambassador.
-Conrad: As a Diamond, I received complimentary breakfast, an upgrade to a base water villa, and unguaranteed late check out. For such an aspirational property, surprised to see extremely consistent and generous upgrades (at least garden villa, and have seen upgrade up to pool water villa, a 6 level upgrade).
3) Base Room (Thalasso)
-Thalasso: Unless you’re in the Brando suites, everyone gets the exact same villa just different views. It has a proper living room, bedroom, and a toilet/dressing room separate from the bathroom. While not as modern as the Conrad accommodations, the room was in good condition.
-Conrad: The base/deluxe water villas have the living space shared with the bedroom. However, the Horizon/Garden Villas which do have the separate living rooms also are getting pools added to be more competitive. The issue is that these aren’t even the base rooms, that’s the garden/horizon suites which are all housed in a single communal building.
4) Facilities/Grounds (Conrad)
-Thalasso: While an older property, I found the resort to be reasonably maintained. The layout of the resort is intuitive, and the pontoons are symmetrical. But pavement on the pontoons seems to be missing in some parts. The landside of the resort seems a bit bland including the vegetation, but I would say that the beach is more appealing than the Conrad.
-Conrad is much newer and the contemporary hardware reflects this. Unfortunately, the layout is all over the place but unlike the Thalasso, you get bikes that make the resort easy to navigate. Bikes are starting to show their age however. The vegetation is amazing, and the resort shows its beauty best on the walkway up to the view point that has the spa and chapel.
5) View (Thalasso)
-Thalasso: Hands down. Some may argue it’s the best in Bora Bora. It competes with the Le Meridien, St. Regis, and the Four Seasons for the most unobstructed view. My take is that the Thalasso has my favorite angle. Others may prefer the latter suggestions, but I like how the Thalasso’s view emphasizes the peak/summit. Kinda like a portrait shot vs a full body shot. I prefer the portrait shot of Mt. Otemanu, and you can see it from a large part of the resort!
-Conrad: Most accommodations don’t have a view of the mountain, not even the presidential villas! The few that do (roughly 101-106), have a view of the backside of Mt. Otemanu. Which if I didn’t know otherwise, would think it’s not the same mountain. Quite amazing the different looks of Mt. Otemanu due to its strong asymmetry.
6) Fish Life (Conrad)
-Thalasso: The villas extend into the lagoon and away from any coral. That means little sea life off your deck. Even with fish food ($12 for a small packet at the on-site store .-.) , I couldn’t get them to come. After snorkeling for a bit, I found one massive puffer fish near near Brando suite’s private boat dock at the end of my pontoon. I’d follow an earlier recommendation regarding snorkeling closer to the beach.
-Conrad: The villas line the beach head and is close to the coral. And there’s quite a bit of coral near the 100’s villas, so that meant easy spotting off my deck and even more when snorkeling. Even with the Hilton->Conrad construction/destruction process, the Thalasso is lacking.
7) Boat Transfer (Conrad)
-Thalasso: Former winner as they used to offer free shuttles, then limited free transfers to before 2:15pm, now the price has further increased and it’s only complimentary when booked in conjunction with an activity via the concierge. 3,390 XPF round trip, and they will likely charge this twice if used for check-in and check-out. The shuttle doesn’t even go to Vaitape, so that means a 2,000 XPF taxi ride on top of the resort transfer.
-Conrad: Goes directly to Vaitape which means easy connection and costs savings to the airport and island. Only 1,500 XPF round trip, but 4,900 XPF if taken after 4:15pm with the recent price increase. Someone mentioned they don’t record departures from Vaitape, so possible to avoid getting charged on arrival.
8) Award Booking (Conrad, Conrad, and Conrad)
-Thalasso: Literally the hardest award booking I’ve ever managed. It’s so competitive that award nights get booked within seconds of release. Otherwise, you’re left with piecing together cancelled nights and hoping they’re consecutive. Doesn’t help that you need a credit card to get the 4th night free, and I’ve found Hilton points are easier to come by than IHG points especially with sign up bonuses and points sharing.
-Conrad: When I booked, I found quite a bit of 5-6 consecutive nights, and several nights in general. It seems that they’ve tightened up on availability, but still available if you look way in advance or close in. Nothing compared to ridiculousness at the Thalasso.