Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes, outstanding
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Total of 7 nts. Booked 2 with points (
Emerald booked). 2 paid
Sapphire level (1 pre-paid, 1 flex for BOGO
), 3 more with points
Emerald.
Through email with hotel ahead of time, was offered to have all rooms booked into
Sapphire level for entire stay - ^ - which is what I was hoping for.
How are the rooms?
Was given
Bungalow 106 which I believe
used to be an Emerald level but is now a Sapphire. I can see why as it does have a great view and faces out towards the mountain and not the motu as do all the other Emerald villas. Got to keep in mind that at this property all Over Water Bungalows are the exact same inside, the only difference is the view between them! @:-) And they are great, best we stayed in in French Polynesia hands down.
1st, they are HUGE. Entry way with table and floor to ceiling window behind. To the left is a large sitting area with couch (that has another bed under it), lounge chair and the famed glass coffee table so you can see the fish below your bungalow. At night you can even feed them (there's a light down there) by opening the top of the table. So cool. ^ Large hutch area holding the mini-bar, glasses, coffee, etc. Double doored sliders opening onto a covered balcony (this was huge during rain) that had a table for 2 and 2 lounge chairs. Steps down to a sundeck right at the water with a ladder down to the perfect water.
Finally the bedroom was gorgeous with excellent bed, high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows with a view of the lagoon and main island. Huge soaking tub (Villeroy & Boch), storage for all my stuff and wifey's too.
Excellent shower / sauna with sitting area. And the closet - HUGE and walk in with plenty of storage for everything.
If you havent' seen them you can see great pictures
HERE of all the French Polynesian ICs
How is the exec. lounge?
-Isn't one
What was good?
-Great of hotel to combine reservations and keep us in the higher level room for duration of stay
-Finally a fully stocked mini-bar including Moet Reserve, liquor, Hinano (local beer) and Heineys
-24hr dedicated gym "bungalow" was huge and very up to date and modern.
-Seemed like we got continuous gifts from the hotel. In total 4 IC French Polynesian towels, 2 sarongs for her, and a shirt for me
-Everyone at the hotel spoke basic english and all the "guest staff" (bartenders, servers, etc) spoke english very well
-The food at Reef, main restaurant, was oustanding and worth the price
-Free use of kayaks, windsurfers, snorkel equipment
-Concierge was great at coordinating with other hotels for dinner plans, including transfers, taxis, etc
-Fantabulous bathrobes and slippers
-Welcome gift was a 1/2 bottle of Moet Vintage '96 (~$250US) and a large fruit basket
What was bad?
-At checkout got an earful from the night manager about the mini-bar. He practically read verbatum the T&Cs about how min-bar isn't free when an RA is on points.
Now I know this to be true but have never actually run into this problem, especially when mixing a paid and points stay. We had run up quite a bill (not hard when the Moet is $130 alone).
He ended up working with us and taking off all but $20 but I still felt like I had been put in the corner with my dunce cap on.
-Also at checkout was given another earful about how I made the reservations and used the BOGO.
He told me that I am required to reserve 2 nights at the same rate, same rate type. If it is prepaid the hotel would refund back the 2nd night. I didn't have the T&Cs on me but I explained to him how my having made a flexible reservation for the 2nd night should have made it easier for him
He didn't like that.
-Again the walk was far and the bridges had gaps that caused problems for womens' shoes. Just an FYI
What was missed?
A club lounge would be nice but no hotel in French Polynesia (IC chain at least) has one
Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Paid $1100 for 1 night, used a BOGO 2nd and points for the other 4 nights. Amazing value overall and a great use of points.
Cost of cab to IC from airport:
The hotel is on a motu (island) and the hotel picks you up in a boat. It was $120 for two of us, roundtrip and the cost is mandatory.