Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes, great
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked 1 night at lowest rate possible (Garden View room) and through email was offered choice of OWB (over water bungalow) or THE Suite in the main building. ^ As it was our last night in Tahiti (and last of honeymoon) and we'd been in OWB the whole time I opted for the Suite and was not disappointed.
How are the rooms?
The Suite did not disappoint. It doesn't have a room number on it, it simply says "THE SUITE ANTARES" on the door. It is technically room(s) 387, 388 and 389. It consists of a large bedroom with a traditional 4 poster bed, tv and sitting area along with balcony. Bathroom is huge with large marble countertops and a huge jacuzzi - big enough for 2 probably more
- with excellent built in jets.
This bedroom is connected to another room through adjoining doors to a large open floorplan room with a tv viewing area (couch and 3 formal armchairs), a fullsized workdesk "nook" tucked away to do work away from TV, a full sized kitchen (where we were told dinner could be cooked by the staff if we wanted), and a 10 person dining table which also would double as a boardroom table. There was a mini-library enclosed in a floor to ceiling shelving. And hidden behind wooden doors was a whiteboard - hence the boardroom feel. :-: Oh and there was another balcony off of this room which was double the size of the other balcony. 3rd floor (highest in hotel) with excellet views facing Moorea.
*If anyone has ever been to the IC Puerto Rico and stayed in the "Executive Suites" there (not club suites) it is setup pretty much the exact same way.*
How is the exec. lounge?
-Isn't one
What was good?
-Excellent upgrade to Suite
-2 mini-bars to raid but again no wine or liquor. Just lots of sodas, water and beer
-Another sarong for my wife as gift along with 2 full plates of fruit as welcome gift
-By this time (12 days after out initial stay) the Lotus pool and restaurant were now open again and they were fantastic. Lotus restaurant did not disappoint
-Early checkin was not a problem and hotel was really busy
-I requested late checkout (our departing flight was at 9pm). They let us stay until we departed, past 4pm. We were able to use our room until we left at 6:30pm - no problems! They had blocked the suite for the entire next night after I reserved it. That's service.
What was bad?
-Just nitpicking but now the Lagoonorium was closed for renovations as they had done to Lotus. But it was open the last time we were there so no biggie
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?
Considering I took advantage of the "50% of Any Hotel Card" promotion to pick up a $250USD card for 29.5k points and the room was only $237 it was a great value, and that was before the upgrade. I earned points and used less than the normal 40k!
Cost of cab to IC from airport:
Cab from airport was $11 both way as daytime both times.