Troopers

Night released.

deadlocklegend

Need one night on Jan 27-28th. If anyone is willing to release, please let me know. Much appreciated.

gilby125

I just released 12/30/2016.

navatwal

I am planning a vacation for my 40th Birthday with my wife and Infant to French Polynesia for Late October / Early November 2017.

I have a ton of IHG Points whch I would like to use, I have secured 4 nights at this property on points, I do want to stay at Thalasso but there are no reward nights available currently.

I have some questions;

- What is the weather like in Bora Bora in November?
- Which hotel and room is most infant friendly? .e.g beach bungaow v OWB
- Do fellow travellers recocmend checking out any other island Taihiti or Moorea?

As this is a once in a lifetime stay would like to also include Thalasso IC or St Regis as part of my stay, feedback greatly appreciated.

jcapito1

FYI to anyone trying to book reward nights at Le Moana...it looks like they opened up tons of reward rooms for pretty much every day on the calendar. I have been checking availability for months hoping to book the last night of my vacation on a reward night and when I checked this morning, I saw availability on pretty much every day.

I'm not sure if this is some type of error or they really opened up that many reward rooms, but I would book as soon as possible if you need it.

Buzzman

Weather is ok in November.... My wife and I were on Bora from Nov 17 to 24th two years ago... some periods of rain, but not much more than other times we've been there.. never lasted very long and air temp is always fine...

Personally I think the Le Moana would be more infant friendly than the others which seem to be honeymoon heavens... I've seen infants at Le Moana several times..

mercruiser

With a baby, I would strongly prefer Le Moana.

We stayed at both the Thalasso (OWB) and Moana (beachfront) in Nov 2015. The Thalasso was very, very upscale - too upscale for my taste, as in $19 USD for three scoops of ice cream. Budget about $300 to $500 per day for meals if you stay here (breakfast $40 pp, lunch $60 pp, dinner $100 pp). As the other poster said, this is a honeymooner place - for very rich honeymooners.

Here is a photo of the beach front bungalos at Moana. I think these would be ideal for traveling with a baby. The baby can take it's nap in the room while the parents enjoy the lounge chairs on the beach, within earshot of the baby.

If you stay in an OWB, here or at Thallasso, you are going to have to haul the baby and all it's accessories to the beach with you.

Moana is within walking distance of a small grocery store and a couple of restaurants. Other restaurants will pick you up for free. Food choices are much cheaper here than at Thalasso.

Speaking of Moorea, its actually my favorite. We stay at the Moorea Hilton whenever possible. I don't like the Intercontinental on Moorea though - very few of the rooms have good ocean views.

This gallery has pictures of Moana, Thalasso, and Moorea Hilton, from our Nov 2015 trip. I've made two trips to FP, both in November. The weather was fine both times: https://bhughes.smugmug.com/Travel/T...-November-2015

wlp07

I agree that Le Moana will be more infant-friendly than Thalasso. The space and layout of Le Moana's rooms are identical whether it's owb or beach bungalow. Having stayed in both, I prefer the beach bungalows at Le Moana, but it can be nice to do a couple nights in the owb just for the novelty aspect.

Re: checking out other islands: I actually prefer Moorea to Bora Bora, so I highly recommend it. The feel is more wild and remote with there being fewer hotels. I loved the IC Moorea and its Bungalows. There are some with unobstructed ocean views (for a higher price), but the regular ones have a lovely view of a little "stream" which separates the mainland from the small islet where owb's and dolphin experience pen is kept. We were upgraded to the bungalows at Moorea IC for free as a result of our ambassador status (used bogo cert for two nights and tacked on award nights at the end with end result being not having to move out to regular hotel room for award nights...despite being threatened with having to do so via email prior to our arrival). I would deem the atmosphere at IC Moorea to be infant friendly.

Tahiti itself: I'm sure there are some cool spots here, but the general consensus is that if you've traveled this far and have limited time in F.P., then Tahiti is not to be prioritized. Pretty much any of the other islands in F.P. are going to offer more of a wow factor vs Tahiti. Even if you are balling on a budget, I'd recommend spending all of your time on Moorea at a pension/airbnb/vrbo vs Tahiti.

wal32

About to book for November, and read a lot of this thread. Can someone let me know if I'm wrong on something here:

* Will pay for with points (I have 300K IHG points and am IHG Spire status)
* Ambassador wont help me with upgrades if I pay with points. Is this right? So if I paid for AMB for 200 I'd basically get a fruit plate and late checkout?
* I want guaranteed OWB for at least 2 of the nights. I'm thinking I want it for my entire stay, but I might be willing to take the risk if there was a chance for an upgrade with Ambassador, but there's not?
* So to guarantee the upgrade I'll have to call the property and pay the difference between the Beach Bungalow and OWB. It should be around or less than 200USD a night.
* Thlasso is basically impossible with points and I'm not paying an additional 500USD+/night just for less breeze, a bigger room, and one more star.

Am I missing something here?

wlp07

It is incorrect to state that amb categorically will not help you with an upgrade on a point stay here. In Oct. 2015, I was booked on points in a beach bungalow and was upgraded to owb upon check-in due to my amb status (regular amb, not RA). So, amb status does give you a chance at an upgrade, but certainly not a guarantee on points. It's worth noting that Le Moana has significantly fewer beach bungalows than it has owb's. So if the bb's are booked at or beyond capacity, they'll be looking to upgrade people, and amb status is likely to help in that situation.

Also, you appear to be discounting the value of the amb bogo certificate. You may be well served to get amb, use the bogo cert to book a beach bungalow, receive the automatic upgrade to owb for those first two nights, tack on your points nights after that, and they may allow you to stay in the owb without forcing an upcharge on you for those remaining nights.

I used the above tactic at IC Moorea to get upgraded to a beach bungalow from a regular hotel room with the bogo cert, and they let me stay in the upgraded room on my subsequent points nights. Granted, they threatened to force me to pay to upgrade or switch rooms up until the 11th hour when I would have had to switch rooms, but they ultimately relented.

There's no saying this scheme would work at Le Moana, but if the out of pocket difference is small enough between the price of buying the first night of the bogo cert in a beach bungalow vs the total upgrade charge for owb on points for two nights, it could be well worth it. Plus you have to figure in the value of not expending your points on those two nights.

I would say skip AMB status if you don't feel you can leverage the bogo cert to make it worthwhile. You're right that a fruitplate, bottle of bubbly, dedicated check-in and possible late check-out isn't worth it on its own, IMO. The wildcard is the owb upgrade.

disclaimer: I'm basing all of this on my experience from over a year ago, as always, ymmv.

wal32

Thanks for the reply wlp07. I didn't even know about the BOGO certificate. I'll look into it but it looks like the price difference between paying for a night ~500 plust the AMB 200 is around the range of paying for the upgrade ~180/night, so I'm not sure it will work for me. (Also I thought I read something about it being on a weekend night:

https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental...mbassador/faqs

Which probably wont work for me. That said, I'll keep it in mind and do more research.

I could just do like you said and pay for the OWB for a couple of the nights and hope for the upgrade for the others. It's something I'm seriously considering.

Thanks again so much for your reply.

exsea

We are at Le Moana now, being the third IHG property we have stayed at in Tahiti. Very pleased to say that we were upgraded on all three as Spire AMB. I used the free night from Chase Card for Papeete for a less than 12 hour stay and we got an Ocean View. In Moorea we were upgraded to a OW Sunset Bungalow, which was simply amazing. Here in Bora Bora we also got a OW Bungalow, pretty far out on the left side. All without asking or prior email communications. 50% off breakfast was offered, gifts in the room included T-Shirt, Pareo, Cookies, Fruit Plate, drink coupons, invitation to managers cocktail party, etc etc.
I'm very pleased with the service we received in contrary to the Hilton Moorea.

wlp07

You're quite welcome. Yes, the BOGO certificate does have to be used on a weekend night. I'm unsure if both nights have to be on a "weekend" as defined in the T&C, so you may want to look into that, if it works with your schedule. I do remember that for purposes of the Bogo cert, the definition of "weekend" varies with geography, but iirc, it's laid forth in the T&C.

deyainrdy4ds

Need some help with some IHG Bora Bora bookings. Does it help at all to call Thalasso about the lack of any availability online? Or do you just have to constantly check hoping a room gets released?

For Le Moana, Moorea, Tahiti etc, can I book with points and contact them to be upgraded to an overwater bungalow for a fee?

Thanks in advance

navatwal

How does the IC Moorea compare with Le Moana?

I have nights at Thalasso and I am considering 3 nights at either Le Moana over IC Moorea.