Guest reviews Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa

by SabrinaDMorris Solana Beach, California

Let the nightmare begin!

Where do I begin? First of all, beginning at its’ sister resort, I should have known there were going to be problems. I had communicated by email 6 times prior to our stay about parking. I was told in 6 different emails that I could park a rental car at their sister property. When I arrived at the sister property, I was told I could not park there. After much prodding the front desk person reluctantly allowed us to park our rental car. We walked to the area to catch our boat to our resort. None of the crew of the boat spoke to us nor did they seem friendly. When approaching the property, I began to have grave concerns. The bungalows appeared run down and dilapidated from the water. When we got to the reception we were greeted by another not friendly staff member, Marco. He was not engaging at all. I shared my concerns about how the bungalows appeared from the water, and nothing was said. He just immediately asked for our passports and credit card. No asking how our boat was, how we were liking Bora Bora, nothing. He did offer us tea and a hand clothe as we waited. I shared again that I was concerned that I had paid $1200 a night for what looked to be an outdated, unkept, poorly cared for property. He said nothing. We were whisked away for the property tour and to be taken to our over the water bungalow. The grounds were not taken care of. The landscaping had not been cared for in decades it appeared. Everything was just dumpy looking. It looked like a super 8 or motel 6 property, not a $1200 a night 5 star resort. I was appalled. The decking was dry rotted and appeared dingy looking. Rust exuded from the steel pillars and underlings of the bungalows. Everything was just in dire need of TLC and renovations. When we got into the bungalow, it looked like we had entered a set of a 1970’s sitcom. The wood furniture and flooring were badly marred with scrapes and cuts as well as discolorations in the finishes. The furniture was extremely dated as well. The couch was like sitting on cement blocks covered with burlap sacks. The bedding was horrible. The sheets were the worst quality I’ve ever felt. Walmart has better sheets than this resort. They were stiff and scratchy, but not nearly as bad as the bath towels and washcloths. The bathroom linens were like sandpaper. I don’t even know where they would have found such horrendous bed and bath linens. I have never seen such poor products. When we called for extra blankets as in this “5 star” resort bungalow there were none, we were brought nubby blankets that have quit being sold in the US years ago to the flammability. Literally, they also looked like they were from the 1970’s. The deck and dock of the bungalow was like all the other wood decking-aging and rotting. The ladder for the platform was rusting. I called the front desk, asked for Marci the person who checked us in and knew I was on the verge of crying as I was so disappointed and exasperated by the fact that an IHG property was in such horrible condition, I was told he had went home. I was told Christophe, the assistant manager would call me. Almost two hours later we were settled in a different bungalow as there was black mold growing in the 1970’s green tile shower. Christophe said the property had been renovated in 2018. I said guests must have destroyed the wood furniture and property from the looks of it. He later clarified that the furniture had been taken out and refurbished. He said the owner wanted to preserve the Polynesian style which is crazy because we stayed in another resort with new furniture that also had the same Polynesian feel, it just wasn’t from the 1970’s. Time and time again I stated I was not happy with the room Christophe never once asked me what he could do to make me happy nor did he apologize for the misgivings about the property, the website is false advertising. What is on the website has been edited to look nice. It is not how the property looks in person. The kayaks were very old and I did not see paddle boards. The property is large and no bikes or scooters are available for guests. The tennis court needs renovated. The food is expensive and poor quality. As vegans we needed to have modifications, and we were charged as if we were eating the regular menu items. No one ever checked to see if we were happy or needed anything throughout our 2 day stay. We were not treated nice by anyone except the housekeeping staff and a really nice hostess/waitress. I love the IHG brand, and this property should not be carrying the logo. It is a 2-3 star property at best. It has the best location a resort can have, yet there’s been no TLC given to the property. I can’t even venture a guess why the staff who are working the reception are there; they did not seem hospitable at all. Book the Conrad, the St. Regis, or the Four Seasons. This IHG is more expensive than the Conrad or the St. Regis and it’s basically a dump. Thank goodness we had nice housekeeping and the nice hostess. Two nice qualities of the resort!

by Gil1111 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Bora Bora perfection!

Stayed there for a couple of nights and all was sublime! The food was excellent (in room service staff was particularly outstanding), and the service even better. Went to the gym everyday and never saw another soul. The overwater bungalow was cosy and spacious. The outdoor lounge patio was terrific and the access to the lagoon waters so easy! We loved everything! The property has been well kept over the years and I'll go back there with confidence and excitement!

by Vicky-prz-19

Perfect Resort

We visited Bora Bora for our honeymoon and our stay at the InterContinental was perfect in every way I could imagine. A boat shuttle picked us up from the airport and when we arrived at the resort, a golf cart was waiting for us to take us to check in but before that they give you a tour of the entire resort which left us in awe. Afterwards, they take you to check in at the front desk which was the most relaxing check-in we have ever had. They escorted us to a seating area overlooking the lagoon and had all the paperwork brought to us and the concierge went over all the bookings we had for the week. At that time they also provided us with a cold tea and a cleansing towel. Then we were taken to our pool overwater bungalow and when we walked in we were amazed at how large and beautiful it was. No picture could do it justice. It was extremely spacious and clean. The dock was two floors and the pool was amazing. We loved the food at the Sands Restaurant and the dinner we had at Le Corail was also delicious. The breakfast buffet had a variety of foods to choose from including local Polynesian food. All the staff knew us by name and was extremely polite and helpful in anything we needed. They have a beautiful jungle nestled in the middle of the resort called the garden of love for couples to buy a lock and lock it onto a tree. You can bring your own lock or purchase one at the gift shop. They also have a large coral reef garden where my husband enjoyed snorkeling in. On our last day we had the canoe breakfast which was so beautiful. They arrive to our bungalow dock playing Polynesian music and while breakfast is being setup, we are taken on the canoe around the lagoon while being serenaded to. After we checked out at 11, they provided us with a Day Room since our flight was not until 5 ish. This Day Room had a sitting area and a bathroom with a shower. They put our luggage in here and we were allowed to enjoy all of the amenities such as the pool, paddleboards, kayak etc until we had to leave for our flight. Masks were not mandatory throughout the resort, except for the front desk and the breakfast buffet. We were extremely sad when our visit came to an end but we could not have asked for better service at this beautiful resort. This was truly a five star hotel experience and one of the most beautiful places in the world.

by Jason M Chicago, Illinois

Amazing relaxing resort that lived up to the pics/reviews here

We chose this property because of the reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, and I can confirm it lives up to all expectations. The island is already beautiful, but we were so glad we chose this property. We had one of the Sapphire overwater huts and ended up spending most of our time in the room on the personal balcony just laying in the sun and jumping in the lagoon. I highly recommend bringing blow-up floats to relax on in the lagoon. This property in particular has one of the best locations with calm, blue waters in the lagoon whereas many of the other properties we saw had less than ideal spots with rougher, less nice waters. The beach area was pretty small but very nice and always had paddleboards and kayaks to borrow for free. We did take advantage of the spa treatment one day, and the facilities were excellent. The staff were all incredibly kind and attentive. We went in September 2020 with Covid concerns still top of mind, but the property did an excellent job maintaining distance, wearing masks, and keeping everything clean. Since everything is outside anyway and most people are there as couples for relaxation, we had no problem staying distanced far easier than at home. Something that we just accepted for this kind of trip is that the food was incredibly expensive and mostly pretty mediocre, especially since you really don't have much choice but to eat at the property most days/nights. I do highly recommend taking the boat to their sister property to eat on the main island at least once (highly recommend Matira Beach Restaurant). One note, this property was FAR NICER than the sister property IC on the main island.

by AlbertLosAngeles Los Angeles, California

Truly amazing and an unique experience!

I truly enjoyed my stay at the hotel! This experience is definitely unique! And once in your life you should go to Bora Bora and stay at a hotel like the InterContinental. Yes, it is super expensive (I payed almost $1000 per night for the basic bungalow in the water they had), but you will get priceless emotions and memories. The hotel was great, but not perfect. First what I did not like is the beach which was super coral rocky and small. As a sand lover I definitely did not enjoy that. Usually watching photos of Bora Bora on the Internet you see completely white sand beaches, but it was definitely not my case. But the water looked like it did exactly on all the pictures and postcards! Water colors were truly amazing! But I only wish it was a little bit warmer. Every morning and every night the water became pretty cold, and it was not very comfortable to stay there for a long time. I really liked the hotel’s swimming pool which was pretty big and perfectly clean every single day. At night it had very beautiful lights. The hotel has a few restaurants. I never had breakfast, so I never visited one of them. Also for one restaurant you have to dress formal (pants or jeans and shoes, not flip flops and sandals) to be able to get inside. Unfortunately I did not have any pants, so I never experienced that restaurant either. Therefore, every single day I went to the restaurant right next to the swimming pool for lunches and dinners because the hotel is pretty isolated. 3 issues with this restaurant are first the menu was the same every day and small. Second, everything there was super overpriced (for example, $23 for a Capresee salad or $25 for French onion soup). Third, the food was not super tasty, it was just okay. So I was not impressed by this restaurant. The hotel property is huge! There is a lot of space to walk around and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The hotel has a little souvenir shop with some non-alcohol drinks and snack options, but again prices are super expensive on everything. My bungalow (#237) was awesome! It has so much space inside! Basically it was a full house with a big living room, big bedroom, a big bathroom, a separate room for a toilet, a small walk-in closet and a big 2 level balcony with direct access to the water. The bungalow was completely updated and perfectly clean. The King-Size Bed was super comfortable. I really liked the fact that I was able to open the windows right next to the bed to have a fresh ocean breeze in my bedroom. I did it every single night. The bathroom had a super big shower stall and a nice bathtub right next to the window. I never had full room service for 4 days of my stay, but every time I called to the front desk and requested fresh towels or something else I got it delivered to my bungalow pretty fast. The balcony in my room had a table and chairs to be able to eat outside and also 2 beach chairs to lay down and relax. I spent every single day laying down on my balcony’s lower level and getting sun tan (no beach at all), and went to the water directly from that platform. It felt truly amazing! It was so peaceful, because the hotel was almost empty because of the COVID pandemic. Wi-Fi was working super fast, but I often lost the connection which was pretty sad. All hotel’s staff was super friendly and nice. There is a water transfer between the hotel and the airport and also between my InterContinental and another InterContinental on another island. A one-way ride costs approximately $20 as I remember. Also both InterContinentals have different night shows a few days per week. I caught 2 different traditional Polynesian dancing shows. Finally I wanna say that I truly enjoyed my vacation at the InterContinental and I totally recommend this hotel for a stay, especially to married couples where you will have a super romantic and wonderful time!