Conrad Bora Bora
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
89k Hilton points, 5th night free
June 2022
Booked the Conrad Bora Bora when Frequent Miler reported standard award availability wide open. It was 89k/night back then, though now it’s up to 110k. Staying in an overwater bungalow has been on my bucket list forever. The upgrade fee to the King Overwater was 40,000 XPF/night (about $350 at today’s rates), but totally worth it for me. I e-mailed to ask about upgrades soon after I booked. The price can vary depending on season.
The upgrade fee is paid in advance. It’s nonrefundable except in cases of illness or family emergency. The charge ended up on the folio with the payment showing as a deposit, so we were able to get the stay points too. There’s a triple points promo and I got 54x on all spend (including the 14x on Aspire).
It was me, DH, DS (age 13), and DD (age 10). Had to pay an extra person fee for DS of 17,250 XPF/night. If he was still 12, then he would have been free. Roundtrip transfers from the Bora Bora airport by boat is 15,000 XPF/person (12 and under is free). I did a search for private transfers but didn’t find any cheaper options compared to paying for 3.
Since I’m Diamond, I asked about further upgrades when we checked in. I saw a pool overwater unit that was available for 4 nights during our stay. But was told that they’re not doing any upgrades since the resort was very busy.
The room was very spacious and upscale. They set up the couch as an extra bed and a rollaway for the 3rd bed. It fit into the room very well and was comfortable. The TV comes out from the cabinet in front of the bed and can swivel 360 degrees (fancy!). The bathroom is huge with a gigantic round tub. DD used it once. We mainly used it to dry our swimsuits lol. But it looks very nice! The bath towels are large, plush, and plentiful. There were also pool towels in the room. The toiletries are Shanghai Tang, Mandarin Tea scented (very nice). Housekeeping replaced the entire set every time we moved some tubes away.
Slippers are Conrad Bora Bora branded. The closet is walk-in with a vanity table and window with view of the water.
We were gifted 2 boxes of chocolate (looks house-made), a bag of assorted candy, bottle of fresh juice, Evian, and Perrier. They give 2 medium size bottles of water at turndown service each day.
We spent a lot of time relaxing on the deck in the loungers and the rope net beds.
DH snorkeled off of the deck often. Not much coral there, but he saw some fish. I think he just liked the convenience. There’s a handheld shower head out on the deck to rinse off.
We enjoyed the pool and beach. There are some cabanas next to the pool that are free to use. Reef safe sunblock is provided at the towel station. It’s nice, made with Tahitian monoi oil. There’s also flavored water there and you can borrow snorkeling gear.
There’s a section of beach that’s designated for Gold and Diamond members. I saw a blacktip shark while snorkeling there. DS enjoyed biking around the resort. We did a little bit of kayaking, but conditions weren’t particularly good that day. The view up by the spa and chapel is very nice (a little bit of a trek).
Gold/Diamond Beach:
The boat to Vaitape is free during the day as long as it’s not your arrival or departure day (they don’t want you getting around the airport transport fee). There is also a fee to use it in the evening if you want to get to dinner in town. We only took the shuttle once during the day to just take a look and to go to the supermarket to get some instant noodle for dinner one night lol (there is an electric kettle in the room). If you don’t want to stay for several hours, the most convenient time is the 11 am departure and noon return (reservation with the concierge required). It was enough time to go to the supermarket and then look in the souvenir market right at the dock.
We only did one excursion here, a half day tour with H2O Bora Bora. Hands down, best snorkeling tour I’ve ever done. They only take 6 people. Nobody else booked our time, so it ended up being private. The owner, David, is super nice and patient. He gets in the water with you to show you stuff and pulls along a flotation ring on a rope in case you need it. First stop, we saw a family of eagle rays deep down. Second stop, we saw a manta ray for a good while and so clearly. Third stop was to the coral garden where you have to follow him through. The flotation ring was helpful to me here since I’m not a great swimmer. Water is so clear, lots of coral and fish. Last stop was to the edge of the coral reef. Kids and I were a bit snorkeled out, only DH went, and they saw blacktip sharks. Highly recommend!
The kids went to the Kids’ Club a couple times when there were activities they were interested in. We didn’t end up doing any of the resort activities. We saw people with the palm leaf purses they made, that looked really cool. But I don’t think you can bring it back to the US due to agricultural restrictions.
As Diamond members, we got the breakfast buffet complimentary for all 4 of us. I thought that was very generous since officially it’s only for 2. It we had to pay for breakfast, it would have been something like 5500 XPF/person. Breakfast ends at 10:30 am and they start putting it away then. We tended to go a little later and was so full that we only needed dinner. Breakfast is a good spread – lots of yummy bread and pastries, fruit, meat/cheeses, smoked salmon, poisson cru, some Asian dishes (stir fry, eggrolls, steamed bun, rice, porridge), etc. The scrambled egg was not good – very watery, and the bacon was hard. There is a menu for made to order items for an upcharge, but we never did that.
Food is very expensive at the resort. There is a kids’ menu, or they can order off the regular menu for 50% off (but again only those 12 and under). There isn’t really a tipping culture in French Polynesia, but there is a tip line on the resort checks. The Hilton Tahiti had it too. But none of the other restaurants we went to did.
We went to the beach restaurant (Tamure) twice, once for lunch on arrival day and once for dinner. It’s the same menu. The shrimp bao were very good, so were the tacos that came with a big corn topped with stuff. The pizza is pretty good and big enough to comfortably feed 2 adults. We tried the margherita and the tandoori chicken (that one wasn’t as good). This would be the one to go to for a “cheaper” meal (where cheap is relative!).
We did the Upa Upa Lounge for sushi for arrival day dinner since I didn’t know when we would be hungry after the late lunch. This is the only restaurant that you don’t need reservations for dinner. It’s decent sushi, but very expensive. Lucky we weren’t too hungry!
Iriatai is the French restaurant, it’s the same place that breakfast is served at. We had the lagoon fish, pork 3 ways, and the beef. Everything was tasty. They serve a complimentary amuse bouche appetizer.
Banyan is the Chinese restaurant. This one is harder to get reservations for (I think because it’s smaller?), so we ended up there on our last night. We had the steamed dumplings (a bit over steamed), lagoon fish with black bean sauce, beef with oyster sauce, and rice noodles with beef. Also had the first 2 desserts on the list (very long names!). Everything was good, but good Chinese is a dime a dozen where we are, so we were a bit meh for the price. I think some of the reviews I read made me have unrealistic expectations. At the end of dinner, we were served a complimentary goodbye dessert. Didn’t know this or maybe we wouldn’t have ordered 2 desserts lol.
We had a wonderful stay at the Conrad Bora Bora. Hope to come back someday. Maybe combined with another archipelago to explore.