Conrad Bora Bora Nui

An absolute disaster. I booked the Royal Overwater Villa nine months ago for my wife’s 60th birthday for 12 nights and two weeks before arrival they email me saying “sorry, because of construction we can’t honor your reservation, let us know if you would like to rebook for another date”. Don’t believe them when they say “minimal impact from construction” as they can’t honor 9 month advance reservations from a Hilton Diamond member. I have round trip flights to Bora Bora, spa appointments, restaurant reservations, catamaran rentals, and no hotel. Other hotels are sold out or charging double what I could have booked them for a couple of months ago. Oh, and when I emailed them back I got “out of office, on vacation” messages from the manager and assistant manager who were CCed. Hope they vacationed with Marriott, so they could get their reservations honored.

I recently completed my third stay at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui Resort and Spa. We are both Hilton Honors Diamond members and are loyal to Hilton as our preferred brand for luxury travel. First, the positives, with some caveats: i. We love the layout of the resort, although we definitely prefer the location of and view from the resorts on the east side of the island. ii. The staff was great – universally kind and engaging. And the butler was more engaging than on our prior visits, although not nearly to the level of service as at St. Regis. iii. The food was good to very good (not great), and very expensive as expected. Breakfast buffet was stellar. iv. Upgraded to an OWB near the end of the pontoon near the presidential villas (note: heavy boat traffic in that area). Nice recognition of our Diamond status (only upon arrival) and of the special occasion that we were celebrating. v. The bikes were in much better condition than on our prior visits, although we would prefer that bikes be assigned to villas rather than the first come, first served free-for-all. Unfortunately, we had a number of significant issues with our stay. We were very disappointed upon our arrival to find that there was significant construction activity at the resort, including: i. Heavy excavating machinery trenching for utilities along most of the frontage of the resort, between the main (only) walking paths and the beach, all day every day of our stay. The construction was unavoidable, as every guest had to pass by the machinery, safety fencing, workers, materials and huge piles of sand and earth coming and going to every meal, activity, the pool, etc. This significantly detracted from the overall tropical/remote paradise vibe that the resort promises and that we were anticipating. ii. Workmen running a concrete mixer on a barge under the main dock and reception area, immediately in front of and in direct view of the main open-air restaurant building and swimming pool. Again, not what you want to endure while in paradise having breakfast or lounging by the pool. iii. The spa facility was closed for renovations (the “spa” was open, but only in a temporarily-converted resort room). Use of the spa was a material consideration for us to return to this resort for a special occasion. iv. One of the three restaurants (Banyan Tree – Chinese) was closed, leaving only the main restaurant ($$$$) and the beach/pool restaurant (same menu as lunch service) as options. Significant, given that the resort is on a private island and the only option for dining off-resort involves a punitive $100+ shuttle boat fee. v. Fully one-third of the resort, including a majority of the more desirable villas (all of the 100s section, with Otemanu views and pool villas), was completely closed, with ongoing work being done on villas in those areas as well. In addition, it appeared that most of the 200s villas were also unoccupied, as these were more near the construction excavation activity. This also caused the occupied portion of the resort to be more crowded and, presumably, eliminated the possibility of a late checkout. vi. We experienced an electrical outage in our villa one afternoon (although we don’t know whether it was construction-related). vii. There was a wider-spread water outage one afternoon that apparently was related to the construction (although no advance notice was given and no notice or explanation provided after). Perhaps most distressing about all of these construction-related issues is that we were not provided any affirmative warning in advance. Had we known the extent of these disruptions (again, all of which was magnified due to the nature and reputation of the property as being an isolated tropical ”escape” and destination), we very likely would have made alternative arrangements (in fact, we had already split our vacation with another 5-star Bora Bora resort, so it would have been easy to do accomplish). There was no mention of the construction and closures when we booked well in advance, as is necessary for this property and this destination in general. As this was our third stay here, we really had no need or expectation to monitor the resort website (even if there was anything posted in advance). And we had multiple email exchanges with the property prior to arrival, but the construction and closures were never mentioned. This renovation work clearly is a large undertaking, ongoing for 15 months, so there was ample time and opportunity to warn guests. It felt as if the staff was uncomfortably aware of the issues but tried to ignore or divert from it. These conditions and lack of notice is certainly not what we expected for a “5-star” Hilton resort at this price point. Secondly, we experienced a number of service issues unrelated to the construction, including: i. The air conditioning in our villa did not work for one of the nights. ii. A minor inconvenience, but there were repeated delays in filling requests to clean the room, re-stock in the evening (completely missed one night), etc. iii. We appreciate that we were upgraded to an overwater villa in a nice location (presumably due to the construction – because everyone was being upgraded to the 300s villas). However, the villa next door to ours apparently is the one assigned to travel influencers (there were 2-3 different influencers in that unit during our stay). Unfortunately, the resort permits influencers to fly drones off their villa deck. On two separate mornings there was a drone hovering a few feet from us right in front of our deck as we tried to enjoy the peace and serenity of the lagoon. A total invasion of privacy, but one that was clearly condoned (perhaps encouraged?) by the resort – because the influencers’ drone footage was re-posted on the resort’s social media sites each day. Unacceptable and inexcusable. iv. We were denied a late checkout, but were provided use of a dayroom for a few hours. Unfortunately, the air conditioning in the day room did not work (we asked for it to be fixed – to no avail). That effectively defeated the purpose of having a dayroom and made for a most unpleasant travel day. v. On its own it may not have been worthy of mention, but given everything else that we experienced it is worth noting that the overall physical condition of the resort and villas is sub-par for a top-dollar 5-star resort (hence the renovation work (?)). Lots of small deferred maintenance items, such as holes in curtains, worn out patio furniture, water-stained and bubbled finish on coffee table, hundreds of missing and broken paving tiles on the footpaths. vi. Honors points for our room charges did not post automatically (a known and ongoing issue with this property). We had to spend an inordinate amount of time sorting this out with Hilton after the fact. My sense is that this property views the loyalty program as a necessary evil and makes every effort to skirt the terms and conditions (e.g. gaming standard award availability) and treat members as second-class guests. Frankly, we were completely taken aback by the entire experience, particularly given that our previous two visits had been exceptional. We rightfully expected a 5-star, relaxing, luxury vacation. However, everything was off right from the beginning, and once you are committed to and have traveled to a location such as this one, there are no feasible options for alternative accommodations. It simply was a generally unacceptable and disappointing experience, certainly not what we have come to expect with Hilton’s luxury properties or from the Conrad Bora Bora Nui Resort itself. Some issues can be overlooked, but given the price point of this resort and that in large part you are paying for the experience, we did not receive fair value in return. All-in-all, a 4.5-star resort that I would rate in its current condition as a 3 out of 5. Except for the fact that, unbelievably, the resort’s management team categorically denied that any of the foregoing issues were material to our experience and enjoyment of the resort. An acknowledgment in the form of some meaningful compensation should have been volunteered for any one of a number of these issues, let alone the cumulative effect of all of them. Shameful and dishonest for a resort of this purported caliber. So much for “world-class hospitality”. Hence the 1 out of 5 rating for this review. Thankfully, Hilton Honors stepped up to assist in some measure. Travelers should adjust their expectations before booking the Conrad, at least until the scheduled construction is completed in June 2026. Or risk having a very subpar experience at a very steep price. Do not trust that the renovation work will have “minimum impact to daily operations”. We will not be returning to the Conrad until after that time, if at all.

We had a wonderful experience at the Conrad bora bora. From the second we arrived at rbe airport the staff was there to greet us with Lei’s and escorted us to the boat for transfer to the hotel. When we arrived the staff was waiting on the dock to greet and welcome us to the resort. Check in was seamless and we received a tour of the property. The hotel and grounds are absolutely beautiful with breathtaking views everywhere you look. We booked a standard room with Hilton points and as gold members received a complimentary upgrade to an over water bungalow villa. We really enjoyed the sea life and found the snorkeling here better than the previous resort we stayed at. The breakfast buffet was spectacular along with the sushi at Upa Upa. The staff do a wonderful job trying to make your experience flawless. Overall a 10/10 pure luxurious stay and would definitely return! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The hotel is in a picturesque location! It was very slow when we were there, so we got upgraded to an overwater villa prior to arrival. I was impressed by the amount of coral and fish right off the beach. It was great for snorkeling. This really is a place to relax. There is no night life and only 3 TV channels are in English (BBC News, CNN, and an Australian channel). It would’ve been great to have the ability to access our streaming services (Netflix) on the TV or screen share from an iPhone in the evenings. The breakfast buffet was great, with plenty of non-breakfast dishes (fried rice, pork stew). The pastries were fantastic! There were always plenty of lounge chairs by the pool and beach available. The only thing that disappointed me about the villa is that the AC could not cool the room to less than 23 C. I prefer a cooler room for sleeping.

After seeing so many videos and reviews about Bora Bora, I finally got to experience first-hand the dream that is Bora Bora. I had the opportunity to stay at Conrad Bora Bora for 6 nights and it did not disappoint! Traveling to Bora Bora is relatively easy from the US (compared to Maldives). It’s about 8 hour flight from West Coast and then 45 minutes inter-island flight from PPT-BOB. Once you land on BOB, a hotel representative will meet you at baggage claim and assist you with luggage and transportation. Keep in my transportation from BOB to the Conrad is by boat, shared with other Conrad guests from the same flight, and takes about 20 minutes. On arrival to the resort, you will be greeted by your dedicated butler who will assist with check-in and tour of the resort. They will also be reachable by text/WhatsApp during your stay. Our primary butler was Rian (or maybe Dian…sorry!) and she was fantastic. Extremely attentive and regularly checks in via Whatspp. Food: I had diamond status so breakfast buffet was included for 2. Breakfast had a spread of Asian, Western, and local food. They also had large spread of pastry (it is French territory after all) and a live crepe station. I also dined at the French restaurant one night, tamure grill one lunch, and Polynesian Buffett show one night. Cost is what you would expect for an isolated island. Nothing wrong with the food but it was definitely the weakest part of the resort though I heard that’s just all of French Polynesia so who knows. Room: booked 6 nights in the cheapest room and was upgraded to overwater bungalow. I believe February is low season so I’m sure that helps. Room has everything you would need but of course, highlight is the corals right underneath. My room was right above their human-made coral garden so you bet I snorkeled everyday. You can borrow snorkel gear for free at the beach. Best place to snorkel, in my opinion, is around room 201. I heard the presidential suite area had good corals also but I never needed since it was so good underneath my room already. I could go on and on about the resort and Bora Bora but I don’t want to bore you. Just know the destination is everything you see on social media and more!