Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa

This is a great resort just a ferry ride from Tahiti. Here we had the best of both worlds, an over-water villa attached to the beach! There are only 3 of them, and they are incredible. We do not like the standard over-water villas for many reasons, so this was cool for us. The pool is very lovely and has a great beach area. The villa itself was beautiful. The grounds are very well maintained. There is no AC at the resort. Nothing is walkable. 2 restaurants will come and get you and return you when you are finished.

Breathtaking property! I had water bungalow, and I’ve had them before but this was especially good with a glass floor in part of the bungalow and an absolutely huge lagoon with great fish life accessed directly from the bungalow. There were a few minor hiccups at the beginning of my 3 night stay, and I cannot give enough praise to Rose, the general manager, Hilo (hope I am spelling your name correctly!), Rose’s executive assistant and to the restaurant manager (Mr. Flores?) and chef (Jerome?). Sorry if I misspelled anyone’s name but I wanted to praise you all for contributing to a wonderful holiday!

I will echo some of the more recent reviews with a couple of additions: Pluses: Lovely manicured grounds. In general, the staff is great and the food at the Grill, and the breakfast buffet are also good. We had a good a la carte dinner at Arii Vahine. I had a wonderful Lumi Lumi massage with Elodie (would highly recommend if you like a deep deep tissue massage). The rooms are comfortable and the lagoon is really quite lovely to snorkel in. We have stayed in Bora Bora twice and there isn't much snorkeling around the hotels so this was a nice treat. The beds were comfortable. The bathrooms in the rooms are smartly designed so that you can wash/drip dry without having getting the bathroom floor wet or taking up space in the shower. Minuses: While the rooms and resort buildings are not in terrible shape, there is obvious wear and tear and some real need for TLC. Our toilet needed to be flushed twice for it to work properly. There was a patch on the stone of the bathroom wall where maybe an old accessory/rack/toilet roll holder had been. The floors were scratched. There was a hole in one side of the roof in Arii Vahine. Fixtures in resort bathrooms were falling apart. Two cardio machines in the fitness room did not work, and so on. I thought the food for the Polynesian show was terrible and very expensive, including raw oysters that tasted bad (I ate one, realized it was bad, but happily did not get sick). The front desk staff need training. There seemed to be mixed messages about getting/ordering a breakfast box before the restaurant opened as we were scuba diving early as well as about when it was ok to inquire about late check-out. I had booked a "Panoramic" overwater bungalow which definitely was not panoramic. We had a view of the break/ocean but the side views were of other bungalows. The other resorts we have stayed in called these "ocean" or "lagoon" views. The bungalows are also close so you can hear the conversations of your neighbors if they are on their deck. Additionally, we had 2 rounds of loud neighbors and you could hear them even if we were in the room and they were outside. Finally and probably my biggest complaint is that I do not understand how a hotel cannot provide filtered water and relies instead on individual plastic bottled water to support their guests! We brought our own water bottles to refill (given to us from another resort that had filtered water stands around the premises and potable water in the rooms) but there was only one place to get water from a cooler (by the pool), and we were otherwise going through 5-8 plastic bottles/day. It seems hypocritical to ask guests to not wash sheets every day, use recyclable forks/spoons, etc., but still rely on environmentally unfriendly plastic water bottles to provide drinkable water to guests in such a hot climate whose economy also relies on its natural unsoiled beauty. It was a fine stay overall, but we will not come back to this resort.

Firstly the good. The resort is immaculately manicured with lovely gardens and a well kept beach. Our garden bungalow was clean, well equipped and very well serviced. A plumbing problem was sorted in minutes. The Rotui Grill and bar offered excellent casual dining as did the crepe cafe. By vast the majority of staff are friendly and courteous adding to the Polynesian experience. Now the not so good.The main restaurant ( The Vahine restaurant) is overpriced and of inconsistent quality. It is however is excellent for breakfasts and on buffet/ entertainment evenings. The arrangements regarding the pool/ beach attendants need attention. Firstly some of the staff need to be trained in customer service and one in particular can be rude bordering on agressive. Towels need to be obtained by an archaic system of cards, the beach canoes,boards etc need to be returned by 5 pm when most guests want a sunset experience. One final point. We stayed for eight nights but at no time was there any management visibility !! Would we re visit this resort-yes. Mostly a positive experience.

AI and travelers reviews focus on furniture and service at Hilton Moorea. However, it’s about the cultivated aquarium that opens to the seas. It’s the amazing sunrise from your bungalow bed, spotting manta rays at sunset, and the countless stars looking up from your dock landing. Further, Tahitian staff are attentive and gracious hosts. This Hilton attracts diverse guests and mostly from USA. Mostly couples, some kids, some single friends. At the stairs of Bungalow 81, you’ll find one of the most active coral formations. I especially loved the tiny blue fish and baby angelfish. Beware of the Picasso fish—they nibble and will humble you. The property should eliminated plastic bottles, perhaps switching to reusable glass containers like those used at Canopy properties. Mauruuru