Manava Beach Resort and Spa Moorea

I've had a wonderful time in this beautiful hotel, everything was excellent. The staff are exceedingly friendly, the location is perfection. I visited on my own after a long trip to various destinations and it was the perfect way to unwind. Thoroughly recommended

The resort is beautifully situated on the ocean, and is easy to access. The front desk staff is extremely pleasant and welcoming upon arrival. Our room was an overwater bungalow, which was a beautiful combination of traditional French Polynesian decor, with a touch of modern decor. The overwater bungalow allows easy access to snorkeling in front of the bungalows, and a beautiful place to watch sunsets. The area of glass in the floor that allows one to see the marine life under the bungalow is also wonderful. Breakfast is a decent buffet and many tables allow a nice view of the resort, pool and ocean. The happy hour has fair priced drinks, and a good combination of bar food. The dinner choices are pretty decent, and do not appear to change from night to night. The snorkeling along the bungalows is very good, with a good variety of fish and plenty of coral. The easy access from one’s deck from an over water bungalow is fantastic. Reasons for four stars: We arrived from a prior resort on another island where the entire staff was very friendly and pleasant, and always greeted the guests. We most definitely did not have the same experience at the Manava Beach Resprt. Many of the staff would walk by without even glancing your way, and interactions or greetings were minimal at best (this is other than the front desk staff). There were also very few exceptions to this in the restaurants. During one evening at happy hour when we ordered drinks, one of the servers was coughing frequently while taking orders, and delivering food. This was cause for concern as we did not wish to get sick. Sanitizing wipes to the rescue. We experienced a very significant issue with ants. We noticed them in the bathroom as soon as we were able to access the room. We knew not to leave food or anything sweet out. Although the gesture was appreciated, staff left a box of coconut cookies in our room, and ants covered it underneath as we picked it up to open it. We kept any and all food in the fridge, but still had ants on our iPads, various surfaces, and on the bedsheets one night, which made for a bit of unsettling sleep. We did advise the front desk staff upon our departure of the ant issue, as well as a leak in our roof during heavy rains one night. I am glad we had a chance to visit and experience the Manava Beach resort, not sure if we may seek out one of the other overwater bungalows on our next visit to the island, especially after the ant experience.

Firstly they screwed up our reservation and gave us a garden room instead of the booked overwater bungalow. Our travel agent had to fight for weeks to get our money back as we paid for the overwater but just got the garden. Very upsetting. The front entering the property driveway is falling apart old chain link fence beside it no beach really bungalows take up all the view from the property service was terrible and the food was inedible. Absolutely horrible.

It was definitely far from a 4 star hotel. They offered early check-in at a price so we paid. Don’t recommend to do that because our check-in process wasn’t any faster than the rest of the guests. They offered cold towel on arrival but a glass of water would have been better. It was very hot and humid. Our bungalow was beach front and the location was great, definitely recommend the first row beach bungalows. The over the water bungalows are very close to each other and not worth it. Our luggage was delivered to another guest room and we got someone else’s luggage. The bungalow was clean, bathroom had 2 towels and tissue only, no other amenities! We had to keep asking for towels every time. The housekeeping turns off the AC after they clean so you come back to a very hot and humid room, we had to continuously ask them to not turn off the AC but of course they didn’t care. Restaurant staff were friendly and helpful but the pool staff couldn’t be bothered. The pool closes at 6 but if the staff decides to go at 5 then you’re without towels. We had to use our room towels a couple of times. Overall, if you go with any expectations then you’ll be disappointed.

The hotel offers overwater bungalows with fabulous snorkeling right off the deck. The location is in walking distance of shopping. The rooms are cleaned and refreshed two times a day with fresh linens and beautiful flowers with great showers. There is an espresso machine in the room and a breakfast buffet is included. The infinity pool is a lovely place to relax and the grounds are well maintained. It was a delight to spend time in the spa for a massage. There is also a dock next door where you can sign up for local water activities and the WiFi was great.