The St. Regis Bora Bora: Fantastic service, but disappointing overall

We recently spent 12 nights in French Polynesia, which included a return to the St. Regis Bora Bora for a 5-night stay (we last stayed there in 2019). Whoever is training the staff at the St. Regis deserves a big raise, because service is outstanding. However, it doesn’t seem like there is the same level of effort in terms of maintenance or food prep, and at this price point, that made for an overall disappointment despite the terrific service we received. This review will be a departure from our “Bottom Line Review” format to provide some more detail and context, but if you’re looking to get straight to the main points, click here to skip to the usual bullet point and pictures format.

Service at the St. Regis Bora Bora really is outstanding

The thing that we will remember most about this stay is absolutely the service.

It started with the first impression. A few days prior to check-in, I had emailed to answer their request for arrival information. I attached a photo from our last stay and said that we were excited to return soon. When we got to our room, there was a table with amenities like dried fruit, juices, and rum. Next to the amenities was this:

I had sent them that photo a couple of days prior to arrival, and they took the time to print it and frame it. I’ve never had a hotel do something like that. It was an instantly memorable moment.

Both Meina, our butler, and the rest of the butler staff did a truly impressive job. To give a minor example, Meina proactively made dinner reservations for us each night before we arrived (she provided the itinerary on Day 1). She (correctly) anticipated that since we were arriving in late afternoon on that first day, a casual early meal at the poolside restaurant would be our preference. That was spot on! One morning when she was off, the butler taking care of us met us at breakfast and asked about our plans for the day. When we mentioned snorkeling in the lagoonarium, she proactively said that she would have snorkel equipment delivered to our villa. Later on that second day, pool floaties appeared in front of our villa for our use (the kids loved them as much as we did). Those are small touches that make a stay really relaxing. By contrast, we spent a couple of nights at the Westin afterwards, and while that property is gorgeous, those types of service touches were clearly absent.

And while the butler service at the St. Regis was excellent, that wasn’t the only place where we noticed great service. On the first morning, we met Teva at breakfast, who I believe was the headwaiter in the restaurant. He asked if the kids would like hot chocolate. My five-year-old, who is never shy about asking for what he wants, asked if they had any marshmallows. I told him that they probably didn’t, and to be happy with the hot chocolate, but Teva said he would try to find some. Sure enough, he came back with the hot chocolate and a glass with marshmallows! That wasn’t something I saw typically served with the hot chocolate for other guests, so it seemed that he simply took the time to find them and provide them because my son asked. Teva went on to remember that we were the Reyes family and to greet us by name every time we were in the restaurant.

The housekeeping staff did a phenomenal job. At the end of our stay, I commented to my wife that I should have taken a picture of our room one day before we left and after it was cleaned, because they worked some impressive magic. It wasn’t just the way they cleaned, but the way they organized things we left out (sometimes I hadn’t even realized that I had left something disorganized until they organized it). And they had a sense of humor! My sons left their Nintendo Switch on the floor at some point. Housekeeping picked it up for them, and they really got a kick out of coming back to the room to see their stuffed turtle playing without them.

Speaking of the turtle, while I was checking us in and my family was seated, someone brought two of those turtle stuffed animals for the kids. They loved it. I later saw a slightly smaller version in the gift shop for more than $50 each.

Back to housekeeping: not only was the room well-cleaned and well-organized each day, but they also made sure that we had plenty of water. I appreciated their efforts because we did drink a lot of water. However, the St. Regis still provides plastic water bottles, which seemed out of place (more on that later).

Adeline at the front desk explained everything that we needed to know during check-in. Like Teva, she greeted us by name multiple times throughout our stay.

Staff by the pool were similarly proactive. One afternoon, a pool attendant proactively put out towels on the chairs where we left our stuff and returned with water soon after we had arrived. When he brought the water, he pulled the side table from the chairs closer to the pool so we could easily reach the water. Those are small things that only require minor effort, yet they demonstrate consistent effort at trying to anticipate guest needs.

That type of thing really stood out for us. I commented on our last day that I hadn’t yet heard the word “no” in response to a request.

I really think that service like that is an art, and it reflects really well on the people training the service staff, as well as on the service staff themselves. I really mean it when I say that whoever is training the staff deserves a raise. Without the level of service they deliver, I think the hotel would probably suffer from more disappointed reviews given its price point (which was more than $2200 per night for the lowest room during our dates).

The grounds desperately need a facelift

The grounds of the St. Regis Bora Bora are in desperate need of a facelift.

Other blogs were saying that before our last stay in 2019. The time since has not been spent improving it.

Some of the issues would probably be relatively easy fixes. For instance, the beach in front of the beachside villas is really rough. There wasn’t really enough sand, and there is no effort at raking those beaches to make them usable.

I had remembered playing in the sand in front of our Beachside villa last time, but this time the sand just felt very compacted, full of shells, and it looked very unkempt. While that wouldn’t bother me on an undeveloped beach, it seemed fixable at a resort charging more than $2,000 per night for a base-level room. Further, it ought to be a priority: they charge more for a beachside villa than for a garden villa, so the beach ought to be more usable. I didn’t see anyone out on the beach in front of their beachside villas.

Much of the vegetation on the property has really thinned. It must be challenging to maintain it, but it doesn’t seem like ownership has made it a priority to invest in it.

While the room was generally in great condition, it rained pretty hard during our stay, and our roof leaked in the living room. It wasn’t a big deal, but neither would I expect that at this price point.

There isn’t much to do

There also wasn’t much to do at the St. Regis. I don’t think there is a kids’ club any longer (I recall one the last time we were there, but it wasn’t mentioned this time, nor did we see one. We forgot about it and didn’t think to ask while we were there). While the resort is billed as family-friendly, there weren’t many family-related activities. To be fair, I can’t really fault them for that. Bora Bora is much more commonly a honeymoon/anniversary destination. There weren’t many kids at the resort (though we did see a handful of other kids).

But when I say that there wasn’t much to do, I don’t only mean in terms of organized activities. Aside from snorkeling, they had some non-motorized water sports available, such as kayaks and stand-up paddle boards. They also had motorized paddleboards and jet skis for an additional fee. Beyond that, there was a billiards table in the concierge’s office that we used one day, though I felt a little bad for the couple trying to discuss activities with the concierge while we shot a round of pool.

We saw ping pong tables near the lagoonarium, but when we inquired about them, we were told that they were for employee use and that there weren’t paddles and balls for them (they did appear to be quite old and worn). The hotel used to have pedal boats (the type like a large tricycle with big wheels that you move through the water with pedals), but those were also relegated to the employee-only area. The hotel could really use a game area with a couple of ping pong tables, a foosball table, and/or volleyball/badminton/pickleball.

There is a tennis court, but the turf on it is really worn. We played tennis a couple of times, but we each slipped a number of times. My wife wiped out really hard once going for a pretty simple shot (my kids are just learning, so it’s not like we were playing all that hard; it just wasn’t a very grippy surface).

They do have some board games available to check out (it rained very hard on our day of departure, and a butler proactively offered to get us some games to play in our room), but there wasn’t much else.

We did the flower lei and crown making on the day of the Polynesian show, though there seemed to be a limited number of flowers available, and there was almost no instruction (nor enthusiasm from the people “instructing” or communication for that matter).

The Polynesian show itself was decent. It rained the day we saw it, so it seemed like the show was a bit modified/limited due to wet conditions beyond their control. Still, the performers were full of energy. The show isn’t cheap (the buffet and show costs $165 per adult; our kids ordered from the kids’ menu). We probably wouldn’t have spent that much to see it if not for the fact that our younger son hadn’t seen anything like it before. If I returned, I probably wouldn’t go again. But if you’ve never seen a show like it, I don’t think you’d be unhappy with it.

The lagoonarium isn’t as vibrant as it used to be

We were very excited for the lagroonarium on this trip. Our kids had never snorkeled before, but we were pretty confident that our 7-year-old was ready to try. My wife minored in Marine Biology, and we had gone scuba diving and snorkeling in many places around the world (including places like The Great Barrier Reef; Roatan, Honduras; the Maldives; and Saipan) in the years before going to the St. Regis Bora Bora for the first time in 2019.

We knew that the lagoonarium would be a great place for our kids to try snorkeling for the first time: it is a large space where you feel like you’re in the ocean, but it is somewhat of a controlled environment (no current, no dangerous sea life that we’ve seen). Our older son took to it quickly, enjoying the fish around the dock where we entered for quite a while.

However, there were far fewer fish than we remembered seeing in the lagoonarium. We have pictures from our previous visit where we were surrounded by fish. While there definitely still are fish in the lagoonarium, including a large wrasse, it isn’t as populated or vibrant as it used to be. It was still exciting for our son, but, frankly, I think it wouldn’t be very exciting for anyone who has snorkeled many times before. I made the point above that we had dived or snorkeled in many places with vibrant sea life before our first visit to Bora Bora to note that we were still impressed with the Lagoonarium the last time, despite having been in many other impressive diving and snorkeling spots, so it isn’t like we’ve simply been spoiled in the time since our last visit and were no longer impressed; it’s just that the lagroonarium is no longer very impressive apart from its size and clarity.

They have added some coral features that seem to be breathing some life into the lagroonarium, but we swam large sections of it where there weren’t any fish to see at all.

In fairness, I don’t know how much of this is on the St. Regis versus how much of it can be attributed to general environmental changes or seasonality. Is this a lack of upkeep, or rather a disturbing trend in Bora Bora? I have to say that we were really unpleasantly surprised by the near-complete absence of sea life during our stay at the Westin Bora Bora in the days after leaving the St. Regis. The water was crystal clear and impressively clean; there just wasn’t much of anything to see in it. Maybe the lack of life in the lagoonarium isn’t all on the St. Regis, but it was nonetheless a disappointment.

The food wasn’t very good

While I can excuse the St. Regis for environmental conditions that may be beyond its control, I am less inclined to excuse the quality of food.

I had a terrific order of beef ribs at the poolside restaurant on the first night of our stay. My wife was very jealous of my order that night, even commenting to the server that her fish was dry when asked how it was. Surprisingly, the server didn’t offer her the chance to order another dish or re-prepare it. However, after 4 more nights of dinner at the St. Regis, I’m not sure that would have made a difference.

Don’t get me wrong, the food certainly wasn’t inedible. It just wasn’t particularly elevated. Breakfast was fine, but the offerings are very repetitive over 5 nights (and while our breakfast was complimentary with Platinum status as my chosen welcome benefit, it ordinarily costs about $55 per person).

Dinners were more disappointing. The Italian place served pasta dishes that were fine (and, as you would expect at a St. Regis, the pasta was made fresh), but the options were surprisingly basic (an a la vodka sauce, a Bolognese sauce, and a gnocchi with pesto sauce were the pasta options I recall). There were some steaks, but nothing that sounded creative or interesting.

The buffet for the Polynesian night was fine, but not memorable. I had the raw fish in coconut milk (a Polynesian specialty), and if I hadn’t previously had it in Moorea, having it at the St. Regis would have made me think that I didn’t like the dish enough to order it again. However, I had the same dish at a very casual roadside restaurant in Moorea, and it was delicious. I was surprised it wasn’t as good at the St. Regis.

Dinner at Lagoon, the upscale French restaurant, just didn’t match the price tag in my opinion. At the start, they come around with a cart with three champagnes, giving a sales pitch for each that is clearly designed to push you toward the most expensive option, but they don’t mention the prices (they were printed on a card that was impossibly small on the cart). It felt a little tacky. Pushing around a cart to sell pours of champagne felt more like Carnival Cruise Lines than the St. Regis Bora Bora. And I’m not anti-Carnival at all, I just don’t expect the extra sales push at a St. Regis.

Since the restaurant is presented as being upscale, they serve an amuse-bouche, and that was quite good.

Unfortunately, that was the best thing we had at Lagoon.

There were two set menus available, one for about $235 per person that included more fish/seafood than I wanted and one for about $165 per person that was a complete mystery (chef’s surprise). I’ve done my share of Michelin-starred tasting menus where you get what you get and don’t get upset, but I wasn’t looking for that after 4 nights of very mediocre food. My wife and I shared a starter, and each ordered a pork belly main course.

The pork belly was really disappointing. It felt like chewing on rubber, and it was dry, which shouldn’t be the case. The presentation looked the part of an upscale restaurant, but the taste didn’t match. We ate it and didn’t complain, but at $400 for dinner (including two children’s meals and a couple of glasses of wine), I have higher expectations for the food at that price point. I can accept that a burger or pizza on an isolated island is going to cost me $30+, but I am less interested in spending $125pp for a meal that is more focused on feeling upscale than tasting upscale. We both wished we had gone to the pool restaurant and ordered the beef ribs.

The Lagoon restaurant has see-through floors. On our previous visit, there were a number of sharks swimming in the waters below the restaurant. The sharks are no longer there.

Why so much plastic waste?

I am not the most environmentally-friendly person I know, but that is to say that I recognize where there is room for improvement, and I am trying to improve in that regard.

Thus, I found it noticeable and notable that the St. Regis has not joined the refillable water bottle trend. Unlike the other major resorts we visited in November — including Atlantis Bahamas, the Hilton Moorea, and the Westin Bora Bora — the St. Regis did not provide water bottles, nor did they have water refill stations throughout the property. Instead, they provide numerous small plastic bottles of Evian water in the room. They do have water stations by the pool, but not the bottle refill stations you see at most resorts.

I appreciated the really high-quality stainless steel water bottle the Westin Bora Bora provided (I’ll continue to use that for a long time after our stay!). I think it’s time for the St. Regis to get rid of the little plastic bottles, the same as they’ve ditched the individual toiletries in the room.

It feels like the property is resting on its laurels

Perhaps the most apropos representation of the way the St. Regis Bora Bora is clinging to the memory of its glory days is the fact that the movie Couples Retreat is still playing 24 hours a day on one of the television stations. While the hotel was the setting for that movie, watching it back almost 20 years after it was released gives you a good feel for how little has changed and how the hotel feels like it is resting on its laurels.

Bora Bora is still a stunningly beautiful destination. And the St Regis Bora Bora has a beautiful location within Bora Bora and fantastic service. It feels like it is probably past time for ownership to reinvest some of its margin into improving and modernizing the resort.

This place still makes for an excellent points redemption as compared to cash rates, but at the insane cash rates they are able to command, I think they can do better. I don’t even think they necessarily need a top-to-bottom renovation, but the Westin does look like a much nicer resort thanks to its relatively recent renovation. The beachside villas at the St. Regis remain in excellent condition overall, and they are incredibly spacious, but there needs to be more done with the grounds, and some effort put into providing things to do other than book an excursion.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend avoiding the St. Regis. It certainly isn’t a bad hotel. And service truly is excellent. Being on a secluded islet makes for a very relaxing stay. The beachside villas are spacious, and the private plunge pools are nice. But at the price point, I think it only makes sense to stay if you are flush with Marriott points and standard awards are available (and even then, I’m not sure I’d want this over the Westin, though more on that property to come in a separate post). If I were looking to spend $10K+ on a stay, I’m not sure I’d be happy with doing it here.

Bottom line review bullet points

• Price: 535K Marriott points for 4 nights with the “Pay 4, stay for 5” award redemption. Cash rates for our room were over $2,200 per night during our dates.
• Value: At more than 1.9c per Marriott point, this was an excellent value compared to cash rates.
• Location: Very good, but isolated. You need a boat to get off the property. The hotel does have a daily boat to the main island in Bora Bora, but we didn’t take advantage of it.
• Room: Fantastically spacious. The beechside villa features an entranceway, a bedroom with a king-size bed, a chair, a TV, and plenty of space. The bathroom has a large soaking tub, a large shower area, and a sink with dual vanities. There is also a full living room, with a sofa bed, desk, TV, and dining nook. Outdoors, there is a patio with a table + 4 chairs as well as two beach chairs and a private plunge pool.
• Parking: N/A
• Resort/Destination Fee: None, though you do need to pay for an airport transfer to/from the hotel. I booked this separately when Capital One Shopping offered 70% back on activities via TripAdvisor. I paid $255 for a one-way transfer for my family of 4 and got $180 back from Capital One Shopping.
• Internet: Frustrating. The Internet service worked well enough in our room for the most part, but we kept getting kicked off as we went around the resort, and it wasn’t always quick or easy to reconnect. My wife spent a lot of time frustrated when trying to reconnect.
• Service: Fantastic at not just meeting needs, but anticipating them.
• Turndown service: Nightly, featured bottled water, slippers, and chocolates.
• Dining: We ate at all but the Asian restaurant, and we didn’t particularly enjoy the dining venues. See the review above for some more detail. We are a lot at breakfast. We brought instant noodles/mac & cheese and heated them in the room for lunch (with the tea kettle and also with a microwave that we requested). We ate dinner in most of the restaurants, and none of them were very good. Kids under 12 get unlimited ice cream and smoothies. That was awesome — our kids certainly enjoyed that feature (no, not as often as they would have liked).

• Spa: We walked through the spa to get to one of the lagoonarium entrance points. There was construction going on in the spa, which created a lot of noise. I don’t know whether they had clients that day, but it certainly didn’t sound relaxing.
• Fitness Room: They have a nice-sized fitness center (this might be where the kids’ club used to be?) with free weights and machines. No Pelotons, but they did have exercise bikes.
• Marriott Platinum Benefits: 
  • Room Upgrade: We were upgraded from a reefside villa to a garden villa. I had applied Marriott Nightly Upgrade awards and selected several higher-category rooms, but those did not clear (I ended up taking them off when they didn’t clear 2days prior to the stay).
  • Free Breakfast: This can be taken as a welcome amenity (other choices are 1,000 points or some other type of low-value amenity. We took breakfast for 2 each day, and the kids ate for free at breakfast.
  • Club Lounge: None.
  • Late Checkout: N/A.
  • Welcome Amenity:  We received a nice spread of snacks, juices, and a couple of small bottles of rum when we arrived.
• Would I stay again? Probably not until after the property gets some renovations.

Pros

• Beautiful location
• Fantastic service
• Spacious rooms

Cons

• Grounds need more upkeep
• Not a lot to do other than snorkel in the lagoonarium (which isn’t as nice as it used to be) and book excursions
• Food was expensive and not particularly good, even when notably expensive

Image Gallery

The room

Breakfast

Workout facilities

The grounds and miscellaneous pictures

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