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Loyalty Lobby flags fantastic award availability at the Conrad Bora-Bora Nui through March of 2022 (John notes that it is excellent through May of 2022, but it looks like much of April and May has booked up). Standard rooms are available for 89,000 Hilton Honors points per night on most nights through March and then on select nights in summer 2022. This can be an excellent opportunity to take advantage of either 5th night free bookings or the use of free weekend night certificates since those certificates can currently be used any night of the week through the end of 2022.
Award availability is basically wide open through next March with standard rooms available almost every night at the time of writing. As an example, here are February and March of 2022:
While not quite every night is available at 89K points, many more nights are available than is typical.
Since Hilton has extended free night certificates through December 31, 2022 and made them valid any night of the week, those who have earned free night certificates from Hilton Surpass and Hilton Aspire cards could use those certificates to excellent value for those nights with standard room availability.
Note that the “standard” room at the Conrad Bora-Bora is a “Garden View Suite”. There is a small area at the Conrad Bora Bora with connected rooms more like a traditional hotel where those rooms are located. As many Diamond members have been, I was upgraded to a King Horizon View Villa during my stay. Funny enough, when I later stayed at the St. Regis Bora-Bora, my butler at the St. Regis (a Marriott property) told me that she heard that those horizon view villas at the Conrad (a Hilton property) were getting private pools added. That made sense as there were these oddly placed concrete columns under those villas that they had decorated with flower pots at the time. It looks like they have since gone ahead and added those pools:
When I stayed, there was no private pool on my deck, though the place was gorgeous nonetheless.
That horizon view villa had a similar layout to the garden view suites, just in a standalone villa format, so I wouldn’t be disappointed with either room type for the standard room price.
If you book 5 nights at the 89K price, you’ll pay 356,000 points after the 5th night free — an average of 71,200 points per night. That’s certainly an attractive deal. Even if you’re buying the points when they go on sale for half a cent each, that comes out to about $356 per night, which is less than half the normal nightly rate.
In my post comparing the Conrad Bora-Bora Nui and the St. Regis Bora-Bora (which is the resort where the movie Couples Retreat was filmed), I noted that service at the Conrad Bora-Bora was impeccable and the property felt more high end (in large part due to the fact that it is much newer), but that I still preferred the St. Regis Bora-Bora overall. Though I loved the Conrad Bora-Bora, I would hesitate to travel all the way to Bora-Bora without staying at one of the properties inside the lagoon with the classic Bora-Bora view. The Conrad is alone on the outside of the lagoon facing the open ocean. The property is gorgeous as seen in this picture that my wife took on the way to breakfast one morning (the advantage of traveling to Bora-Bora with a toddler is being up for sunrise).
But the Conrad Bora-Bora is missing the classic view of Mount Otemanu that you get from most of the property at the St. Regis Bora-Bora.
However, the good news is that I made a handful of searches and found 5-night award availability on each of them when looking at the St. Regis Bora-Bora (Marriott also offers the 5th night free on award stays and standard awards there are 85K per night, so it’s 340K for 5 nights). I would certainly consider going back to spend 5 nights at the St. Regis and a few at the Conrad. For those considering the same, note that I was able to book a private boat transfer between the resorts for less money than either resort was charging for the same. That boat transfer and the views were one of the highlights of the trip.
Note also that we recently reported excellent award availability on Air France to Tahiti. Stephen marked that post expired, but then I noticed The Points Guy eventually reported that same availability about a week ago, so it seems it has perhaps been coming and going.
If you are interested in Bora-Bora, now could certainly be the time to get booking.
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[…] Lobby broke the news a few weeks ago about very open availability at the Conrad Bora Bora (we covered the news here after seeing their post, but keep in mind that the availability we saw at the time is basically […]
I’ve been to FP 5 or 6 times all on points and have stayed at a wide variety of properties depending on where points take me. Just want to make sure readers know that Dec-April and even May can be rainy as this is their summer which is off season due to rain, humidity and that means mosquitos which can carry a variety of things you don’t want. Sometimes you just luck out with some decent days, but many that went in off season complain that their whole stay was rain. On the other hand June and July can have the big winds due to shifting seasons. Plus, the water is certainly colder in July. You go when you can knowing paradise can have problems. Repellent is your friend everyday no matter what month you go. And don’t eat reef fish. Americans will most likely get sick. If you are at a buffet, sometimes the server may not understand you or not realize that some of what is in that pan is reef fish. My wife was the only one in our party who ate from that pan and she even asked if there were any reef fish mixed in. She was told no, but found out the hard way that there were (the guy serving wasn’t the one who caught the fish so not really blaming him. Because there are usually one doctor in Moorea and one in Bora Bora (plus they are sometimes treating others on other islands) the hotel could only find one nurse. She’s ok, but if you have any type of weakened immunity or got hit bad with Covid in the past… just be careful. Also, getting a separate travel insurance policy can really save money. If you have to be life-flighted to Tahiti (the only hospital) it can cost many thousands if you don’t have good insurance. The trip insurance that some credit cards offer is usually not sufficient. Saying all that, we love Moorea for it’s plantations in the middle of the sunken volcano (great soil producing incredibly good pineapple, vanilla and so forth. We love Bora Bora for snorkeling, although you give that up if you want to be on the side with all the flat motus looking directly at the mountain. We like a little of everything and plan accordingly. Also, search to see if your chosen resort will be anywhere near another resort under re-construction. These resorts get refurbished every 10 years or so due to the harsh environment (sea water, wind…). We always have a nice time, except for the few times we’ve had to get medical help (variety of things). I wish it was closer, but we live on the midwest/eastern side of the U.S. which makes the travel time long. It’s easier if you live on the west coast. At least the east coast has the Caribbean.
Went to go check this out, and the awards calendar is straight up devastated already.
Stay at the Conrad Bora Bora Nov 2019. Overall it was…fine. Nothing great but not bad and I’m glad I got to experience it. I would place the hotel somewhere between bottom of high-end and really nice mid-range. Food was okay (have a picture somewhere where they put popcorn on some dish) and service was slow (but they seemed busy and was off season so I’d give them as pass). As you mentioned the location is the biggest issue was the location. You don’t get the iconic view. I’d still recommend it if you are going to Bora Bora, are on a budget, and have the points but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit this hotel.
In general I personally wasn’t a fan of Bora Bora but I loved French Polynesia. I’ll be going back in August and exploring more islands.
Just returned from the Conrad Bora Bora and Hilton Moorea last month on two 5th night free redemption. I can say unequivocally for me that if you go to Moorea first, you perhaps won’t care much for Mt.Otemanu in Bora Bora. Moorea’s geography is more stunning. But Bora Bora’s sea is superior. I second that on an island stacked with high end resorts, the Conrad’s service is fantastic. The Hilton Moorea was no where near on the level of the Conrad, but I did enjoy the overwater bungalows at the Hilton Moorea over the Conrad’s. if you’ve got 10 plus nights to spare, go to both.
I have 8 nights to split between Moorea and Bora Bora. I was thinking 5 nights in Moorea, then 3 in Bora Bora. Any thoughts on that?
Having been to both, my preference would be 4 nights each. They each have their charm. I agree with Jerry that Moorea has superior mountain while BB has superior water. Interestingly, although the local way of life is infinitely more prominent in Moorea, my favorite local food was in Bora Bora in front of the dock in one of the sand huts.
I would split between Moorea and Bora Bora 4 nights each. If I had to choose one island, it would be Bora Bora because of how wonderful the resorts are and how stunning the sea is. I thought the Polynesian show and food at the Hilton Moorea was much better than at the Conrad BB. Definitely go to both islands
Jerry
I can do everything BUT the BB flt. $$$ I have lots of HAL points . I’ll plan on Moorea and go home Happy to HNL.
THANKs