Hotel Review: Intercontinental Thalasso, Bora Bora (Part 1)

About a year ago, we Dinks were new to Scotts Cheap Flights Premium, and we received, and immediately booked, an amazing deal from Madison, Wisconsin to Tahiti for less than $500 round-trip. At the time, we knew only of a few islands in French Polynesia, so we zero-ed in on the jewel of the South Pacific, and most well-known: Bora Bora. Jason and I had been saving points for about a year with IHG, and I spent the next few months deciding whether or not the more expensive (much more!) Intercontinental Thalasso was worth it, vs. Intercontinental Le Moana. In the end, we decided that we had saved so much money on the airfare, that we would splurge and stay in an overwater bungalow at the Thalasso. The reviews time and time again advised us to spend the money on the more upscale Thalasso, and given how far we were traveling (22 hours) we agreed. We also did heavy research on the other overwater bungalow resorts (Le Meridien, The Four Seasons, St. Regis) and decided that we would still book at the Thalasso as it had the best views of Mt. Otemanu (spoiler alert -the reviews are right! Best views of all the bungalows we passed by via boat once we arrived!)

Now, being the money-saving gal that I am, I tried for months to use our IHG points to book an overwater bungalow with zero luck. I read all of the reddit strings, tips and tricks that I could find on the internet to help me figure out how to book with points at the Thalasso. I even called IHG directly and asked them how to use points, and basically was told that they hold 2 points rooms per day — and that they were completely booked for the next 2 years. After months of unsucccessful attempts of checking the availability calendar for cancellations, I said EFF IT 🙂 – and we decided to just pony up the cash to stay in our dream room.

Through my internet research, I did come across a nugget of information that we personally thought was worth it — the Intercontinental Ambassador program. You’ll read other blogs and reviews that say it’s not worth the membership cost ($200/year) at the Thalasso specifically, but I disagree. If you read the fine print, the Ambassador membership allows for a GUARANTEED room level upgrade. There is even fine print specific to the Thalasso in the Ambassador program that says you will only be upgraded at maximum to a Diamond Otemanu overwater villa, which was the exact room we wanted. So, we booked one level lower than that (the Diamond overwater villa), and knew that we’d get our $200 in value simply from moving up one room class during our stay.

I also scoured Tripadvisor reviews and IHG reviews of the Thalasso to try to ascertain what other goodies we might expect, and though they were small, I loved all of the little extras that we received from the Ambassador program (and my Spire status). Tripadvisor and other sites gave us other good nuggets that worked out for us as well:

1. Don’t book a package that includes food. When you arrive, they will offer breakfast at a 50% discount to you ($25/person USD vs. their standard $50/person)
2. Wait to book spa appointments. You may get a coupon delivered to your room with a discount. This did happen to us, with an offer on our second day for BOGO spa services. While we didn’t end up taking advantage of this (the spa was getting renovated, so we’d end up getting services in our room), it was great to know that Thalasso still offered this up to their guests
3. Ambassador status will give you a larger bottle of water each day in your room (seriously, it was so nice!)
4. Spire (or Ambassador) status gave us a fruit plate and a half-bottle of champagne delivered to our room
5. Spire (or Ambassador) status gave us a lovely tote bag and keychains delivered to our room

Now, on to our review of the hotel itself! Stay tuned for Part 2!

-Missy