You wouldn't want to spend your Tahitian vacation here or any other place in downtown Papeete for that matter. Hotel Le Mandarin is fine for a short (one or maybe two night) stay if you need to stay in downtown Papeete or want to take the ferry to Moorea. The location is convenient, but it is noisy. It is just a short walk to the ferry docks, but you do have to cross a busy street. The market place is just a couple of blocks away and is worth going to if only to look around.

One reason we selected this hotel was that they responded right away by email when we inquired about a reservation. Some other hotels did not respond for several days and some did not respond at all. The man at the front desk was pleasant, helpful and spoke pretty good English. (We stayed here three years ago and no one spoke much English that time.) The cafe is pretty good for breakfast, but a bit expensive. Most important thing is our room was clean, close to the ferry and fairly reasonable by Tahiti pricing.

We stayed at Le Mandarin for 2 nights prior to our cruise, along with 30 other pre cruise people who were all on the same plane, hence we all booked in at the same time, with only 1 person booking everyone in, so took a long time! Hotel room had bear essentials, and was very noisy, there is a night club ver y close by. Lucky we had our plane kits which had ear plugs, a must if you are to stay at this hotel!!

Very central hotel in Papaeete, bit outdated but its affordable and clean. staff were very helpful and always friendly. There is no jug in the rooms to make coffee but ask at reception and they will get you one. If you get a back room there are no views. Ate breakfast in the coffee shop not over expensive and at eat down on the whalf (a few minutes walk) for your evening meals. municiple could spend a bit of money doing up the street, its not what it looks in the photo. Expensive place to shop and eat but its an experience.

We arrived late at Midnight to a clean room in the front, with a very comfortable double bed, TV which had CNN, a small refrigerator/mini bar with enough room to keep food we bought at the market. It was quiet with a good air-conditioner which you need because of the heat and humidity.
We stayed for two nights before our cruise on the Aranui 3 freighter. The market where you can get about anything you need is just two blocks away. We bought food for all our meals there. The prices are the best and this is where the locals shop. We were also just two blocks from the water front and the main shopping area. There are many banks in the area all with an ATM so no problem getting Pacific Francs. They also let us store our luggage when our ship returned as our flight from Papeete was not until late that night.
I would recommend this for anyone that needs a basic hotel for a short stay.