Hotel Tiare is close to the centre of Papeete shopping district. The rooms are serviced everyday and are spotless. If you are staying a couple of days look at trying to get a room on the top floors, this helps with the noise and try to get a room that looks out over the harbour. You have some great views of the large cruise ships docking.

The hotel is a budget style, it doesn't have a fridge or a kettle which would be great if it did. Though there is a ice machine.

Value for money and the staff where very helpful and extremely friendly.

Although this hotel is centrally located, and a less expensive option for travelers just wanting to park their luggage and shower before taking a midnight flight, it is extremely basic and not that clean.

Mr room was on the first floor looking over the harbour. It was very tired, had ripped curtains, and not even tea and coffee making facilities.

Two small bars of the most awful smelling soap were placed in the bathroom but the tiny hair shampoo bottle had been used by the previous room occupant, the evidence remaining in the bin. The shower hadn't been cleaned as there were long strands of black hair stuck to the wall - nice!

For a hotel that's only 10 years old, it looks like it was built in the 1950s and obviously is not well maintained.

As with other reports, the traffic is noisy but does die down later at night and is bearable with the door shut.

Don't plan to stay here for anything longer than a night.

We stayed here for three nights at various times during a one month sojourn through French Polynesia & Pitcairn Island.

We had wanted to stay at Le Mandarin because of the more favorable travel reviews but were advised by our travel agent at Air Tahiti that for some reason this hotel was not available (other folks we recommended it to had no trouble getting a reservation as the tourism industry is in dire straights in French Polynesia due to high costs for what you get and the weak dollar). So they recommended this hotel as being similar to Le Mandarin. I was a little apprehensive having seen some of the reviews about the poor management. I have to agree with those but also agree with the more positive reviews.

The hotel is in an excellent location--close to both the airport and a 10 minute walk from the ferry dock to Moorea. It's also close to the central market & there's a good internet place in a shopping arcade just around the corner. Because it's central it can get noisy at from 7:00 AM to about 7PM so if you are a light sleeper request either a back room which doesn't overlook the street (but then you won't have the lovely harbor views) or a higher floor WHEN MAKING THE RESERVATION. The older aircon units in the hotel (some are new quiet ones) will cover up the noise anyway.

The rooms are decently sized but the furniture is very basic and charmless--an old bed, small rattan desk and chair, tiny TV and that's it. It's like an old YMCA but very clean. There are vending machines on the first floor where you can get candy & snacks and buy water, soft drinks, etc. They have a reasonably priced restaurant that opens at 6 AM for breakfast that does good freshly brewed coffee.

The problem about bad management can arise due to the ladies manning the reception desk. Most are nice enough--not the most friendly but okay. (The last time I stayed here one even welcomes me by name!) But there is one lady who seems to (wo)man the graveyard shift from late at night to early morning who is quite unpleasant. She refused to put a call into one of our party who we were waiting on to transfer to the airport saying it wasn't part of her job description to know the comings and goings of her guests. When we pointed out that we did know the comings and goings of our party she was not persuaded. (I speak fluent French so this wasn't a lnaguage problem either.) Fortunately, our friend showed up then.

Bottom line, this is a fine hotel to crash in which is all you are likely to do in PPT anyway. Don't expect great service and you might just be pleasantly surprised.

For a great, atmosperic and cheap dinner walk ten minutes to the harbor and the roulottes. You can choose between caravans specializing in Chinese, seafood, Pizza and crepes. You sit on maekshift tables and stools and watch as they cook in the caravans. Popular with tourists and locals alike.

The hotel was average - no tea/coffee making facilities and no take-away coffee nearby, it's a bit tough if you're used to waking up to your morning jolt. The whole of Papeete is grubby, as well as the Hotel Tiare, we made the mistake of walking out onto the balcony in bare feet - we had to wash our feet they were so filthy. The fourth floor is a good level - not too noisy from the main highway that runs along the front of the hotel, I'd definitely recommend one of the rooms facing the waterfront or on either side of the hotel. Wouldn't recommend the "garden view" rooms, there's no garden to view! An okay hotel for the price.