This hotel has a lot of plusses. The staff was terrific.

Looking back at the four hotels we stayed in during our time in French Polynesia, this was not the most luxurious, but it was very comfortable and great for the price. And staying on the island instead of on a motu definitely has its advantages. We are Intercontinental Ambassadors, so we were upgraded from a beach bungalow to an OWB. I would advise checking into the Ambassadors program. You pay for the price of the program almost immediately with a free night and upgrades. A free night in this part of the world is worth a lot!

The snorkeling was fine and the hammocks on the beach were delightful. We had fun playing pool and hanging out around the open-air bar. The road you take to get to the nearby resaturants on foot is lined with dogs. I am terrified of dogs, but all the dogs seem uninterested in tourists. As for restaurants that are nearby this hotel, within walking distance, we loved La Bounty. Matira Bar and Restaurant was good, but still expensive for what it was, although the people running the place were great to help us get a cab back to our hotel when it got too late to walk. We had a breakfast at Ben's that was of interest -- the owner's wife caught us up on all the island gossip and let us know what the local politics were. My husband thought it was interesting. It was too much information for me. I just wanted to relax. We did dine at Bloody Mary's and we're glad we went. Lunch at the Hotel Bora Bora was expensive and just okay. We walked back to the Moana from there by way of the beach.

We didn't see a thing in town we would buy. Get your pearl(s) in Moorea. Also, if you are on Moorea, go to the Polynesian Cultural Center show there. It is the best of all that we saw in other locations.

During our stay in French Polynesia (four hotels) we had clothing and a hair barrett stolen. We're not sure where. You might want to keep your clothes in your suitcase and lock them in with a zip tie while you are gone.

Catch the sunrise here. It was glorious.

Although this review is now quite tardy, I wanted to add our two cents about Le Moana Intercontinental. We stayed five nights at this resort in July 2007 and, once again, we fell in love with this property.

We had stayed previously at this property two years before and well before the storm surge that closed the resort for some time for remodelling. We had loved the property then, but wondered if the storm surge would have affected the bungalows or the snorkeling. Nevertheless, we had enough Priority Club points to book the entire five nights for free- so we did. When booking reward nights, you may only book the beach bungalows-- free is free, so we were pleased, but asked by email if it might be possible to upgrade to an overwater bungalow, preferably one with a view of Mount Otemanu. We asked nicely; the very nice concierge at Le Moana said "she would do her best" although Reward Night bookings were not eligible for the free room category upgrade that Priority Club Ambassador members receive-- and, lo and behold, when we checked in, the hostess was very excited to tell me that they were upgrading me to an overwater bungalow with the view of Mount Otemanu that I had requested! Yay! Not only had they done it (which I appreciated), but they had made a point of letting me know that they had paid attention to my emails. The hotel had also provided a free pareo and t-shirt, a lovely fruit basket, and a half-bottle of French champagne on ice in our room. Amusingly enough, we received a second fruit basket the next day (fruit is a gift for the Priority Club members and since we had technically made two reservations, as we had decided to extend our stay by a night, the computer decided we should have two fruit baskets).

Le Moana was everything the second time that it was the first: the staff is very gracious and helpful (always greeting us by name). The overwaters appeared to have been unaffected by the storm surge; there were no vanilla vines in our bathroom this time (don't know if that was just our bungalow or all of them) and all of the bungalows and pontoons had been raised up to prevent a repeat of the surge flooding. The beach was just as lovely as ever and the lagoon immediately around the bungalows was all glorious white sand bottom.

One change that we did notice was that, before the surge, there was some very nice, easy snorkeling in the area between the two arms of the overwater bungalows-- lots of coral bits and schools of colorful fish. All of this had been washed away, apparently. The coral nursery near overwater bungalows 1-3 was also gone. There were still very nice corals underneath the overwaters for you to look at through your glass coffee table-- we saw many puffer fish, trumpet fish, and other colorful fish through ours. There are also several large stingrays that swim through this area of the lagoon; one took up residence on the piers of our bungalow deck for a good hour one afternoon. For some nice-- but very deep-- snorkeling, we swam along the edge of the dropoff that runs from the Le Moana's boat dock out into the lagoon. There are many extremely large corals here and the visibility is excellent. The water here is 20-30 feet and you do need to keep an eye out for boats, but the snorkeling was quite rewarding, including many large box fish. The stingrays also like to hover where the sandy bottom slopes down to the dropoff, so you can get an excellent view of them.

For outstanding snorkeling, the hotel will transfer you for a fee to their private motu. The activities lady will show you where this is on a map; it is about a five minute boat ride. There are stairs leading to the top of the motu for some excellent panoramic shots; there are also bathroom facilities, loungers, palapas, etc. There is snorkeling off the shore: most of it is quite good, with the exception of the part where you enter. This is unbelievable: it looks like a postcard. The entire "bowl" is brilliantly colored corals densely populated with fish-- and it is apparently a favorite spot of one of the most enormous and friendly stingrays I have ever seen. Going over just to float in this area for an hour is more than worth it. Our boat captain hopped in and fed the stingray to encourage our viewing of it; the captain was also well worth looking at!

The rooms are very, very nice, although (judging by the pictures) not as fancy as the Thalasso or some of the other new properties (we had just arrive from Le Tahaa and could tell the difference). The rooms do look like the pictures on the hotel website and I've attached some of our own. There is plenty of closet space, a safe that will hold a laptop (although we left ours out), a DVD player/TV in the bedroom, another television in the sitting room, and sliding doors to close off the bedroom from the sitting area (we appreciate this as I am a morning person and my husband is a night owl).

For us, we love the Polynesian, laid-back feel to Le Moana; we also love its location on Matira Point: the gorgeous beach and many excellent restaurant choices are all a few minutes' walk away from our room. There is also an excellent market down the street, about a ten minute walk away (be prepared to check your bag when you enter). Do look in the freezer section: they have chocolate begnettes (about 480 cfp/four) that are out of this world-- they'll be thawed by the time you've finished your walk back and ready to eat.

Other favorites: the bar does a 2-for-1 happy hour (although they make your drink twice as big-- not give you one drink for free), you can order excellent french fries to munch at the bar or by the pool, and tiny sand dollars wash up on the beach in the morning. You also can't beat a hotel that, when you email them, responds within 24 hours-- and the response is from someone at the resort. We had various questions about excursions and rooms and meals, and the Intercontinental did a wonderful job answering them. Obviously, we will be back!

Stayed for a week in this hotel on the main island in late October. It was very nice.The staff was great and attentionate. They called us by name at every contact. It's the little things that make the difference. Facilities good. Very friendly .Some may find prices on the expensive side but for the first time in French Polynesia we get what we pay for. The lunches and dinners were excellent. Very good food. The beach was great. Plenty of places to lie around. The place has a polynesian style. We will go back for a wedding anniversary as it really was the most perfect hotel during our trip in French Polynesia.

I spent several nights at this resort in January while doing site inspections of nearly all of the resorts in Bora Bora and Moorea for TheBigDay honeymoon registry and travel company (I'm a co-founder).

There are many new ultra-fabulous resorts in Bora Bora--including a number of VERY expensive new properties on the motus on the eastern side--but the Le Moana property was definitely one of my favorites. Some of the newer properties lose the Tahiti "flavor" in their quest for bigger bungalows with more glass, more marble, more luxury, more "more". The Le Moana property felt very natural and Polynesian in its style, from the materials used inside and outside the bungalows, to the way the landscaping is done onshore.

While you're actually located on the main island of Bora Bora, it actually does give you great views of Mount Otemanu from the bungalows--something that's generally not the case if you're on the main island.

Another plus was the water: many of the resorts in Bora Bora(especially on the eastern motus) are set on a shallow part of the lagoon with mostly featureless flat sandy bottoms. This makes for spectacular water color and photos to take home, but not much to see when snorkeling except for small stingrays!

There's a coral garden between Le Moana and the Sofitel Motu, with lots to see in the water (but still relatively shallow, mostly 20' or less) and it's really not that far. If you look carefully at photos for this resort you'll see what I mean in the radical differences in water color--that's showing you the coral heads and variations in depth etc.

Overwater bungalows were very nice, great beds, nicely styled bathrooms, everything was in great condition. Service and food were both excellent, and the beach and pool were terrific (really great views from around the pool too).