Me and my wife spent a few weeks around Bora Bora in September 2012 and split the time between St Regis and Four Seasons in mountain view overwater bungalows. I won't waste time detailing these resorts, just note that they are both in the top-notch category with excellent restaurants, protected snorkeling, spa & gym, pools, tennis courts and overwater bungalows that feature rain showers, glass floors and private decks from which you can jump straight into the crystal clear waters.

Restaurants
The restaurant selection was pretty good at St Regist, with "Lagoon Restaurant by Jean-Georges" getting my award for best restaurant in Bora Bora. It's worth a visit even if you are not staying at the resort, just make sure to book a good sunset table ahead of time. The opposite goes for the polynesian show, I would recommend going over to Four Seasons instead for a better experience.

Room Service
We had quite a few dine-in experiences, and the room service does a good job setting up inside or on your deck with candles and flowers for a romantic dinner. We only had one disappointing experience, with a late night dinner, where the staff was outright rude.

Spa & Sports & Pools
We had some massages in the spa and used the exercise room, but the facilities did not come close to the facilities of the Four Seasons. On the other hand, the water sports at the St Regis beats the Four Seasons hands down. The bay where the kayaks, boards and boats are launched is pretty protected and the staff lets you roam free. In general, the resort felt much less busy than the Four Seasons, and not just in the zen pool area where you can lounge in your private cabana with your own private pool.

Service
We had an unacceptable number of mishaps during our stay, but nothing that ruined our trip. It even started before we arrived, when we got stranded at the airport as no one came to pick us up, although we had sent our flight plans to the hotel ahead of time. Luckily, one hotel staff was being picked up, so we managed to get a ride to the hotel, but without the customary flower greeting. In preparing for the stay, we made special plans with the resort for private paddle boards during our stay, however we ran into several issues and we were not happy with the arrangements until a week into our stay. We also ran into other minor issues, like when we made front row reservations for the Polynesian show, but the reservations were lost. Unfortunately, it ended on the same note it started as we did not get the customary shell necklaces when leaving.

Overall
It's hard to beat the romantic setting at the St Regis with it's huge bungalows and non-crowded feel. Thanks to the layout, the bungalows feel more like homes than hotel rooms. Despite our poor luck with service, our butler made us feel better every time someone messed up. I would say St Regis is the resort to pick over Four Seasons if you are an active young couple that value privacy and romance.

We usually stay at SPG properties when we travel due to the great point values provided by the SPG Amex card. However, due to the high point usage for staying at the St. Regis in Bor Bora, we opted explore our options paying for the resort directly. Not knowing the area, we took the advice of other Trip Advisor members and contacted Claudia at Pacific for Less and let her do the negotiating and planning for us. I had ONE conversation with Claudia directly telling her what the occasion for travel was and what experience we were looking for. Ironically, she immediately recommended the St. Regis on Bora Bora. After agreeing to the location, I left her to do the rest of the work. A few days later I received an itinerary of travel with recommended tours, dining, vow renewal coordinators, photographer, etc. many activities I might add were negotiated for free as bonuses in our travel package with the St. Regis. We had to rearrange the dates of travel and some of the events and literally had to do nothing further. Claudia from Pacific for Less and Karine from the St. Regis handled everything else. When you get a professional from the start, you don't have to sweat the details nor borrow from the experience in advance by feeling the need to personally plan every little detail.

We arrived and everything was more than we could have hoped for. We were initially booked for the Superior Overwater Villas for 8 nights, but were upgraded for two complimentary nights in a Royal Oceanfront Villa with ultra privacy with the remainder in the overwater bungalows. Our butler Constantine, had the room ready complete with champagne..the bedroom was surprisingly sprinkled with rose petals to celebrate our anniversary trip.

While Karine, our St. Regis Coordinator was out of town, her assistant Marine was just delightful in handling all the details of our vow renewal. We were thoroughly pleased with all her recommendations for location and for the photographer Helene Harvard who has captured some of the most unique pictures we have seen on Bora Bora.

The food quality at the resort in my opinion was mixed. Not being much of a sushi connaisseur, I found quite a lot of their dishes in the theme restaurants to serve dishes in this format. I am aware that their sushi restaurant would obviously serve this, but our candlelight dinner selections as well as our lagoon restaurant seafood selections were served as raw or nearly raw. If love sushi, you will love this, otherwise, know exactly what you are ordering as I am sure they must have had other options. Breakfast on the other hand was always great with all the options one could ask for as well as a beautiful view of the sand and bay. The Polynesian show which is showcased each Wednesday for us was a disappointment as we booked a table 30 minutes before the show was to start. When we arrived at the buffet, there was hardly anything left of the main dishes and guess what was left? Sushi !:)) The main show was entertaining, but given the choice, I would have skipped the whole event and chose another couples massage since the price was about the same. The St. Regis was very accommodative for recommending other restaurants on the main island and went so far as to handle booking the restaurants as well as providing free transportation to and from the locations. We used this option several times and were not disappointed in any of our restaurant selections which included Villa Mahana (make reservations before you leave home due to overwhelming popularity of the location and unbelievable food), Makai, and Bloody Mary's (very cool restaurant with great ambiance)

We really enjoyed the layout of the resort which gave feeling of having the resort as well as the free amenities of the lagoonarium, paddleboarding, hobiecat sailing, snorkeling, etc all to yourself. While the resort did not seem crowed, there was never a shortage of staff to do what you needed.

Internet service was free in the business center which had computers equipped with webcams for dialing home. Due to the fast wireless Internet, we chose to use the $10 for 2 hr option a couple times during the week which was more than adequate for our communication needs.

We arrived and left the resort to the sight of staff waving to us on the dock. We will not forget our experiences and are very pleased that we chose the St. Regis!

Without being too repetitive, my wife and I spent 5 nights at the St. Regis Bora Bora in August '12 and it was a fantastic trip. From the boat service picking you up from the airport to the delicious meals at each of the onsite restaurants, we were in heaven. As part of our Pacific for Less package, there were many extras thrown in and that team definitely goes above and beyond to make sure all the details are taken care of. We loved laying on the beach each day using the standup paddleboards and hobie cat while getting complimentary cold waters and smoothies from the beach staff. The lunches were very large, and though expensive - the view from the pool bar is absolutely amazing. The bungalows (ours faced the mountain) are incredibly spacious and very high end. Sitting out on the deck and jumping into the deep water from the railings was great fun. They even have Bose home theater built into every room - so don't forget your MP3 player and a cable. The turn down service included nice local cookies as well as artistic cards showing some of the island culture. The grounds are in top notch condition and the butler service brought buckets of ice or arranged golf cart rides very promptly. The lagoonarium is full of very interesting fish allowing you to snorkel in calm and safe waters. The spa and massages were very relaxing. This place is truly paradise.

Outside of the resort we visited Villa Mahana and Bloody Marys - both were fantastic and easy to get to via the nightly dinner shuttle boat. The downtown area is typical for these islands, so keep expectations relatively low as this serves the local communities on this remote island rather than the higher end needs of the tourists.

The only thing that could have been better was out of resorts direct control. We seemed to have a bit of bad luck with our specific bungalow when it came to a few sugar ants and other pests. While it wasn't a big problem, my wife had a few sleepless nights of anxiety. Other friends we met there did not have this issue, so i believe it was a limited to our room. Either way, the resort went out of thier way to correct the problem and have us free champagne, late checkout, and other perks to more than make up for the situation.

Looking forward to a return trip hopefully in the near future!

I think my title says enough for this resort but as I have to meet the criteria of 200 characters I will say a bit more !

From the moment we stepped off the plane at the airport we knew we were in paradise.

The journey to the resort was absolutely stunning and all the guests we greeted by their respected butlers and taken for a tour of the resort.

Our over water villa overlooking Mt Otemanu was absolutely gorgeous !

Special mention has to be made for the service provided at the resort. My wife felt like having coconut water and the resort had run out of it. I jokingly mentioned to the server that there were many coconut trees right here in the resort and that we could get one from them. He actually climbed up the tree and got one for us. Now if that is not service I really don't know what is !
Our butler was also so nice as to accompany us around the resort and take photographs for us!

Being a vegetarian, there was enough options for me and my wife not to repeat any dishes. This I would like to mention is as an important attribute that in my opinion distinguishes good resorts/hotels from great resorts/hotels.

The only other property that matches this one is the Udaivilas in Udaipur, India.

Will definitely return in the near future !