April 2010

Hi Lesley,

Just want to say thank you again for organizing our Papeete & Bora Bora trip in April 10.
We both really enjoyed the whole trip and we are planning to come back again in a few years - once our baby is ok to travel.
My husband also want to go to New Caledonia and back to Fiji so we will definitely contact you again for our future pacific islands travel.

Here is some suppliers feedback - we thought this might help you;

Air Tahiti Nui - the flight from AKL - PPT is good. They really put some French Polynesia touch on the flight by giving local flowers to the customers on board. The flight attendants are so nice, attentive and very generous when it comes to food and drinks J I wasn’t really expecting a good service from them (working for an airline company) but they really met or even exceeded my expectations.

Tahiti Nui Travel - as soon as we went out of the arrival area, their staff greeted us and gave us a welcome flower garland and led us to the shuttle that brings us to Sofitel in Papeete. They also gave us the pick up/drop off itinerary of our stay. On our way back, they gave us a souvenir shell necklace.

Sofitel Papeete - we arrived at the hotel at almost 10pm. As soon as we checked in and went to our room, we checked if there is any restaurant in the hotel that is still open for dinner. Unfortunately all the 3 restaurants and bar are already closed even the room service which is only until 10pm! We asked the lady at the reception if there are any restaurants near the hotel where we can go to have dinner and she said that there might be some in downtown Papeete (which is 15 mins drive from the hotel) but there are no shuttle bus and taking a cab will cost us 3,000 C.F.P. Franc ~ 50NZD on way! Since I am pregnant and already hungry, we told the lady that we have no choice but to take a cab and go to downtown. She picked up the phone and all the while we thought that she is getting us a cab (she is speaking in French so we cannot understand their conversation) and as soon as she put the phone down and told us that she just talked to the head chef of the hotel room service and asked if he can cook a dish for 2 for dinner explaining that I am pregnant and doesn’t want us to go to town anymore since shops might be closed when we reach there. The head chef understands the situation and told the receptionist that he will send a chicken and rice dinner meal to our room within 30 mins! J They were such and angels to us! They really go an extra mile of service for their customers that goes beyond our expectations. With that, we wrote a positive feedback and sent to the hotel’s manager to thank the lady receptionist and the chef which help us get our dinner meal.

Sofitel Marara (Bora Bora) – The staff are very friendly and accommodating. We requested for a room upgrade from garden view room to an over water bungalow but they said that the hotel is currently fully booked and asked us to ring them the next day to check again. When we inquired for the room upgrade, we were informed that there will be an overwater bungalow available on our last night. So we availed of it just to feel the experience staying in overwater bungalow even for 1 night. We are quoted an additional of 10,000 C.F.P. Franc ~ 150NZD for 1 night upgrade. On the day of our room upgrade, we are told that the overwater bungalow is no longer available at the Sofitel Marara but there is one in the Sofitel Motu (private island). They informed us that the Sofitel Motu is 5 star hotel compared to the Sofitel Marara which is 4 star hotel but they will still give us the upgrade with the same price as initially agreed regardless if it is in Sofitel Motu J We enjoyed our one night stay in the overwater bungalow on Sofitel Motu but we just noticed that the breakfast buffet on both hotels are the same. If we are going back, we would still prefer staying in Marara since it has a swimming pool and accessible to the main island. We also tried the hotel’s Eco tour (island boat tour, snorkelling and shark and sting ray feeding with BBQ lunch). The tour guide and the activities are all good except for the BBQ lunch which was crap since the food (rice, fish, and meat) was already cold. I only ate the fruits since it is not recommended for pregnant women to eat cold meat or fish. Over all we had an enjoyable and pleasant stay at Sofitel Marara and Motu hotels.

Thanks again and more power.
Cheers,
Cleo and Brian