A great stay at a beautiful, modern resort

I had reserved a Standard Reward, which books into a King Garden Room Suite which is in an unremarkable building in the centre of the Resort. As a Diamond I was hoping for at least a complimentary upgrade to a King Garden Villa. I got in touch with reservations in advance and as it happens I was upgraded ~6 categories to a King Deluxe Overwater Villa without charge.

The Deluxe Overwater Villas are the same as the normal Overwater Villas, except they are considered to have the best views. Mine was on the central pontoon facing straight out into the Lagoon, royal blue waters followed by a pretty light blue closer to the reef. While I realise that the handful of Otemanu-facing Villas will always be the most in demand because that's what people are told to see, I actually thought my "clean" view of the water was beautiful and would not have wanted to change it. One small note: While we were there the hotel was in the process of increasing the privacy of the Villas. The benefit is that the hammock areas are now private from your neighbours, but the downside is that the view of the sunset and other Villas 

I really liked the Villa itself which was modern and very well designed (with the bizarre exception of not having anywhere to hang things). 

My overall impression of the service was that it was the best of the international hotels I visited in the region, though some staff were better than others. In an odd mirror-image worlof the rest of French Polynesia, many of the European (French) staff were incredibly friendly (primarily in the welcome/ concierge/ out and about on golf cart roles) whereas some of the local staff (breakfast, bar, etc.) were slightly slow and grumpy.

The food was a relative highlight of the hotel for me, especially in comparison to some of the other international hotels in the region. Pool food included a variety of healthy salads and local fish dishes instead of the hamburgers, pizza and pasta that you tend to get in the region. There was no stand-out luxury restaurant, but I ate at the Polynesian Buffet (surprisingly good) as well as the Cantonese restaurant (not 100% Cantonese, but good enough)

I though the casual venues were the strongest here. The setting of the Pool Bar by the infinity pool and the Upa Upa Lounge bar over the water were both gorgeous and rea

The cocktail menu definitely needs updating, but it was nice to see some different types of cocktails available depending on the venue. 

I wanted to add in an extra section in recognition of the work that the resort is doing to improve its environment. I have been travelling in French Polynesia for the last month and found attitudes towards environmental protection overall to be quite backward, but it is front and centre of the Conrad's ethos (within the realms of running a luxury resort) and is something I really appreciated. I can imagine that this will increasingly become a competitive advantage for the Resort as baby boomers make up less of the travelling population and more environmentally conscious younger guests take over.

The highest profile feature is the Biorock spread around the Resort on which coral is being rapidly grown. This has created lots of small little reefs and as a result the resort has a very healthy collection of reef fish swimming around underneath and around the bungalows. I am a professional diver myself and was super impressed at how much had been grown in just 18 months.

The focus on the environment is seen elsewhere in the Resort, from environmentally friendly suntan lotion and aftersun being available for free, to a herb garden used by the chefs and available to guests as well as a notable rejection of the environmentally damaging activities that I had seen advertised in other comparable resorts in the region.

I had a great stay at the Conrad, which it must be acknowledged is at least partly because of the generous room upgrade. It would feel quite a different experience to be in a suite in a 2 story apartment block having come all the way to Bora Bora

The hotel has a fresh, modern design which greatly appealed. I thought the environmental focus went hand in hand with the design and is already providing concrete benefits to its guests in terms of interesting snorkelling

After a month in French Polynesia Bora Bora is not one of the atolls that I would be in a rush to return to, but if I were to return the Conrad would be my first choice