A mediocre stay in a good hotel

I had a 2 night stay at the St Regis Bora Bora while in the South Pacific for an extended trip last week. The hotel is spacious and peaceful in a beautiful setting, but didn't live up to my expectations of what a St Regis Resort should be, particularly the experience as an Ambassador guest. I got great value for money with a points booking made before the increases, but would not plan on returning. 

The good:
- Bora Bora is beautiful, and the St Regis and the Four Seasons have the best setting of all the resorts on the island (in the South Pacific, only the Hilton Moorea has the better setting, but isn't at what I'd call a 5* level). The resort is also peaceful. I rarely saw anyone else apart from at breakfast (almost oddly - they weren't swimming by their villas, using their terraces, in either of the pools, in any of the restaurants, or walking around..)
- Service is consistently friendly and generous, although at times unreliable and/ or slow (I did spent a lot of time waiting around for things before being able to head out - e.g. 90 minutes to pick up laundry). Having been in the region for a few months, the St Regis is better than most. I appreciated that people waiting for their rooms on a morning arrival are offered breakfast which, as you might expect, benefits from an impressive pastry chef in addition to all the usual goodies
- Lagoon Restaurant is potentially the best formal restaurant in the South Pacific and is beautifully designed indoors and out. The food from Jean-Georges is modern French-American and is the only place between San Francisco and Melbourne where I've been able to find a drinkable Mai Tai. It isn't cheap but less expensive than I would expect ($180 for tasting menu) and there are some interesting/ odd prices on the menu if you look closely enough. I had a nice 2015 glass of Tokaji dessert wine for $10, which is such good value anywhere it simply seems like a mistake at a Michelin equivalent restaurant at a St Regis in the most expensive atoll of French Polynesia

The not so good:
- On night one, I booked a Superior Overwater Bungalow and was upgraded to what was badged as an Otemanu View Deluxe Overwater Bungalow, which would on paper be a 2 category upgrade. The villa was a unique one at the end of a pier at an angle to the real Otemanu view bungalows such that the view was actually of the Four Seasons in the distance. The only way to see the mountain from outside was to stand up and lean out on the side of the terrace, or to swim out to the left and around the bungalow in front of your neighbours. I would advise anyone to avoid bungalow 230 and would really just have preferred an entry level view of the St Regis resort
- On night two, I booked a Reefside Garden Villa which rather disappointingly was exactly what I got. It's shoulder season and occupancy did not seem especially high. Almost all the rooms were available online for purchase and receptionist told me there was no rush to leave my overwater bungalow the night before as there would be nobody using it that night, but when I jumped on the opportunity to maybe not move at all she looked uncomfortable and contacted a supervisor who told us in a slightly unconvincing tone that the bungalow was actually spoken for. The Garden Villa itself is large and pleasant (though excessively run-down with rust and chipped wood), but I would again recommend for people to ensure in advance that they are sure not to end up in one of these. As the Villa faces out into the ocean rather than the famous Bora Bora lagoon you could really be anywhere. As a multi-year and particularly high value Ambassador guest I am guilty of often booking base rooms and expecting an upgrade, but I very rarely end up in one of the few worst rooms of 100+, especially when a hotel is far from full
- I liked my Butler on the first afternoon, but as I spent most of the day asleep I didn't use him for very much. He then had his weekend and I didn't get another Butler for the next 2 days, so lost the usual St Regis contact point
- The main pool was peaceful and pleasant, but the F&B setup there felt a bit underwhelming. Sipping cocktails out of a single-use plastic cup most suitable to a game of beer pong while a couple next to me ate pizza out of a cardboard box was a lot more Vegas than St Regis to me. The menu of pizza, pasta, hamburgers and fruity 1980s cocktails was popular with the other guests, but didn't do it for me. Elsewhere in French Polynesia, most  hotels and even pensions will have significantly better and fresher food prepared by a real chef

Key lessons:
- I would ensure in advance to avoid a Reefside Villa. I don't think the lagoon facing villas are much more, and they should have a significantly nicer view. Obviously also avoid Bungalow 230 with its fake view
- For those of you who have Ambassadors, I would temper your expectations. I reached out to mine to ask for whatever magic he could pull (the first "special request" I've made in 14 months) and he got back to me to warn that he has limited influence on the property - every other time I've requested something of him he's always made it happen somehow (albeit pre-Bonvoy days). Because so many people are at the hotel on special occasions, the hotel has a lot of demand on "special" treatment and upgrades and I get the impression that Ambassador status is not really differented from Platinum. Unless booking on points, I would try to book via a US-based Virtuoso or Marriott Luxury Programme travel agent who I suspect would have more sway than a Marriott Ambassador

Overall I suspect I had an unusually poor stay due to disappointing rooms (partly my fault, partly the hotel's) and my lack of a dedicated Butler for most of my stay. I can see how this hotel is convenient for people on the US West Coast, but think they could do better even in the context of Bora Bora.resort in no way competes with the service levels of other top end ex-Starwood resorts elsewhere in the world like the St Regis Bali which is about a third of the cost. I won't rush to return.

I followed this stay with three nights at the Conrad Bora Bora which I'll report on in the Hilton forum followed by a post comparing the two.