Our flight home to LA was delayed, so Air Tahit Nui graciously put us up in the Intercontinental for one night with 3 meals included. We had been staying at a not so nice pension so this was a real treat. The room was great and the beds were comfortable. There is a pool that is large enough to do laps in. Unfortunately, there is no beach at this hotel. The lagoon wasn't really interesting to snorkel in. The hotel has a salt water enclosure that has very unhappy fish in it. You can go swim with them, but the water was really murky and warm. The fish all hung out near where the lagoon was and would have escaped if they could. On a plus side, the food was good.

We just returned from Tahiti after a ten day Princess cruise, and ended our holiday at the Intercontinental Tahiti. The hotel itself is ten minutes from the pier and five minutes from the airport. It is a convention type hotel, with lovely grounds. We had a junior suite over the water bungalow which was gorgeous.

The service at the hotel was either splendid or awful, depending on the area. The concierge Tevia was one of the best I have encountered in any location. E mail him in advance with any questions or requests and I promise you he will respond. He is a professional and quite knowlegeable. The front desk staff was quite friendly. The servers in the casual and formal restaurants were reserved yet efficient. However, the men working the pool area and serving drinks were mean, surly and simply nasty to be around. The same was true for the bellman, with the exception of one person. When asked for help with an umbrella, the reply was "I am busy". When seeking a towel, there was not a hello, a thank you a please. Just a grunt. This was not a language barrier issue. It was simply a person that was cranky that did not wish to work. The drink order placed took 45 minutes before we went to the bar and picked it up ourself, while the waiter was talking in the back with a friend. The drinks were sitting on the tray, getting warm.

It is odd that a hotel that seems to need good service to survive would allow these individuals to work with the public. At first I thought it was our group of three couples, all Ambassador members, that were having a bad experience. However, we heard from at least a half a dozen people the same complaints. Lousy service at the pool, pool bar and bell desk. Management needs to wake up. Having also spent time on Moorea and Bora Bora hotels where the service was amazing, the Hotel Intercontinental has much to lose if it does not shape up. It is clear that some employees have years of tenure, and simply do not care if they irritate the clientele.

As everyone has advised, the food is extraordinarily expensive in Tahiti and the Intercontinental is no exception. Make sure you get a rate with the breakfast included or you will be paying 40.00 per person for breakfast. While expensive, the food in Le Lotus was extraordinary. ($180 US for two, including drinks). Service was again reserved, yet efficient and almost freindly. The food in this restaurant was on par with a 5 star restauarnt in NYC or Los Angeles. The main restauarnt was good for lunch, but it is odd that there is little price difference between pasta and fish and other meat dishes. Every meal runs around 30-40 per person no matter what you order, unless you splurge for lobster or steak which is much more. As long as you realize that the food is quite expensive in advance, you will like the food. We chose to stay at the hotel the entire time to relax and not spend time in town, and we are not upset with our decision. We planned in advance to pay through the nose for meals so it was not a problem when we actually signed the bill to our room.

One hint. Join the Ambassador club for $200.00 prior to your stay. You will receive an automatic upgrade (for us from a bungalow to a junior suite bungalow) as well as a 4pm check out. For 200.00 that late check out is worth its weight in gold, especially considering the time flights generally depart from Papeete.

The Lotus (their own rest.) was being remodeled in Jan. and beginning of Feb. so no chance for great food. The other rest. Le Tiare has a good buffet but not run by the hotel so room service was better when using them. Since no a/c at rest. with a lot of humidity the room service is a great way to enjoy your food. Location great with great views and sunsets. Very clean in regular rooms and great in over water bungalows also. Hotel staff was always willing to help. Concierge was great and a big help in all ways. Note: This will only happen to you once, but, put your key card into the slot just as you walk into room for lights and a/c. Also careful when you slide patio door closed to sit on patio as door can lock easily while your key is still in the slot by front door for regular rooms or could even happen w/ over water bungalows even though you don't need key in slot to run a/c. You laugh a lot after you get help to get back in. There is a dive shop on site and even doubles for wedding mages as evidenced from our over water bungalow.

We had a quick overnight stop in Tahiti on our way to Mo'orea. Our plane landed at 11 PM (middle of the night coming from Utah). The check-in of 4 or 5 different couples that came with our transfer from the airport took about 20 minutes for all of us. We were greeted with a refreshing tropical drink and our bags were taken to our room. Since our stay was so short we stayed in the regular hotel (no beach or overwater bungalows). The room was a touch warm when we arrived, but the a/c cooled it down pretty quickly. The beds were very comfortable although I was so tired I probably could have slept on almost anything. I thought the "pillow menu" was funny, but actually used it at a later Interconinental (I think they had 5 or 6 different pillows to choose from). I also appreciated that they had 110 V and North American plugs in their bathrooms along with standard European plugs and voltage. The in-room safe was big enough for a 17" laptop. Their breakfast buffet was excellent! Highly recommended! It is a bit pricey (but what isn't in Tahiti), we booked ahead of time with gave a discount. There was made to order eggs/omlettes, fruit, vegetables, cereals, juices, breads, everything you could want. What a welcome change from the airplane food I had for the previous meal. Another nice thing about this hotel was it's location to Fa'aa airport, only 5 minutes by car. The dock for the ferry was further, maybe 15 minutes by car.