Since our reception until our check out, everything was so good! We stayed there about 5 days and all measl were so amazing. But the big difference is the guest relationship manager Jean Louis, he is very friendly with all guests. Congratulations for SOFITEL board to have him as your co-worker.

I'm surprised by recent disappointing reviews. I went to Sofitel Private Island and stayed there for four nights at the end of Dec and I was totally pleased.
We (4 people traveling together) wrote to Sofitel about 2 weeks before our departure and asking for overwater room 128 and 129, didn't get a positive response as they couldn't promise to secure a room#. However when we were welcomed by the staff, we saw our room tag which were exactly what we asked for!
We really loved our room, located at the end of the bungalows, and surrounded by beautiful reef and you can see all kinds of marine life. The room itself may need an upgrade if compared to other upscale resort, but we were pretty satisfied. The resort is very private and quiet, and captain who transferred us to/from the mainland was extremely friendly, we also loved the little hill behind the resort where we can climb up and see sunrise-sunset. Being close to the coral garden is a big plus, we could swim to the garden-unbeatable compared to other resort.
When we checked out on 31st, we asked if we could stay longer due to late afternoon flight, the resort agreed to keep one of the bungalows for us to use for the entire day until we depart! That was totally a surprise!
Only drawback was the wind, we heard constant strong wind day and night, but this was not case on main island. Also we saw a big gecko in our room (128) several times but that didn't bother me.
When thinking about coming back to Bora next time, should we get an upscale room or resort for the luxury/comfort? Maybe, but I would be happy to come back here.

The facilities were nice and the reception good. But the restaurant was a bit disappointing: the service was messy (they brought us the bill while we were still waiting to make the order for the dessert), the food quite basic for the price, the tahitian dance show a bit "amateur". The breakfast was really expensive, 30€, without mention of the price anywhere! Transfer from the airport was the same: 8000PCF per person... A taxi from the airport boat stop at Vaitape costs 2000PCF one way...

I stayed at the Sofitel in December 2011 with my husband. We spent four days on Bora Bora, and wanted to have an experience on the mainland as well as on one of the motus. We therefore stayed at Le Meridien for two days, then transferred to the Sofitel for two days. After coming from Le Meridien, the Sofitel was definitely a step-down, but we anticipated this to an extent given the price difference. The staff at Le Meridien made such an effort with guests and were so pleasant in their manner; this was not the case with the staff at the Sofitel (with the exception of the woman from Switzerland who checked us in and was so friendly and helpful). They weren't unpleasant per se; they were just a tad surly.

Our check-in went fine, and we appreciated being allowed to access our room about an hour before official check-in. It did, however, take several calls and about an hour for our bags to arrive, which was frustrating because my husband needed to prepare for a diving trip. We would have taken our bags ourselves had we known it would take so long. At first look, we were pleased with our room, which was a lagoon-front bungalow. It had a large terrace with direct access to the water. There wasn't a lot of privacy and the water directly around the bungalow was quite murky, but being able to climb right into the water from the deck was great. You have to swim for a bit to reach the nicer water with more marine activity. The reason I said we were pleased with the room "at first look" is because once we had gotten settled in the room we noticed that certain areas were dirty, such as around the fridge (this was very dirty) and certain parts of the bathroom. We also noticed that certain things weren't being kept up - toilet tissue used to close a hole in the shower ceiling and so forth. The room has a lot of potential; it just has to be better maintained.

The only meal we had at the hotel was for lunch. We each had a sandwich for about $12 apiece, and they were pretty good. They get you on the drinks, like $6 for water and $7 for soda. For one dinner we ate at La Bounty, about a 5 minute walk from the hotel (turn left when coming out of the hotel). The place was atmospheric, there were lots of choices, it was reasonably priced, and the food was very good. I would definitely recommend dinners there. For our other meals, we ate food we had purchased from the grocery store that is very close to La Bounty.

$5 buys you about an hour on the Internet using one of two computers in the lobby. The connection was bad, but it was great to have a cheap way to check the most essential things.

We took the shuttle boat to the private island to go snorkeling. It's definitely more beautiful on the private island, but the trade-off is having to get on a shuttle boat in order to access the mainland. The boat only takes 5 minutes though, and there is a restaurant on the island to make things more convenient. If you are very into snorkeling, I'd advise you to stay on the island, since the coral gardens can be accessed easily from there.

I'd say that the biggest draw of the hotel is its location on the mainland, which makes travel to other places easier and cheaper. It's great to be able to walk out of the hotel to other restaurants (although walking is not easy, since there aren't any sidewalks) and to rent bikes and go around the island. I'd recommend biking (use an electric bike) to the beach at Matira Point and then to the town of Vaitape, where there are art galleries and stores. There is also a cash machine there, which is one of the only places you will find one on the island. It's also great that a cab to the airport only costs $25 from the hotel.