We visited the Manihi Pearl Resort for a week in November 2011. It was our second visit there, and we came back because we had such excellent memories of the island, resort, staff, food, everything.
Unfortunately, this visit was not nearly so wonderful, although the location is still absolutely amazingly beautiful. The best way to describe it might be this: You see an astonishingly beautiful woman from about 100 yards away, possibly the most beautiful creature God ever placed on the earth. You rush up for a closer look, and discover that she has bad breath, really needs a bath, and has an attitude. That was Manihi Pearl Resort on this visit.
Here is one example, of many that we could list: there are no cars available on the island, but the resort provides bicycles. Unfortunately, the bicycles are in such poor condition that the seat posts are rusted to the point that they cannot be adjusted, the tires are underinflated (many are just plain flat), etc. But, they're the only transportation available, so we chose the best two and, at the suggestion of the new general manager of the resort, went exploring several miles down the dirt road that is the only road in that direction. When we started riding back, the very rusty chain on my bike broke, so we had to push the bikes back for about an hour and a half. When I mentioned it to the general manager, his only comment was "Well, that just adds to the adventure, right?" Hmmm! No, at the price we're paying per night, pushing your poorly-maintained bike is not the kind of adventure I want. Even nominal, occasional maintenance would have prevented that chain from breaking. This is not rocket science.
The breakfast was far from the quality and variety that the resort offered on the first visit. Some days, when the occupancy was low, breakfast was nothing more than a few rolls, a smattering of melon, orange, pineapple, a couple of types of cheese and cold cuts, some dry cereal, tea, coffee, and juice. On days when the occupancy was higher, they added steam trays of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Either way, far, far from a five star breakfast, and totally different from the sumptuous array of breakfast foods that was offered on the first visit a few years ago. Perhaps some of this is due to low occupancy, and perhaps that can be traced to the hard economic times, but the resort still charges five star prices, and so we expect five star service every day, not just on the days when there are more guests.
Finally, attitude: There were several among the staff who were wonderful (see below), but the reception staff cannot be numbered among them. Probably the most unhelpful reception staff I've encountered at even a two-star budget hotel. One example: we booked a tour, scheduled to depart at 8:30. We both are extremely punctual, and our timepieces are accurate to within a few seconds of standard time, because they use the cell phone timebase. We arrived at 8:27, only to discover that the tour had left. The reason: the clock in the reception area is five minutes fast. Did they call us to say "Where are you?", since our room was only about 100 yards away? No. Did they apologize? No. Did they even correct the clock, when the inaccuracy was pointed out? No. In fact, it was still five minutes fast when we left. There are many other examples of unhelpful attitude by the reception staff, too many to want to revisit here. We were far from the only guests to experience that same attitude. Another couple used some colorful language to describe their experience with the reception staff, which can be paraphrased for print purposes as: "The reception staff is just mean."
At the same time, there are many wonderful things about the resort: The location, looking out over the lagoon, is exquisite. The overwater bures are perched right above the coral and myriads of colorful fish swarm around you as soon as you enter the water. The food at dinner is great, with choices that vary nightly (although the desserts were always the same.) The island setting is quiet, soothing, romantic, peaceful, rejuvenating -- in a word, wonderful. There is no loud music, no cars rushing past, just the marvelous symphony of the waves and the breezes to lull you to sleep at night and wake you in the morning. The water of the lagoon is warm and generally clear (although the occasional, brief storms can stir up the sand for a few hours.) The island itself, while small, offers lots of areas to explore, where you won't see another person, let alone another guest. The sunrises and sunsets were awesome. There are just so many great things to say about the setting, that it's disappointing to have to talk about the other things in order to paint an accurate picture overall.
Nor is all of the staff unpleasant. Luciana, a long-term staff member, is wonderfully pleasant, tries exceptionally hard to accommodate, and has a smile that would melt glaciers. Alama, who runs the gift shop, and weaves free hats from the coconut palms for any guest who wants one (and also works at the airport -- he is one busy guy), is terrific. The cleaning staff is hard working and very accommodating. Several of the younger waitstaff are equally terrific: warm, friendly, interested in making sure you have a great stay while in their care. The same cannot be said of some of a couple of the older waitstaff, but the nice ones outnumber the not-so-nice ones by a good margin.
The rooms are reasonably large and comfortable (ours was a premium overwater bungalow), the deck offers stunning views, and great snorkeling is just a few steps down a ladder. The setting is as close to paradise as one can imagine. Not much in the room itself has changed since the last visit, except the addition of a facade in front of the air conditioning that prevents the remote control from actually turning the air conditioning on or off. Turns out that the facade blocks the receiver on the A/C unit, so, to turn it on or off, or adjust the temp, you have to climb up on the bed, raise the remote control up as high as you can reach so that the signal from the remote is aimed just right between the slats of the facade, then click the proper button. We just turned it off; the natural breezes were far better. It wouldn't be hard to fix, either -- just remove a portion of the slats that block the receiver. But glitches like this don't occur at top end resorts.
We've never run a resort, but, from our vantage point, it wouldn't take much to restore the resort itself to the same great experience we had on our first visit, and to make the resort equal to the setting. Management and a reception staff that actually cares would go a very long way toward fixing what is wrong. Right now, though, the resort does not offer fair value for the price, despite the exquisite location, and that probably explains the low occupancy far more than the recession. We will spend our vacation dollars at other destinations until we're assured that Manihi is back up to the standard they were at on the first visit.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
