Sofitel Bora Bora Private Island Hotel 5 stars

Nice stay, very friendly and helpful staff in a gorgeous place.

We found the staff at the resort very friendly, welcoming, and helpful. The overwater bungalow itself looked in need of a updating, the aircon did not work very well, and we had a couple of cockroaches for company in the room (near the bed!) However, it did have stunning views, which we appreciated. Also we though it lacked thought that the sunbeds were attached to the lower deck, and could not be moved into the shade on the upper level of the deck.

Employees made us feel special. All friendly & accommodating. Some communication problems with the staff, but not a major problem.

We had the best experience ever! Everyone at the resort including the managers made us feel welcomed. We came back with an ahh in our hearts.

We enjoyed our experience with Sofitel! Staff was friendly and very helpful...they took great satisfaction in making sure that we had the perfect vacation. Property was very clean and accommodating! A Very Scenic Location on the Water.

We loved our time at the Private Island. The free airport shuttle and welcome to the resort was great. The overwater bungalow was great, and they also accommodated my room request which was a great bonus surprise. The included breakfast (part of our package) was great. We ate at the restaurant one night because we had a reward meal through our travel agent, and thought it was good but not worth going to again. We did eat the bar food a couple times and would have opted for that again before the restaurant. The snorkeling near the island was amazing and I would say that would be the #1 reason why I would come back again. The only 2 things that slightly dampened our experience was that the restaurant wasn't better, and the free shuttle provided to the main island has a schedule that seems to purposely have a large gap in shuttles around lunch and dinner time (I would assume to try and keep people on the resort to eat). It is almost every hour throughout the day, and then all of a sudden there's a large 3 hour gap right around dinner time when our dinners (as I would expect most people's as well) typically last 1.5-2hrs, forcing us to be on the island longer than needed. When this happened, we had to waste time on vacation in the waiting area awaiting that departure shuttle. If you are going to provide a shuttle, please keep it consistent so people can come and go as they please and not have to waste time on their vacation for something so minute in the grand scheme of things.

Nice resort hotel. Very friendly staff. Only recommendation to include more vegetarian dishes on menu.

The staff were absolutely lovely and very helpful. They honestly made our stay so wonderful and warm that we tended to overlook some of the issues with the property itself. The rooms were well kept, however in both the garden bungalow and overwater bungalow the toilet began to smell within a day of use. It was actually quite a strong smell and persisted despite it being cleaned. It seemed like perhaps the plumbing was just old. Breakfasts were good - however one of the chefs undercooked the Pancakes on the first day and then consistently burnt the pancakes and French toasts on the other days she was there. I didn’t feel up to telling her on the spot as all staff were so lovely, I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I tried to ask for another pancake each day, hoping that it wouldn’t be burnt but I should have just spoken up. The aircon wasn’t so effective in our overwater bungalow (126) - the bathroom area consistently remained warm and as mentioned above, smelly.

In my opinion, Sofitel Bora Bora Private Island resort is the pick of all the resorts on Bora Bora. While the resort is not sparkly new, none of the resorts are any more with the most recently built one only a couple of years younger than Private Islands' last renovation. One thing Private Island has as a definite advantage is it's boutique size, just one third the size of the 'big name' resorts way over on the other side. Being small has several advantages, not just because of the personalised service but also because motorised transport is not required everytime you wish to leave your room to go to the bar or restaurant or pier should you wish to explore the rest of Bora Bora. Location of course is another big plus. The motu backs onto an amazing coral garden you can paddle to yourself without the hassle and expense of buying a tour as you have to from another resort. A quick ferry trip to the mainland Sofitel resort and you have access to free pickups to a lot of restaurants on the island. Also Sofitel allows tour operators to do pick ups from direct from their pier. Be careful. Not all resorts allow all operators to do so, presumably restricting access to their "recommended" providers. Another thing to consider is airport transfers. Sofitel has a reasonable direct access taxi, but if you want to save even more money there are yet still more options (around half price at time of writing). We loved our stay here and wouldnt hesitate to came back.

Loved the staff. Great experience. Food could be improved. Loved it.

The staff at Sofitel Private Island were fantastic. nothing was too much trouble lead by Julien the team did their best to ensure our stay was perfect.

great experience, service was excellent, food left something to be desired

We stayed at the Private Island for one night in Overwater Bungalow. The Bungalow was awesome we loved it. From the Managers to all the staff we had the pleasure of dealing with they were outstanding and made us feel very welcome. The meal at night and the breakfast was lovely. The entertainer who sung and played the guitar added magic to our night. Can't say enough we loved it.

The staff were welcoming, attentive and helpful, however the resort is in need of an extensive, overall refurbishment as it is both tired and lacks the typical 4* features of similar resorts, e.g Swimming Pool. The Restaurant, which also accommodated the Reception and Concierge areas was a particular issue. The dinner menu was unimaginative and on two occasions the meal missed a crucial item and at 8.45am the hot food buffet items were gone, this is not a typical Sofitel experience !! Fortunately Bora Bora has some excellent dinner restaurants, which were also frequented by the Private Island Management !! We selected the Sofitel on Bora Bora as the venue for our 27th Wedding Anniversary,because our previous experience with Sofitel properties has been extremely positive ; this experience, except for the hotel staff, was disappointing. Particularly, when compared to our two night experience at the Tahiti Intercontinental, the Private. Island Resort was sadly, lacking and unacceptable.

Very courteous staff, loved the bongo low, will return again..