After arriving in Papeete, we spent our first two nights at the InterContinental Tahiti, a very convenient resort for starting or ending your trip to French Polynesia.
InterContinental Tahiti Review
Nightly rates for a base room range from $300-600 (ours was about $400 with tax) per night depending upon season or demand. On the high-end, overwater bungalows are closer to $1,100 per night.
Location
At only two kilometers (1.3 miles) from Fa’a’ā International Airport (PPT), you really cannot beat the location of this hotel if you have an arriving or departing flight. Sure, there are airport motels even across the street from PPT, but the InterContiental Taiti is a full-service resort with multiple restaurants, bars, pools, and a spa.
Heidi and I stepped off our United flight, went through passport control, grabbed our bag, hopped into a taxi ($16 from the airport to the hotel via metered taxi), and arrived at the hotel…in 15 minutes flat from the aircraft to the check-in counter. That was quite valuable.
For many who arrive from the USA, an overnight in Tahiti is necessary before going on to places like Bora Bora or even Moorea. This is your place…it’s simply ideal for 1-2 nights stays.
And for an “airport hotel” the views aren’t half bad:
When we rented a car the following day, Hertz sent a shuttle to the hotel to pick it up and it was only a few minutes into Papeete, another plus for this location.
Planes fly overhead, but PPT is a fairly quiet airport for most of the day.
Check-In
I hold InterContinetal Ambassador status ($200/year) that essentially pays for itself with the annual free weekend night. While I did not use the free night on this trip (my stay was Tuesday – Thursday), I did receive an upgrade to a premium oceanview room (one category upgrade from a base room) that was a bit larger.
The open-air lobby has check-in counters on one side, concierge on the other, and a large seating area plus 24/7 bar.
In the mornings, the lobby gets very crowded around check-out time…be warned.
The hotel is fairly spread out and we were transported to our room in a shuttle, though for future trips we walked (about 8-10 minutes away by foot).
In addition to room keys, we were given pool towel cards.
Room
Our room, 399, was a corner room, though light only came in through the large balcony overlooking the ocean and Moorea in the distance. It had faux wood laminate flooring with a couch, chair, and king-size bed with green accents.
A transparent window separated the bathroom and bedroom, though it had blinds. The bathroom included a large tub, walk-in shower, toilet, and dual sink.
Best of all, a large balcony had a great view.
Coffee and tea in the room was limited to a water kettle and powdered coffee from Nestle or tea. Non merci.
The room was fine…a little drab and not my style (I don’t care for laminate flooring or tile walls), but the air conditioning worked well and we slept well. It was practical and that’s all I wanted from this hotel.
Overwater Bungalows
Overwater bungalows are available at about triple the cost of a base room. The overwater bungalows look nice…and I thought it was cute how two of the staff rowed out room service breakfast via boat to one of the bungalows…but I am of the opinion that you do not come all the way to French Polynesia to stay at an overwater bungalow in Tahiti.
Dining
The resort has several restaurants and bars.
Lobby Bar Terrace
We began our day at the 24/7 lobby bar with an espresso. While far better than the in-room powdered coffee, coffee was dispensed from an automatic machine and was mediocre. I’d love to see the hotel partner with Kaūa’a Coffee in Papeete to supply the hotel’s coffee (and a new manual machine to make it…).
While the coffee was a disappointment, the Lobby Bar had the best views of the entire hotel.
Te Tiare Restaurant
We took our breakfast in Te Tiare each morning (open from 6:00 am – 10:30 am), which is the hotel’s Polynesian restaurant and serves food buffet-style.
The breakfast buffet was expansive, with a focus on Tahitian and French food, but breakfast staples from all over the world. It was quite hot and humid and there were flies, but the little net covers over everything did the job well in protecting the food.
I do not deviate much when it comes to breakfast and enjoyed my croissant and “escargot” (pains aux raisins) dipped in espresso, an omelet, salad, and some fruit both mornings.
Juices were not freshly squeezed, so it was water and coffee for me.
At about 44USD, breakfast is not cheap, but when you consider where you are in the world and how this can serve as breakfast and lunch if you have breakfast at 10:00 am (I guess part of me is cursed to always think like a budget traveler), it’s not a bad deal at all.
Le Lotus Restaurant
The hotel’s fine-dining restaurant specializes in French food and is housed in a large overwater bungalow. I love French food and wanted to eat here, but we ended up at the Blue Banana instead about seven minutes down the road. If I return (and I do plan to return), I will try out this restaurant.
Le Lotus Swim-Up Bar
The backside of Le Lotus has a swim-up bar that is open 10:30 am t0 6:00 pm Wednesday – Sunday.
Tiki Bar
Since Heidi does not drink, I did not drink on this trip…and frankly, I’m the better for it… alcohol is empty calories that cost a lot of money. But if I did have a drink, it would have been in the Tiki Bar, open daily from 10:30 am to 10:00 pm.
Room Service
24/7 room service is available.
Pools
The resort features two large swimming pools.
Other pools host coral and fish rather than swimmers…
Fitness Center
Heidi and I very much appreciated the fitness center, which was well-stocked with equipment (Matrix and Life Fitness) and nicely chilled. It got hot and humid outside even early in the morning, but working out before breakfast set us up for great days ahead.
Spa
The Algotherm spa is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm…we thought it opened too late and closed too early so we did not have a chance to use the steam room there (there was no sauna and saunas seem to be a rare thing in French Polynesia). A full range of massages and beauty treatments are available.
Service
I appreciated the staff here. From the gracious man who checked us in, to the restaurant staff (even the lady who made omelets who remembered my order the second day), to the concierge who helped me call Hertz to ensure a car was available, to the guys who helped with our bags…everyone was lovely and this is very much a full-service hotel.
CONCLUSION
Despite the beautiful blue waters and Moorea in the distance, this is not a resort worth flying to Tahiti to stay at…not if this is your only stop. But it was an ideal hotel to get acclimated at, the staff were lovely, and the rooms comfortable. I would not hesitate to return and do the same thing: spend a night or two here at the front end of a trip or perhaps at the end of a trip if I had to check out of my hotel in Bora Bora or Moorea early and had a later flight out.
It looks like a 1 night only hotel for me.
I do think that is what this hotel does best – it is a launchpad for travel beyond. That still makes it indespeinable…I just don’t think Americans should come all the way to Tahiti just to stay here. You might as well go to Hawaii. It’s still lovely and perhaps a reasonable atlernative for the budget-concious traveler, but you really should not go to French Polyneisa if you are on a very tight budget.
This was an interesting one to read, thank you, Matthew! We stayed one night at the Hilton Tahiti on both ends of a Bora Bora trip, and I had the same feelings about that hotel that you’ve mentioned here about the IC. It was nice, but not where you’d want to go as the actual destination.
Stayed there for two nights and it wasn’t that bad but had the same impression that this was more of a very short term place to stay at.
Wanted to quickly mention a type in the Le Lotus Swim-Up Bar section (“oepn”)
Thanks. Fixed.
Did you stay there at the front, middle, or end of your trip?
I stayed near the end of my trip but had zero complaints.
Matthew,
We stayed for 2 nights in December (our friends were arriving a day after us and then we headed to Bora Bora together) otherwise this would have also been a 1 night hotel for us. I agree with all of your points about the location, facilities, in room coffee, and service.
We only ate one meal at the hotel, the Le Lotus Christmas Eve Dinner. It was definitely an indulgent and delicious meal that made the holiday feel special. The service was solid as well.
We would only stay on Tahiti again if travel connections required it and we would select this hotel.
We stayed here on a stopover from syd to nyc on air Tahiti nui (what an amazing route that was). One night only before heading to Moore a for two nights. Was def fun having a meal listening to the waves break on the reef knowing we had arriving in Tahiti! We’d walk to the convenience store for fresh French loves and cheese. Yum. Budget travelling indeed.
The lack of a beach seems a bit of a letdown for a luxury resort in Tahiti.
We stopped here for 2 nights on the way to Moorea in the middle of the pandemic in November of 2020. I had booked an Oceanview 2 queen room, and when I checked in, I was told that due to my platinum status we would get a one category upgrade. Then she proceeded to tell me that the next category is an OWB. I can tell you, they are very very good. And we have stayed at several others in moorea and Bora Bora. The ones past the swim up bar are all freshly remodeled and gorgeous inside – better than the Sofitel Moorea or the Hilton Moorea or the IC Thalasso. So don’t dismiss them, they are really good and have great views of Moorea and even decent snorkeling. It was so good that on our next visit, even though this is just the stopover airport hotel, I had to get their OWB. Did you not visit the lagoonarium?
We stayed here for a week in Dec. This hotel was amazing and way better than a mere stop over hotel. The hotel has two dinner shows a week. Both were amazing. Sunday breakfast includes a free show. The onsite turtle sanctuary was very informative and it was great to see all the rescued turtles and baby turtles and learn about them. Their private lagoon had excellent snorkeling. The over the water bungalow is a must. The staff is over the top helpful. Overall, one of the best hotels I have ever stayed at.