Have just returned from 5 days of "babymooning" at the Sofitel Motu Bora Bora, we had a sensational time and I can re-assure you it is THE place stay and here is why: 1. The resort is on a motu (island) looking back at mainland Bora Bora. This means you get the best views of the Island and the mountain and lush vegetation. The main Island once you step out of any resort is quite grungy (stray dogs, cars on blocks etc), staying on a motu keeps the pristine tropical paradise feel to your holiday. 2. We got to stay in a horizon overwater bungalow (OWB) (130) which was sensational. The best views are from bungalow 130, 131, and 129. All the OWB have great views and are set quite a distance apart. On the deck we had a 180+ view before seeing another bungalow. All the OWB were well designed and spaced out. We have seen other resorts where the OWB were so close your neighbours were right on your doorstep. 3. There are only 31 rooms on the motu. It does not feel like you are in a busy resort rather more like you have scored a weekend at the place of a wealthy relative or friend. We were surprised to find the resort was full when we were there as we hardly saw anybody even at breakfast or dinner. 4. The motu itself has the best snorkeling in all of bora bora. Just around the corner from the main part of the resort is where most tour operators bring their paying guests to snorkel, we could just walk (or kayak) there in a few minutes. The snorkelling by the way is sensational. I have snorkelled a few times on the great barrier reef in Australia and can easily say the fish here are as colourful and definitely more friendly (addicted to white bread). The coral however is nowhere near as spectacular as the great barrier reef. One OWB even has a coral bombie right off its balcony (either 128 or 131). 5. The best omellettes and pancakes for breakfast anywhere! The cooking staff are great and will make whatever you ask for breakfast. They do it happily and it comes out great. Once again the small size of the resort really made you feel like you were a guest at someones house rather than a number at a resort. 6.You have full rights to use the main sofitel (5min free and on-demand boat ride) across the lagoon. The main reason is a wider choice of restaurants/bars. If you have pre-paid meals you can use your vouchers at either location. You can also use the resort facilities there but the guests there can only use the restaurant on the motu. You get to stay on your private island but visit the busy isalnd whenever it suits you. Getting the boat to come was easy and we never had to wait more than about ten minutes (You get to feel like Bill Gates ringing up reception and asking them to have the boat captain ready in ten minutes!). 7. The staff are incredibly friendly and happy to help you. We had read previous reports about the poor service-we did not find this. The staff were only too willing to help with everything we requested from housekeeping to cleaning. 8. The renovations previous reports had warned about were already completed and done. I would also be red hot cranky if I paid full price for an expensive resort only to find it half done. We were worried about this before we got here but were pleasantly surprised. Overall I suggest: a. get bungalow 129, 130, 131 b. pre-pay as many meals as possible (not lunch) c. you MUST do the lagoonarium tour- you will swim with open water lagoon sharks and rays, as well as swim with bright yellow sharks. The plain shark feeding tour does not include the "lemon flavoured" shark swim. d. Bloody Mary's is the most over-rated place on Bora Bora. You get picked up on a crowded shuttle at your assigned feeding "batch" time. The whole group is menued by the waitstaff in a group at the same time. The food is ordinary to be really kind at best. Bloody Mary's has no quaint "tropical" feel, rather it is more of a mass produced, sausage factory experience. If you do go, don't go bare foot- a cat did a wizz right in the middle of the restaurant on the sandy floor, and the waitstaff couln't have cared less. e. BYO snack foods Have a great time, wish I was going back tomorrow!

We split our honeymoon over 2 islands (Tahiti and Bora Bora) from March 31, 2008 - April 7, 2008. We booked our honeymoon through Costco Travel. We stayed 5 nights/6 days at the Sofitel Motu in Bora Bora, and were thrilled. My husband kept asking if I was going to cry, since I was so sad to leave! We stayed in overwater bungalow 131, and couldn't have been happier. It was towards the end of the walkway, which gave us more privacy. The bungalow was lovely. We kept the A/C and ceiling fan on the entire time, and found it more than adequate. If you like your room VERY cold, then you might not be happy with the wall-unit A/C. It was fine for us. We loved being able to go into the water every day with the free snorkeling equipment the hotel provided. They also had free kayaks as well. We'd recommend buying some reef shoes/"socks" so you can walk more freely along the ocean floor. We didn't have to stray very far from our bungalow to find colorful fish. =) Upon arrival at the Bora Bora airport, we were greeted by the staff person (Muriel), and taken to the hotel's boat. Upon arrival at the hotel dock, there was a staff person (Nicolas) awaiting us with cold towels and another staff person playing the ukulele to welcome us. They also had cold coconuts for us as well. I felt like it was our own fantasy island! They led us immediately to our bungalow and processed the check-in, which was a nice touch. It's true the reception area wasn't completed by the time we arrived, but it was finished before we left. We never felt like it was an inconvenience since we could always call the reception desk (which we did). We bought dinners as part of our package, so we ate on the motu for 3 nights at the Manutuki and 2 nights at the Sofitel Marara across the water. We enjoyed eating on the motu so much that we chose to eat there for our last dinner. The waitstaff were always very friendly and welcoming. We had no complaints about our service at either location, and we enjoyed the food at both places as well. On the motu, it was always past sunset when we ate dinner, so we had nice views of the "city" lights across the water. It was definitely a very intimate setting on the motu. A special touch that we loved was that we received freshly baked pastries/petit fours every single day around 5:30 p.m. at our bungalow. At that time, we were also asked if we needed fresh towels. We never had to call to request for any items. I see that others complained about not having enough toilet paper or towels, but that was not the case for us. In terms of the bathroom, our shower drain was not capable of handing the flow of the rainfall showerhead, since it would drain a lot slower. I would use the handheld showerhead, which drained fine. That would be one of our minor complaints, since my husband loves rainfall showerheads. Another minor issue was that our safe kept draining the battery, so they had to service it twice. We did not have anything stolen from us. I bought several tahitian pearl items, and always left them in the safe, along with some of our electronics (iPod, Nintendo DS, camera, etc). We never left currency in the room though. We always kept cash with us, so I can't attest to the staff stealing cash. Those were the only 2 minor issues we had. We had a picture perfect honeymoon. We came back happy, tan (and a little sunburned) and rested. We would strongly recommend the shark feeding/manta ray swimming half-day tours, since that was one of our highlights of the trip. We also did a half-day Land Rover 4x4 safari, which was great (the terrain was much rougher than we expected, but we got to see locations/points we never would have seen otherwise). Also, the sun is much stronger out there (versus southern CA where we're from or even Hawaii where we visit every year), so don't forget to bring sunblock! And everything is more expensive out there, so bring what you need so you can avoid buying it. We forgot a disposable underwater camera and ended up finding a "deal" at the Tiare Market (small local market) for just over $25 USD. Other places were selling them for $50-60 USD. Food is expensive as well, so it might be worth it to purchase a meal plan. We only bought a dinner meal plan figuring we might not always wake up in time for breakfast, and that we would explore for lunch. It worked out great that way, since we definitely got our money's worth out of the meal plan and got to see other parts of the island. Drinks are not included in the meal plan, but that was acceptable, since all food (appetizers, entrees, desserts) was included. Another tip is that if you're a Sofitel Privilege member, you can request later check-out (4 p.m.) for free, assuming there's room availability. Our flight did not depart until 7 p.m., so we requested to check out later. They were very gracious and said we could stay as long as we liked in our room. We ended up checking out past 5 p.m., and went out to meet the boat around 5:30 p.m. A staff person (Muriel) was there to walk us out to the dock, give us another shell lei, while another staff person played the ukulele as our parting song. Being able to stay in our room that late was wonderful, since we had basically a whole another day to do whatever we wanted. Sofitel Privilege membership is free, so don't forget to sign up. It was definitely worth it for us! We would love to go back to the Sofitel Motu in the future. We will always have wonderful memories of the Sofitel Motu. Perhaps we'll be able to go back for a future wedding anniversary? =) (We still need to upload our pictures from our honeymoon, so I'll post some up later.)

Mark, Dawn, Nancy and I spent 10 days at the Sofitel Motu in April of 2008... From the moment we arived at the Airport at Bora Bora the staff at the Sofitel Motu took very good care of us If you desire a resort that is quiet and romantic this is the place for you!! The over water bungalows are the way to go... want to cool off just jump right in..The acitvities offered were great! be sure to check out the 4x4 tour it was wonderful. we very much enjoyed the Scuba Diving, and Snorkeling at the Coral Gardens Behind the Motu. The Polynesian dance shows offered by the Sofitel were alot of fun. We will come back here again!! Joe Van Wagnen