Manava Beach Resort and Spa Moorea

The hotel has very pretty well kept grounds and is close to amenities and restaurants so you can walk out for lunch or dinner. Kikis is very nice and you can be picked up by Rudys, again very good food. We did the safari lagoon tour which goes from next door. Great fun. We stayed in a garden room with pool, colonial style dark furniture. I think quaint but I know some people don’t like it because it’s not modern. Room was large with a pretty outside space and small splash pool. Kettle and safe available. Very helpful staff on reception especially Marqusis I hope I spelt it right. Infinity pool and small beach are lovely and there seemed to be plenty of beds. You can hire different water sports equipment. There was some evening entertainment, a Polynesian dance show and we saw an acoustic male and female also very good. Some cultural singing at breakfast. We ate dinner one night but our starters came before our wine order. Dinner was very nice and we sat outside and it has a very nice ambience. Be aware there is no water after your first complimentary bottle. Cons Air con is switched off after being cleaned so very hot when you return after a hot day. No conditioner or moisturiser in room. No sea view if not staying in over water bungalow as interrupted by bungalows. Breakfast is okay.

We have travelled around the Society Islands over the last couple of weeks and Moorea is probably the most beautiful in our view. The Manava Beach is located in a beautiful spot on the lagoon not far from Cooke’s Bay. It is also in walking distance of the downtown area, which has shops, cafes, bars and a supermarket. So it really is a great location! We stayed in a garden bungalow with a private plunge pool and it was a good size and well appointed. It was a little dated inside, but it equally had some charm. The room only had a basic shower gel and we would have expected some additional toiletries. The only real negative was the breakfast - whilst there was a good choice the quality was not quite as good as we experienced in other hotels in French Polynesia. The staff were friendly and very helpful.

I've had a wonderful time in this beautiful hotel, everything was excellent. The staff are exceedingly friendly, the location is perfection. I visited on my own after a long trip to various destinations and it was the perfect way to unwind. Thoroughly recommended

The resort is beautifully situated on the ocean, and is easy to access. The front desk staff is extremely pleasant and welcoming upon arrival. Our room was an overwater bungalow, which was a beautiful combination of traditional French Polynesian decor, with a touch of modern decor. The overwater bungalow allows easy access to snorkeling in front of the bungalows, and a beautiful place to watch sunsets. The area of glass in the floor that allows one to see the marine life under the bungalow is also wonderful. Breakfast is a decent buffet and many tables allow a nice view of the resort, pool and ocean. The happy hour has fair priced drinks, and a good combination of bar food. The dinner choices are pretty decent, and do not appear to change from night to night. The snorkeling along the bungalows is very good, with a good variety of fish and plenty of coral. The easy access from one’s deck from an over water bungalow is fantastic. Reasons for four stars: We arrived from a prior resort on another island where the entire staff was very friendly and pleasant, and always greeted the guests. We most definitely did not have the same experience at the Manava Beach Resprt. Many of the staff would walk by without even glancing your way, and interactions or greetings were minimal at best (this is other than the front desk staff). There were also very few exceptions to this in the restaurants. During one evening at happy hour when we ordered drinks, one of the servers was coughing frequently while taking orders, and delivering food. This was cause for concern as we did not wish to get sick. Sanitizing wipes to the rescue. We experienced a very significant issue with ants. We noticed them in the bathroom as soon as we were able to access the room. We knew not to leave food or anything sweet out. Although the gesture was appreciated, staff left a box of coconut cookies in our room, and ants covered it underneath as we picked it up to open it. We kept any and all food in the fridge, but still had ants on our iPads, various surfaces, and on the bedsheets one night, which made for a bit of unsettling sleep. We did advise the front desk staff upon our departure of the ant issue, as well as a leak in our roof during heavy rains one night. I am glad we had a chance to visit and experience the Manava Beach resort, not sure if we may seek out one of the other overwater bungalows on our next visit to the island, especially after the ant experience.

Firstly they screwed up our reservation and gave us a garden room instead of the booked overwater bungalow. Our travel agent had to fight for weeks to get our money back as we paid for the overwater but just got the garden. Very upsetting. The front entering the property driveway is falling apart old chain link fence beside it no beach really bungalows take up all the view from the property service was terrible and the food was inedible. Absolutely horrible.