Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Beach Resort

To get to Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Beach Resort, we used the Aremiti ferry from Faa'a. The ferry was comfortable, our luggage was stowed safely, and we took carry-on bags to our seats. Using the ferry instead of flying was a good, stress-free idea. Sofitel picks you up at the ferry, which is close to the hotel. As for the hotel, Sofitel Moorea is showing its age and because of room maintenance and some service issues, we would likely never return. It's unfortunate because there are some Sofitel Moorea employees who do a stellar, five-star job. But there were a few who really messed up our stay. Sofitel Moorea falls a bit short of being a five-star resort. Some of the staff lack hospitality training. Among some servers, there is also limited food allergy understanding. And some staff have limited English skills. We spoke French when possible. A manager told us that 60% of guests are English-speaking, so you would expect that the staff spoke English well. Not so, which was apparent on our third night when we had a gluten poisoning event. One of us is Celiac and Sofitel Moorea was notified about our allergy in advance. Our gluten poisoning event started with happy hour when I was served a martini in a glass with a lethal chip in its base. I was amazed that a broken glass (pictured) would not be noticed by a bartender or server. Then we ordered dinner at the bar. We explained to a server that one of us was Celiac and for medical reasons, he needed to eat gluten-free. However, the server did not understand the gluten allergy message. The server then brought our meal and left the premises. We didn't have utensils, so more than seven minutes passed as we tried to get napkins and forks. I intercepted a server and asked for help. When we got forks and began to eat, it wasn't long before the Celiac consumed a gluten crouton that was hidden within a Caesar salad. We had specifically asked for no croutons. Seeking answers, we asked for help again but got into an argument with a young, male staff member who snarled at us that he didn't understand what we were upset about: "I don't know who placed the order! I don't know what you're saying! I don't understand your English!" That young man was out-of-line and his reaction was totally uncalled for. We then learned that this incident occurred because the departed waiter did not tell the chef to make the salad gluten-free. It's amazing that the gluten crouton melee happened at all, considering the many written assurances (one is pictured) from the hotel that a Celiac would be safe eating at Sofitel Moorea. More food allergy training is clearly in order and, I cannot overstate this: "Celiacs BEWARE!" The gluten poisoning event raised pre-existing tensions from other issues already in play. It also put us in a very bad situation of having to wait 24 to 72 hours to see if there was going to be a physical response for the Celiac from ingesting gluten. Management quickly apologized and served us a very nice dinner prepared by Chef Gigou, and we received excellent (superb!) service at that meal by Jean-Marc. The hotel also comped some lunches and cocktails, which was nice. Luckily, the gluten did not greatly affect the guest's digestive health, so "crisis averted..." for the time being. However, every meal thereafter was tense, took extra effort and caution to explain the gluten allergy to every server. It definitely adversely affected the rest of our time at Sofitel Moorea. "Once poisoned, twice shy." The My Glass option was another hot mess. My Glass offers you non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day and some alcoholic drinks at happy hour. However, a la Sofitel Moorea, My Glass has restrictions that are not mentioned when paying for My Glass online. After running into lots of confusion with the staff about My Glass and experiencing frustrating beverage service, we discussed My Glass with a manager. In this discussion, we specifically showed the manager the My Glass text from Sofitel's website (attached). According to the website, we can drink non-alcoholic drinks whenever we want, throughout the day. My Glass alcohol was available during happy hour. On our first day, we were asked to pay for bottled water. The server had no idea what My Glass was. We then received cards to prove that we had the My Glass option (these cards should have been given to us at check-in; "ooops"). But, we were now required to come to the bar to get drinks, and My Glass had no bearing on the mini-bar, which annoyed us. At check-in, we were told that our minibar would be restocked multiple times daily. Now, a manager says "no, it would only be restocked once a day." To counter our understanding (and Sofitel's online description) of My Glass, the same manager emailed HIS My Glass rules which differed from the text on Sofitel's website. I explained that Sofitel has an obligation to fulfill the My Glass option as described on the website--as you see it printed here on this piece of paper. My opinion fell on deaf ears, or, maybe the manager did not understand my and Sofitel's website's English. We thereafter had to abide by the manager's more restrictive rules. We could no longer order bottled water from room service; we had to come to the bar or dining area to consume the beverages, and, worse, the offer was no longer valid "throughout the day." Instead, we could only have no-cost drinks from 10am to 630pm. What about the part of the day before 10am? We get up at 6am and for hydration, I drink lots of water between 6am and 10am. But I guess at Sofitel Moorea, I will have to wait until 10am. Ridiculous. Maybe this is yet another translation lapse. In English, as used here in the USA "throughout the day," as Sofitel describes the availability of My Glass, can be interpreted as meaning "all day long," morning, noon, and night. A day has 24 hours, right? If Sofitel wants to impose specific timeframes on when My Glass is available that are not 24x7, then these timeframes need to be stated on the description at the time of purchase. Here is a telling line from one of the manager's emails, referring to My Glass: "• Extra beverages – Yes, at this time the package benefits (soft drinks, water, juices from 10:00–18:30 and alcoholic drinks from 16:30–18:30) are available exclusively at the VUE bar. They need to be consumed there, or during lunch at PURE when you present the My Glass coupon. I understand this limitation may not be ideal for you, and I’m sorry for the disappointment and confusion it has caused." A hotel manager cannot greatly amend (and possibly, not at all) the terms of an offer from a hotel's corporate website. Sofitel should note that the time-of-use limitations imposed by the local manager were not mentioned in the online offer. Instead of convenience for the guest, My Glass devolved into a bait-and-switch situation. Rules that were "clarified" AFTER purchase put restrictions on the option that we did not agree to at the time of purchase. The My Glass offer was a big turnoff, as was Sofitel Moorea's embarrassing management of My Glass. Actually, it's not management. Could it instead be, "breach of contract?" To further underscore how questionable the My Glass offer is, at Sofitel Moorea's happy hour, the My Glass alcoholic beverage options that you had to select from in terms of types/brands of drinks were all low-end brands. Very low. This was another uninviting aspect of Sofitel Moorea. It was one of the sadder happy hours we've seen. There was nothing available to drink at Sofitel Moorea's sad happy hour that we would ever drink. Think "cheap liquor." We even asked if we could pay extra to drink the higher-end alcohols (there were only a few), but we were refused. So, imagine that, Sofitel Moorea! You've said "no" to us yet again. So much for service. So much for making guests feel welcome. I even offer to pay more to upgrade my drink, but you won't let me. Amazing. Somehow, in Sofitel Moorea's scheme of withholding services where the hotel can get away with it (for a while) and cost-cutting here and there (buy cheap liquor for sad happy hour) to help Sofitel Moorea's bottom line, you further alienate paying customers who have already had a pretty lousy stay as it is. Speaking of saving money, I think Sofitel Moorea should refund us our $500 for our My Glass charges. That would be appropriate. If you do go to Sofitel Moorea, whatever you do, don't enroll in the My Glass option unless you know what you are getting into. Then, back to our impressions of our room and the property. Our room, number 110, felt like it had been long disregarded. Lots of unsightly blemishes on the walls, windows, and furniture. The room looked like it had housed a frat party or three. It takes some wild partying to crack a thick, solid-core door--or maybe the wind slammed the door and cracked it (see image). Regardless, did Sofitel Moorea think about replacing the door and the broken, ugly, patched-up, wood-louvered window next to it? Our room was begging to be gutted and redone. The visible lack of care and maintenance makes the entire Sofitel Moorea feel soulless, and not just in room 110. The piers that you walk on to access the overwater bungalows feel void of any sense of welcoming. There is little or no feeling of hospitality, save for the lovely, wonderful housekeepers who try their best to make the rooms look nice. There is only so much a housekeeper can do. Has Sofitel Moorea management ever slept in room 110, or in any Sofitel Moorea room? And, please do not tell us that we should have pointed out these room issues. That is YOUR job. Clearly, Sofitel Moorea does not practice MBWA ("management by walking around"). The room is there for you to see, warts and all. The wear and tear issues in our room are simple to repair, but Sofitel Moorea lacks the observational skills and maintenance savvy to see it, fix it. Some of it was quite unsightly for a wanna-be five-star hotel. Does Sofitel care about appearances? Yes, there were often beautiful flower arrangements in the dining areas and lobby, and even in our room a couple of times. But overall, something is greatly lacking. The grounds looked pretty good; maybe we should have slept outside. There are, as mentioned, some wonderful, engaging, service-oriented staff members, but there was also at times a sense of tension in the air. To the young, argumentative server from the crouton melee, why did you allow yourself to get into an argument with a guest? Sure, we were upset. But, if you had had food allergy training, then you might have understood. Did you know that Celiacs can get extremely sick from gluten poisoning? Here's the deal: a Celiac, in a foreign country, just ingested gluten because of your co-worker's mistake. Now what? There is no medicine to take for being gluten-poisoned, as another staff member suggested. So, the gluten poisoning victim just has to wait. Worried. Anxious. The victim will not know how the body will react to the gluten for the next 48 to 72 hours. How about vomiting for three or five days or having diarrhea that wipes you out for five days, or, maybe, both? Think about it. Does that sound like a fun vacation to you? And, bartender, you served me a drink in a glass that I could lacerate myself with. Really? I guess I was just another guest. I sensed your indifference when I showed you the glass. You had no reaction; almost no affect at all. It's not really your fault; I blame the management and the Sofitel Corporation. Sofitel management, your server's mistake could have meant one of us would be bedridden (probably in Sofitel Moorea) for the rest of our time in FP; two weeks or longer! Who knows? Sofitel's carelessness of not training food servers about food allergies (and having servers who also lack the English skills to understand food allergies) put us in a very bad situation. The gluten crouton incident cast a shadow over everything that happened to us until we checked out. It's unfortunate that the incident also devolved into a shouting match and that it engendered (and most assuredly deserves) such negative comments from us. Sure, we very, very much appreciated the apology, the lovely meal, and drinks and lunches. But what a mess. What an awful mess. A few more negatives: Sometimes our room had a faint smell of sewage, so we'd open windows to let fresh air in. The room needs more lights, more electric plugs, and more up-to-date USB-C outlets. A drain was clogged, but quickly fixed when requested. Shower plumbing was reversed, hot on right, cold on left. (Please don't scald yourself!) The towels were harsh and rough; wash cloths were small. Snorkeling at Sofitel Moorea was "average," at best, due to wide-spread coral bleaching. We're comparing Sofitel Moorea snorkeling to Palau, Hawaii, the Cook Islands, and other renown snorkeling spots. However, the water was easily accessible from our room and it was usually very clear. I would think twice about coming to FP in November. The weather can have a negative effect on your outdoor activity. Of course, the hotel has no control over weather. A few positive points: Our housekeeper, Ush, was very, very nice. We very much appreciated her service and kindness. The breakfast buffet was generally good. There was a good selection of fruits and a variety of coffee drinks. We had good gluten-free egg dishes and good service. The bed was very comfortable. A big plus! (Just don't look around the room while lying in it.) Internet and TV were reliable. The gym was very nice. We recommend using Avis' "Enjoy" car rental service. Get a car right at the hotel and return it to the same spot. This was a great deal and for about $45 we got a car and did not have to buy gas. We circled the island--it was well worth it. Last but not least, we had some great meals served by Vairani, Fleur, Lucinda, Pedro, Jean-Marc and a great meal prepared by Chef Gigou. There was one other server whose name we cannot remember. Along with Ush our housekeeper, these are the stellar, five-star service providers at Sofitel Moorea who we still talk about months later. Because of the gluten crouton melee, the My Glass bait-and-switch annoyance, room shoddiness (for over $1,000 a night, I might add), and other aforementioned problems, I give Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Beach Resort one star. However, because of our wonderful experiences with the aforementioned five-star performers, I'll make it two stars, but that's only because of these great people who I mentioned by name. In the end, as I began this review, Sofitel Moorea does not feel like a five-star hotel, and I wouldn't stay at Sofitel Kia Ora Moorea Beach Resort again. And the Celiac told me to definitely never book us a room at a Sofitel ever again, anywhere in the world. No how, no way.

Some of the best snorkelling I’ve ever seen right outside your room. Glass bottom window on the floor of the room means you can see fish all night if you turn on the light below the cabin . Good food great ambience truly a bucket list destination

We loved staying at Sofitel Moorea over Christmas and had an amazing food experience from wonderful dedicated welcoming staff. Thank you especially to Pedro, the food outlet manager who seemed to be everywhere and made us feel exceptionally welcome. Bravo! You have a gem with Pedro. Madjo one of the bar and restaurant servers was also so kind and attentive. For the price paid — this property was way overpriced considering that it is due to close for an extended refresh. We expected more from a 5 star Sofitel in terms of luxury and small touches. It was really the food service staff who shone and made our stay memorable. The executive chef and his team also truly created a memorable Christmas experience. Beach is gorgeous and secluded. Coral garden is fun to snorkel in and complimentary snorkelling equipment and paddle boards was a bonus. Locally made soaps and body creams were a nice luxury. It’s our third visit to French Polynesia and we will be back. We were spoiled on our first trip to Tahiti by an all inclusive multi island experience with Pearl Hotels and resorts. We will check the final product of the resort refresh before we commit to returning to Sofitel.

Our experience at this beautiful location (with somewhat run down facilities) spoit by poor quality (and overpriced) dining and disinterested staff.

Not up to Sofitel standards. I booked an over water bungalow….phone didn’t work, furniture was stained, and everything in the resort is just tired. I’ve heard they are planning a renovation in January 2026…I hope that is the case. My last stay in a Sofitel was so great that I was very disappointed in this one. The service overall is pretty good. The food was fine, nothing stellar. This is a solid 4-star hotel, but definitely not what I paid for it. Only thing that is unbeatable is the view and snorkeling, which is the only reason I’m not completely upset about this location and my vacation here.