Hilton Tahiti Review

Booking the Hotel
In late 2021, Hilton opened its third property in French Polynesia with the debut of the 200 room Hilton Hotel Tahiti. The hotel was originally built in 1960 as Hotel Tahiti, but was left vacant for nearly a decade until Hilton purchased and completely refurbished the property to meet Hilton’s design standards. With the late arrival of our flight from Seattle before continuing onto Bora Bora, we needed a couple nights on the main island of Tahiti. I used two free night certs from P2’s account to book the property. While it wasn’t necessarily the best use (standard nights were just 72K Hilton points/night) during our stay, I felt it was a good use of minimizing out of pocket expenses for the trip.

Location
The hotel is conveniently located between Tahiti’s Fa’a’ā International Airport and downtown Papeete. The hotel does not provide complimentary transportation to/from the airport. After our arrival, we took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Note that taxi’s on Tahiti do not accept credit cards. Fortunately, with the short distance (about two miles from the airport), the taxi ride was less than $15 USD for the two of us. The hotel faces the ocean with views of Moorea Island in the distance. The resort is joined to the Pacific Plaza shopping centre across the street by a sky bridge.

Check-In
As we stepped out of the taxi, we were welcomed with a tiare flower necklace.

The lobby area was open and airy with high ceilings. As we were visiting just before Christmas, the lobby area was appropriately decorated with Christmas themes.

The check-in process was smooth and the hotel confirmed our upgraded room due to having Diamond status.

Hilton Tahiti Room
Our room was 1 King Bed Residence which is an 840 square ft king premium suite with island-inspired artwork. As you enter there is a small kitchenette with microwave, minibar and minifridge. There is even a stove to cook your own meals should you wish (there is a mart across the street inside the mall).

Beyond the kitchenette is a separate living area with a round table, pull out couch and TV mounted on the opposite wall.

The most impressive part of the room was the huge walk-in closet in between the bathroom and bedroom areas.

The bathroom was large with a separate bathtub and shower area. Despite the size, one may notice that there is only one sink.

Toiletries were provided by Crabtree & Evelyn which were of average quality and expected for a hotel of this quality.

The bedroom was well appointed with plenty of outlets in the expected areas. There was a walk out to the porch to overlook the garden and ocean.

Dining
As Diamond members, we received free complementary buffet breakfast at Moevai. Moevai is located partially overwater and provides views of the island of Moorea.

The breakfast buffet was satisfactory with some pastries, cold cuts, a couple hot items, a couple Asian dishes, fruit, juices and a station offering omelets, pancakes and eggs cooked to order. Overall, I thought there was a lack of variety particularly with pastries and fruit. The omelet station had basic ingredients available for custom order.

There was an upcharge to order custom coffee drinks. I stuck with basic drip coffee both days which was fine. My wife did like the variety of complementary tea bags available.

For dinner, the Moevai transforms to La Strada which focuses as an Italian bistro for dinner. The hotel also has Heiva Lounge Bar located in the lobby focuses on wines, spirits and small plates. There is also a sushi restaurant and a brasserie located on property. We had dinner at Taitea Brasserie for one of our meals. Being in Tahiti, we focused on seafood dishes which were fresh and quite tasty.

Facilities
The hotels signature area is the large outdoor pool which is the largest in Tahiti.

There was ample seating around the pool along with six cabanas available. We weren’t able to utilize the pool area as it rained heavily most of the time we were on property.

There is a gym located next to the spa. I did find it strange that it could only be accessed outside. It featured all the necessary basics.

The hotel also provides concierge services, business center and meeting rooms although we did not use any of those services. I do like how the hotel incorporates various local Tahitian art around the premises.

Final Thoughts
Although the hotel was recently renovated to meet Hilton brand standards, the furnishings and décor were good but certainly not high end which fits the overall brand standard. The hotel was conveniently located as we were able to do an island tour on the first day and explore downtown Papeete the second day before heading over to Bora Bora. Diamond recognition was good with the upgraded room and complementary breakfast although we weren’t afforded late check-out. Fortunately, the front desk could hold our bags and our taxi stopped by the hotel en route to the airport to head to Bora Bora. However, if I were to visit French Polynesia again, I would probably try to find availability at Hilton Moorea instead. Overall, it was a solid but not spectacular use of free night certificates.