Sheraton Moorea

[unforgettable]

We're scheduled to sail out on the 12-day Tahitian Princess cruise from Honolulu to Papeete on 7/24/06. We've made plans to spend two nights in a horizon overwater bungalow at the Sheraton Moorea Resort post-cruise. The nightly rate is $700 and, while I've heard that might actually be the going rate, I'm thinking that we might be able to get a lower price for this accommodation. We're Starwood Preferred members but not leveraging our points for this trip (and don't want to either) for a reduced rate.

 

I'd be interested in learning if any other TP cruisers have been able to secure this same accommodation for less than the rate quoted above. We've asked about promos, etc. but have been told that is the only rate available. If you have any recommendations or suggestions on how you may have gotten a better deal, etc., we'd greatly appreaciate it. Thanks.

[TexasMom2]

That price is actually a good price. I reserved a horizon OWB next summer for three nights, and with VAT and other fees it was over $800/night. I thought about booking a standard room and then trying to negotiate an upgrade at the hotel, but the thought of one of the horizon OWBs not being available changed my mind. I'm not sure if we'll get back to Tahiti and don't want to miss the opportunity of fulfilling a dream.

[dog]

Sometimes Sheraton has special rates: Government employee, military, automobile club etc. Maybe you qualify for one of these?

[Cruise Junky]

I just checked out prices the other day, for the Lagoon facing OWB I could get it for $590 by paying in advance with a no cancelation policy. To get this to pop up I had to remove all codes from my normal discount from the left hand side.

[cccole]

We had two rooms at the Sheraton in April, one garden and one owb. We are members of Starwood Preferred Guests and had great rates, 35% off the regular rate. The owb is awesome. You just jump in from your deck any time of the day or night and snorkel or swim. We are very good swimmers but always used flippers because of the current. It was soooooooooooo much fun. You can turn on a light at night that illuminates the water underneath the floor. Snorkel gear, canoes, kayaks, and outriggers are free of charge and we paddled down to the Motu Iti Pensione for lunch and it was great. Most restaurants on the island will pick you up at the hotel, take you to their restaurant, and take you back to the hotel. The drivers from the restaurants would not accept tips. The Sheraton was a great spot. We also took a recommendation to get breakfast at the bar/restaurant in the middle of the owbs and it was sooooooooo much less expensive than the main restaurant. We got breakfast to go from them and took it to our owb to enjoy.

 

This was our first trip to French Polynesia and we (ages 55-14) had an incredible time. I hope you also have a great time.

[unforgettable]

Thanks to everyone who posted their suggestions for us on the pricing issue for the Sheraton Moorea. I spoke to Starwood Preferred Guests today and learned a few interesting things:

 

1) Starwood Preferred Guest members are eligible to receive an "SPG" rate, which is available at most hotels. This means that you can receive 50% off the rack room rate for your accommodations with 1,000 points if your hotel is one of the properties that accepts this special rate code. Unfortunately, the Sheraton Moorea is not one of those hotels but, if it was, we would have been able to book it for only $465 per night instead of $700. As it turns out, our rate is the "best available rate" so we're keeping it. But, it's good to keep this special rate benefit in mind when planning future trips.

 

2) You can request an upgrade on your reservation but it is not guaranteed. If you want to guarantee an upgrade using your points, you can do this by contacting the Starwood five (5) days before your arrival and they will deduct the points necessary from your account to insure the upgrade. Point usage varies by hotel property but we didn't know this existed so it's also good to file away for future reference.

 

Hope this information proves to be useful to fellow travelers.

[cccole]

Did Starwood also tell you that as a SPG you get 35% off the rack rate when booking most resorts. I find the 50% off award difficult to get but we used the 35% when we stayed on Moorea in April. Maybe both are already sold out for the days you will be there.

[Nifty]

I have used the SPG 35% discount at Sheraton Moorea