Incentive - December 2008 - (Page 41) TRAVEL Planner Resources Sheraton Tahiti, Sheraton Moorea, Bora Bora Nui, St. Regis Bora Bora Resort www.starwoodtahiti.com Starwood French Polynesia Director of Group Sales Thomas Reynoird, Thomas.Reynoird@sheraton.pf Tahiti Tourisme North America www.tahiti-tourisme.com Robert Wan Pearl Museum www.robertwan.com Bloody Mary’s www.boraboraisland.com/bloodymarys Painapo http://painapo.com TAHITI were off to bed by around 11 p.m., tired but not wiped out, and not at all jet-lagged. Like all of Starwood’s French Polynesian properties, it is offering guaranteed dollar rates through March 2010. TAHITI Near Papeete, the setting of many of impressionist master Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings, the Sheraton Hotel Tahiti is a very nice resort hotel, but it doesn’t have over-water huts, so for incentive groups it is best used the way we used it: a comfortable bed for the first night and a base for a day tour of the island before an afternoon departure by ferry for Moorea or a short flight to Bora Bora for the meat of the trip, possibly returning on the last day before the late-night departures to the U.S. (our flight departed at 11:30 p.m.). The island tour in Tahiti Safari Expedition’s open-backed Land Rover 4x4s was definitely worth taking. Tahiti’s beauty isn’t just the iconic beaches and deep blue water. It’s a towering, rugged and largely unspoiled landscape in which waterfalls burst from holes in the mountain face in the rainy season, and exotic flora abounds. After a Champagne picnic lunch, we returned to the hotel for a shower and trip to the dock to catch the ferry to Moorea. MOOREA It’s a smooth transfer from the ferry dock to the Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa’s 54 over-water bungalows. These are paired with 52 beach and garden bungalows on shore. The latter are excellent accommodations, lacking only the private deck to go swimming or snorkeling from (all of Starwood’s Polynesian properties have snorkeling gear in the rooms) and the floor’s plastic viewing hole in the living room of each over-water bungalow. These can be lit from below, and add a lovely wavering nightlight, as well as the occasional sithing of neon-colored fish or even a ray or (small) shark. While the garden rooms can be used in a program with two levels of qualifiers, every corporate and incentive-house planner I spoke to said: “overwater is a must.” The rooms are spacious and airy, and are arranged so the you don’t see a neighboring bungalow out the main viewing wall, or even from the swimming deck unless you try. The décor may be described as “bungalow chic”—polished wood floor, large claw-foot tubs, fine linens, those wonderful beds and modern amenities like high-speed Internet. We had cocktails—and breakfast, too—at Toetea, the over-water bar in the center of the walkways. It’s a great spot for a buffet. On this first night, the planners on the trip were offered a “room” gift—a selection of Maui Jim sunglasses they could choose from. Maui Jim generally sells its high-end wares to the incentive market in this niche, and specializes in sending representatives to an incentive destination to help attendees choose and custom fit the shades. It was a hit with this group, as barbecue dinner on the beach— a great and enormous spread next to the resort’s Rotui Bar and Grill. The next night’s dinner, served on tables on the beach, was catered by Arii Vahine, the resort’s excellent, seafood-centric French Polynesian restaurant. A local singer serenaded us one night, followed by traditional fire-dancing the next. Moorea is a heart-shaped, mountain island perfect for a scavenger hunt by car. Our group worked with Painapo The great lawn of the Sheraton Tahiti, our group’s first stop in French Polynesia Jumping into the coral-studded water surrounding the Bora Bora Nui’s over-water bungalows brings you into a world filled with darting, but curious, jewel-colored sea life was the bar itself. At night, the lagoon around it is lit up, displaying coral and, thanks to regular feedings, the jewel-colored fish, rays and small sharks as well as the bar’s mascot, a sizable moray eel. The first night we had a Beach Paradise, a restaurant/ event space/activity planner on a discovery rally. (To translate: It’s not a race. Which didn’t prevent us from treating it as one.) It ended at Painapo’s very laid-back, open-air barbecue restaurant, which overlooks a | December 2008 | Incentive | 41 incentivemag.com http://www.boraboraisland.com/bloodymarys http://www.tahiti-tourisme.com http://www.starwoodtahiti.com http://painapo.com http://www.robertwan.com http://www.incentivemag.com
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