I had fantasized of the overwater bungalows and the still, turquoise waters of Bora Bora for many years, but a trip to French Polynesia seemed like a pipe dream. For me, the high resort prices are completely unattainable, and I felt like I needed a special occasion to justify a fancy vacation in Bora Bora.

However, a text from a friend saying, “Conrad Bora Bora wide open at standard rates,” made this trip a reality. The sheer availability of standard rooms was occasion enough, and I thought, “If not now, when?” I texted another friend, and the trip was no longer a fantasy—it was on my calendar; it was official.

Here’s how I booked a trip to French Polynesia using a lot of points and some cash to make the dream a reality.

Overwater bungalows at the InterContinental Resort Tahiti | Photo by Anya Kartashova

Overwater bungalows at the InterContinental Resort Tahiti | Photo by Anya Kartashova

Points and Miles Breakdown

The flight costs are listed per person, and the lodging was split between two people.

DestinationCurrency Used
Salt Lake City to Papeete flight (round-trip)73,091 Ultimate Rewards points (using the Chase travel portal)
InterContinental Resort Tahiti – one night66,000 IHG One Rewards points
Ferry to Moorea (round-trip, per person)$28.15
A sailboat B&B in Moorea – three nights$291.65
Tahiti to Bora Bora flight (round-trip)$460.39
Conrad Bora Bora Nui – five nights356,000 Hilton Honors points (with the fifth night free)
$2.57 eco reef fee per night
$3.43 city tax per night

Booking the Flights

An aerial view of Bora Bora from a regional prop plane operated by Air Tahiti. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

An aerial view of Bora Bora from a regional prop plane operated by Air Tahiti. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

Only a few airlines fly to Papeete, Tahiti, the only international airport in French Polynesia, so there aren’t many choices to begin with. My friend and I settled on United Airlines because it was the least expensive.

The flight from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Papeete (PPT) with a layover in San Francisco (SFO) in both directions came to $1,096.37 or 73,091 Ultimate Rewards points if booked through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal using the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, whose points are worth 1.5 cents each in the portal.

The same flight booked through the United MileagePlus program was listed for 70,000 miles + $60.

payment summary

In the end, I redeemed Ultimate Rewards points through the portal booking because the redemption rate was nearly identical. A portal booking is considered a revenue booking, so I earned 6,888 United MileagePlus miles (including the bonus miles for being a Premier Silver member) on this itinerary.

I also got upgraded to first class on the domestic leg from Salt Lake City to San Francisco on the outbound—something that doesn’t happen on awards booked with MileagePlus miles unless you hold select co-branded United credit cards, which I don’t.

Air Tahiti is the only carrier that provides inter-island travel in French Polynesia

Air Tahiti is the only carrier that provides inter-island travel in French Polynesia. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

However, the cost of the domestic flight from Tahiti to Bora Bora (BOB) and back was astronomical. A 40-minute flight shouldn’t cost $230 per direction if you ask me, but because Air Tahiti is the sole operator of these domestic flights between the islands, the price is the price, and there’s nothing you can do (unless you’re a good swimmer).

Booking the Hotels

Bora Bora

This is actually what fueled this entire trip in the first place. Hilton made standard rooms at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui available for 89,000 points per night, which happens once or twice per year. I had to jump on this opportunity, but there was one problem—I had nothing but a few hundred points in my Hilton Honors account.

I messaged a friend of mine, who travels with me quite a bit and who travels for work sometimes, to ask if she had any Hilton points. Indeed, she had more than 200,000 Hilton points accumulated from work travel, so I made a proposition to join forces.

Standard nights at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui are rarely available on points

Standard nights at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui are rarely available on points. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have many Hilton points, but I had access to some. We narrowed down our dates, and I transferred American Express Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors at a rate of 1:2 and then transferred the Hilton points to my friend via the points pooling option. The whole process took a few minutes.

This is why we at 10xTravel recommend earning transferable bank points instead of hotel- or airline-specific points and miles. I hadn’t collected enough Hilton Honors points, but having access to a variety of flexible currencies meant I was ready to book a lavish trip to a pricey destination on a whim after a quick rewards transfer.

In the end, we used a combined total of 356,000 Hilton Honors points to book five nights at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui while taking advantage of the fifth night free benefit.

The perk is available to all Hilton Honors elite members, and my friend was a Gold Elite at the time of booking, so she was able to book five nights for the price of four. We were booked into the king lagoon view suite.

room plan

There was not much time to think, and I’m glad we didn’t. The standard room availability vanished like an ace of spades in a magician’s hand the very next day.

After the reservation was made, but before our stay, my friend opened the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card to reach Diamond Elite status in hopes of an upgrade to a water villa. Unfortunately, the plan didn’t pan out, and we didn’t get upgraded to any room because the resort was at 90% capacity during our stay. Still, the 1,081-square-foot lagoon view suite was quite nice with plenty of room for us both.

A king lagoon view suite is considered a standard room at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui
A king lagoon view suite is considered a standard room at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui2
A king lagoon view suite is considered a standard room at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui
A king lagoon view suite is considered a standard room at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui. | Photo by Anya Kartashova
A king lagoon view suite is considered a standard room at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui. | Photo by Anya Kartashova
A king lagoon view suite is considered a standard room at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

Our chosen flights to and from French Polynesia allowed us to stay nine nights on the islands. After locking down our five award nights at the Conrad, we chose to book one night in Tahiti and three nights in Moorea leading up to our stay in Bora Bora.

Tahiti

Based on the ferry schedule and our evening arrival time in Papeete, we had to stay one night in Tahiti.

InterContinental Resort Tahiti | Photo by Anya Kartashova

InterContinental Resort Tahiti | Photo by Anya Kartashova

Because my friend ended up using more of her Hilton points, I used my IHG One Rewards points to book a night at the InterContinental Resort Tahiti. At first, there was no availability on the date we needed, but I kept checking the website like a hawk, and eventually a reward night became available for 66,000 IHG points.

redeemed points for reward night stay

Beyond this one night, we didn’t spend much time in Papeete, but we woke up early (still on Mountain Time) and spent the morning at the resort before catching an afternoon ferry to Moorea.

Keep in mind that IHG uses dynamic pricing, meaning the award rate can go up or down based on season, demand and how far in advance you book, so your rate may vary.

Moorea

As for Moorea, we had thought about redeeming Hilton points at the Hilton Moorea Lagoon & Spa until I came across an interesting option on Booking.com—a sailboat. Yes, you read that right, a sailboat was listed as a lodging option in Moorea.

A sailboat provided an unusual accommodation option in Moorea

A sailboat provided an unusual accommodation option in Moorea. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

I had never stayed on a sailboat before, so I figured what the heck. My friend was just as enthusiastic about the possibility of spending a few days on a watercraft, so I reserved a small cabin for three nights.

The lovely couple who runs this unconventional bed-and-breakfast moved to French Polynesia from France about a year and a half ago, bought a sailboat and listed two spare rooms on a couple of vacation rental websites.

As you can probably imagine, the hosts didn’t have a card reader on the boat, so I didn’t earn any points on this stay, but it was a unique experience nonetheless.

An ATV tour presented a great opportunity to witness Moorea’s natural beauty. | Photo courtesy of Anya Kartashova

An ATV tour presented a great opportunity to witness Moorea’s natural beauty. | Photo courtesy of Anya Kartashova

In Moorea, my friend and I hit up a few restaurants, went sailing and joined an ATV tour to get to know the island a little more. I quite enjoyed the rugged landscape of Moorea and recommend including an ATV tour in your French Polynesia adventure if you plan a trip to the islands.

Transportation

In Tahiti, we used taxis to go from the airport to the InterContinental and then again to the ferry to Moorea. The rates from the airport to the hotels are fixed, and cars have meters for rides to unlisted destinations. Taxis don’t accept credit cards, so make sure you withdraw CFP francs from the ATM upon arrival.

I always carry my Schwab Bank Visa Platinum Debit Card for such occasions. The card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees or withdrawal fees and even reimburses ATM fees at the end of the month, which makes it easy to withdraw foreign currency.

A 40-minute ferry is the most convenient way to reach Moorea from Papeete. Two companies operate the ferries, Aremiti and Terevau. We chose Aremiti because it offered more departure times, and it worked best with our schedule. We purchased the tickets at the ferry terminal with a credit card about 20 minutes before departure.

Aremiti is one of two companies operating ferries between Tahiti and Moorea

Aremiti is one of two companies operating ferries between Tahiti and Moorea. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

Moorea has a laid-back feel to it, and hitchhiking is a convenient option if you don’t want to rent a scooter or a car, which turned out to be in short supply on the island, according to a few fellow travelers we met.

My friend and I took a bus to our accommodation but later found it easy to hitchhike to a supermarket and to the restaurants we wanted to try. A couple of nice women even gave us a ride back to the ferry while it was raining cats and dogs. We must have looked incredibly sad with our soaked luggage and wet thumbs out in the torrential downpour.

As for Bora Bora, the Conrad is located on a small island away from the main attractions, so a hotel boat picked us up from the airport. This can be arranged for a fee directly with the hotel.

A dedicated Conrad boat provides shuttle service between the hotel and the resort (for a fee). | Photo by Anya Kartashova

A dedicated Conrad boat provides shuttle service between the hotel and the resort (for a fee). | Photo by Anya Kartashova

It’s possible to take a shuttle from the resort to the main island, but unfortunately, a heavy swell anchored most smaller-sized boats and prevented us from going there for the first couple of days. The weather got better by the end of our stay, but we both felt like enjoying the final rays of sunshine and chose not to venture out to town.

COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

At the time of my trip in July 2022, coronavirus tests weren’t required for vaccinated travelers to enter French Polynesia. A booster was required for those with the most recent vaccination being older than nine months, but we were within those limits as well.

On the islands, there were no restrictions, no masks and no problems. The United States dropped its testing requirements as well, so we didn’t need to do anything before our flight home.

Final Thoughts

The sun sets behind the overwater bungalows at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui

The sun sets behind the overwater bungalows at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui. | Photo by Anya Kartashova

I’ve been traveling using points and miles for years, but I still get giddy every time I redeem credit-card rewards for trips.

Even though we didn’t get upgraded to an overwater bungalow and the waters were far from calm during the swell, a trip to Bora Bora booked with points didn’t leave me “poora poora.” Having the right currency in the right places helped me make a last-minute decision and bring a desirable but expensive destination within reach.