Hilton Deathmatch: Conrad Rangali vs. Hilton Bora Bora vs. Conrad Koh Samui

11 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, Hilton

Tags

Bora Bora, Conrad Koh Samui, Conrad Rangali, Hilton Bora Bora, Koh Samui, Maldives, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Mrs. Selfish and I recently completed a stay at the Conrad Rangali in the Maldives, back in November of last year. In the miles & points world, this was considered one of the most desirable Hilton properties in the world, up there with the Conrad Koh Samui and Hilton Bora Bora.

Somehow we managed to stay at all three properties last year, so I thought I’d do a comparison post explaining their relative strengths and weaknesses.

While Mrs. Selfish and I like traveling in luxury, we’re actually tremendous cheapskates – so I’ll be rating each of the properties by what you get for your hard spent cash. Not necessarily who is the best, but who gives you the most bang for your buck.

Editor’s Note: If you’re deciding between the three properties it’s a decent read (or if you like pretty pictures of tropical locales), otherwise it is a loooong post.

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Now THIS is Living: The Selfish’s Top 10 Stays

05 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, Africa, Asia, Australia, Best Of, Europe, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Oceania

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Conrad Koh Samui, Hilton Bora Bora, Hilton Queenstown, Intercontinental Danang, Paris, Park Hyatt Sydney, Park Hyatt Tokyo, Riad Pachavana, Ryokan Sanga, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Prior to our year of reckless traveling, Mrs. Selfish and I only splurged once on a hotel, staying at the Sofitel Hanoi for our Honeymoon. Otherwise, business as usual was a 3-4 star hotel using sites like hotels.com.

And then I discovered the world of miles and points.

With a bank roll of millions of hotel points, spread out over 5 different hotel programs, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to spend our year abroad in style – hitting up some of the travel hacking community’s go-to destinations.

Here’s the 10 best places we stayed in chronological order. Some are miles and points accessible, though some can only be paid for with cold, hard cash!

Room with a view: Airbnb in Paris

Mrs. Selfish and I spent an amazing 6 weeks in Paris in Montmartre, the same Arrondissement where the movie Amelie takes place. Taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Paris was something I’ll never forget, and certainly nothing screamed “Paris” quite as much as waking up to a view of the Sacré-Cœur every morning.

Anyone interested in renting the same flat can do so at Airbnb.

The Riad Pachavana: The full Moroccan Experience

Mrs. Selfish and I arrived in Marrakech, disoriented and utterly confused. Marrakech’s old town is maze of twisting streets and Aladdin-style scamming street rats, children who try to get you lost so you’ll pay them to take you to your hotel.

Nevertheless, we quickly succumbed to Marrakech’s charms – especially after staying at the lovely Riad Pachavana, which we saved $150 on thanks to three Expedia BRG coupons.

For more, check out our full post on the Riad Pachavana.

Staying in Protected Palawan: El Nido Resorts

In the Philippines we were fortunate enough to stay at El Nido, located on Palawan – a protected island south west of Manila. Accessible only by a small private plane (max capacity of < 50), El Nido is a beautiful, isolated paradise. Despite being an all-inclusive resort, the food and activities were pretty great. Plus they have a killer happy hour with an amazing view.

For more information on Palawan check out our full trip report.

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The Good and Bad Eats of Bora Bora

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, Food & Drinks, French Polynesia, Hilton, Oceania

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Tags

Bora Bora, Hilton Bora Bora, Oceania, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Editor’s note: This is the third of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

Like the rest of French Polynesia, Bora Bora has a rich food tradition with heavy French and Chinese influences. Unfortunately, the Hilton maintains the brand’s tradition of serving very average food at marked up prices – so what’s a hapless foodie supposed to do?

Eating at the Hilton Bora Bora – The Bad

The Hilton Bora Bora has three restaurants:

Tamure Grill – serves breakfast and casual meals
Iratai Restaurant – serves Polynesian cuisine or Mediterranean food (i.e. French)
Upa Upa Restaurant – located at the Spa. Serves some sort of mystery cuisine.

After reading flyertalk posts, I figured the hotel food would be mediocre and over-priced. As it turns out, the prices were fairly reasonable (at least by hotel standards).

EATING AT THE TAMUR GRILL

Mrs. Selfish and I ended up eating a few meals at the Tamur Grill before we got wise. Since the menu is the same for lunch and dinner, I’ll post ‘em all here.

The Fish of the Day (2900 XPF – about $31) – a firm white fish served on top of a bed of vegetables with a side of fries and a vanilla sauce. Mrs. Selfish was excited to try the vanilla sauce, which was supposed to be a specialty of the region. Unfortunately, the hotel’s version was simply too sweet – the fish itself was decent, but at $30+ this was pretty disappointing.

VERDICT: Pass

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Fun in Paradise at the Hilton Bora Bora

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, French Polynesia, Hilton, Oceania, Travel Hacking

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

AXON award, Bora Bora, Hilton, Hilton Bora Bora, Oceania, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tahiti, Travel Hacking

Editor’s note: This is the second of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

Today is a continuation of yesterday’s post on the Hilton Bora Bora. Whereas yesterday I was talking about how to get to this amazing resort, and how beautiful Bora Bora is, today I’ll be discussing what you can actually do there – other than the usual relaxing, eating, and napping, and taking long walks on the beach.

I jest of course, though there are plenty of beaches for strolling if you like that kind of thing. Not those shelly beaches either – these are powdery sandy white beaches!

Diving in Bora Bora

Since Mrs. Selfish and I are both certified divers, we decided a dive in the crystal blue-green waters of Bora Bora was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, options in Bora Bora are pretty limited, with only 4 companies. The 2 larger ones felt a little crowded and impersonal to us, so we ended up going with Dive N’ Smile, which was a one man operation run by Patrick.

Patrick picked us up promptly from the Hilton and suited us up. Not only was his equipment brand new (and very nice!), but he also had steel tanks, which is not something we’ve never seen before.

Although the reefs around Bora Bora are dead, thanks to a hurricane that ripped it up a few years, there is a ton of wild life! We ended up spotting half a dozen lemon sharks, a giant school of blue-spotted eagle rays, and a couple of very active eels.

$DCIM\100GOPRO$ $DCIM\100GOPRO$ $DCIM\100GOPRO$

Visibility was great, the animals were amazing, and the equipment and instruction were on point. Overall this was definitely one of our better dive experiences and I would highly recommend Dive N’ Smile. If anyone is thinking of going, shoot Patrick an email at: diveNsmile@mail.pf.

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5 Nights at the Insanely Beautiful Hilton Bora Bora

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Accommodations, French Polynesia, Hilton, Oceania, Travel Hacking

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

AXON award, Bora Bora, Hilton, Hilton Bora Bora, Oceania, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tahiti, Travel Hacking

Editor’s note: This is the first of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

After our evening of cold croque monsieurs in Tahiti, Mrs. Selfish and I awoke early the next day and boarded a plane for Bora Bora, one of the most beautiful (and expensive) places on Earth.

Having read good things about the Hilton Bora Bora, I was anxious to check out our new home for 5 nights – an overwater bungalow in some of the most magnificent waters I’d ever seen. I booked the stay before the Hilton Honors great devaluation using an AXON award and an extra night, so the total came to 195,000 HHonors points.

Getting there and check-in

Getting to Tahiti itself can be quite difficult on miles and points, though flyertalk has several threads devoted to the topic as I mentioned yesterday.

Once you’ve reached Tahiti the intra-island flight from to Bora Bora is costly at roughly ~$450 round trip. Air Tahiti Nui has multiple flights a day starting in the early morning and ending mid-evening, but unfortunately none of these accept points or miles, just cold hard cash.

Pro-tip: Sit on the left side of the plane for stellar views of Bora Bora

After landing, you have two options for getting to the Hilton Bora Bora: a) take Hilton’s fancy speedboat to the property for roughly $125 per person round trip, b) take the boat into Viatape (the main town) and then catch Hilton’s boat from there for roughly $8 round trip. While we chose option B, we ended up giving our bags to crew of Hilton’s speedboat, which they brought to the hotel for us. I highly recommend this option.

Getting to Bora Bora proved more difficult than most destinations: with 2 flights to Tahiti, a plane to Bora Bora, a shuttle boat to Viatape, and a boat to the Hilton Bora Bora, but man is it worth it.

Bora Bora is easily the most beautiful beach destination we’ve ever been to, beating out Koh Samui, Bali, Danang, and Cancun. Since Mrs. Selfish and I wanted to maximize our time at the resort, we took a late-morning flight in, and an early evening flight out and boy was I glad we did, the Hilton Bora Bora is gorgeous.

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Tag Archives: Hilton Bora Bora

Hilton Deathmatch: Conrad Rangali vs. Hilton Bora Bora vs. Conrad Koh Samui