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For our Bora Bora trip in July 2018, half of our stay was at the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa. We reserved all of our nights using points and free night certificates. Here's how to book a trip to Bora Bora with the new Chase IHG Products.

[ Oct 2020 Update ] The Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card currently has an increased offer of 140,000 points and the $89 annual fee is waived the first year.

The benefit of booking with points is that you'll avoid paying for taxes and additional charges out of pocket.

Points + Cash

The optimal strategy for booking nights in Bora Bora is to use points + cash if you only have at least 100,000 points from the Chase IHG Premier bonus so you can reserve two nights. Choose the 50,000 points + 125 USD rate.

Ideally, you're in Player 2 mode so you can book a total of four nights if you both have the IHG card.

Spending:
= 2 x Points + Cash
= 100k IHG + $250

Getting:
= 2 nights x rack rate ($959.97)
= ~$1,920 in value

CPP:
= ($1,920 value - $250 cash) / 100k IHG
= $1,670 / 100k = 1.67 CPP

By booking the IHG Bora Bora properties, you're getting at least 1.67 CPP  in value.

How to Book IHG Bora Bora Properties

The most frequently asked question we receive is.."theory is nice Seb, but how do we actually book the nights?" Finding availability for reward nights or points to use in Bora Bora is the biggest hurdle.

The first step to booking the IHG properties is to bookmark the landing page for the reward nights: https://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/find-hotels/hotel/list?qDest=Bora%20Bora,%20French%20Polynesia&qCiMy=72018&qCiD=19&qCoMy=72018&qCoD=20&qAdlt=1&qChld=0&qRms=1&qRtP=6CBARC.IVANI&qAkamaiCC=US&qSrt=sDD&qBrs=ic.ki.ul.in.cp.vn.hi.ex.cv.rs.va.cw.sb.ma&qAAR=6CBARC.IVANI&srb_u=1&qRad=30

• Change the search dates to your desired ones and bookmark the page accordingly
• If you want to stay at Le Moana, there's often plenty of availability
• If you want to stay at Thalasso, you'll need to check back often (multiple times a day) for availability

For me, I checked my desired dates multiple times a day for a whole month to find reward availability.

Dates are usually released 4 months in advance. Don't be afraid to split your time between Le Moana and Thalasso.

If I had to do my trip again, I would spend half my nights in Le Moana and the other half in Thalasso. The benefit of Le Moana is that it's on the main island and you have access to more reasonably priced restaurants and food. The only con is that you are not guaranteed an overwater villa.

For Thalasso, you'll pay a premium for food, but you're guaranteed an overwater villa. If you need to take the IHG shuttle boat to Le Moana after 2:15 PM, you'll have to pay a 2770 XPF (as of July 2018) fee per person, per one-way ticket.

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