The Signing
IHG Hotels & Resorts signed an agreement with Pacific Beachcomber to convert the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa into Regent Bora Bora. IHG announced the deal on 16 September 2026. The conversion brings Regent its first property in French Polynesia.
Rajit Sukumaran, IHG's senior vice president and managing director for East Asia and the Pacific, and Richard Bailey, founder and chairman of Pacific Beachcomber, marked the signature at Regent Hong Kong.
The Asset and the Timeline
The resort shut on 1 June 2026 for extensive renovations. It reopens under the Regent flag in late 2027. The closure runs roughly a year and a half. The resort traded for 20 years before the closure.
The property holds 84 villas. Every villa sits over water. The site is a private motu called Motu Piti Aau, on the eastern edge of the Bora Bora lagoon, with direct lagoon access and views toward Mount Otemanu and the open Pacific.
Regent will install three of its brand programmes. Personal Havens are retreat spaces inside the resort. Regent Experience Agents give each guest one point of contact from pre-arrival through departure. With Compliments covers the brand's package of included items.
The Rate Frame
Regent and InterContinental sit in the same IHG collection. IHG groups both under Luxury & Lifestyle, alongside Six Senses, Vignette Collection, Kimpton and Hotel Indigo. Guests earn and redeem in one currency, IHG One Rewards, which IHG counts at more than 160 million members.
The villa count stays at 84. The repositioning changes the rate the asset can hold. Revenue managers pricing Bora Bora for the 2027 to 2028 season should treat the converted resort as a new rate reference inside the lagoon.
IHG describes Regent as its expression of modern upper luxury. Regent already trades in Hong Kong, Santa Monica, Phu Quoc, Cannes, Shanghai and Bali. IHG acquired the brand in 2018.
The Distribution Footprint
InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort remains open under the InterContinental brand. InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa remains open. InterContinental Moorea Resort & Spa closed permanently in 2020.
The conversion leaves two InterContinental addresses in the islands once the Thalasso changes flags in late 2027.
Pacific Beachcomber operates the resort and IHG supplies the brand and the distribution. Pacific Beachcomber describes itself as a leading hospitality group in French Polynesia. Its portfolio lists The Brando on Tetiaroa, InterContinental resorts in Tahiti and Bora Bora, the InterContinental Bora Bora Thalasso Spa under conversion, and Maitai properties on Bora Bora, Rangiroa and Huahine.
The Sustainability Plant
The resort was the first hotel in the world to run a seawater air-conditioning system. The plant draws cold water from the depths of the Pacific and uses it to cool the buildings. IHG states the system cut the electricity otherwise needed for air conditioning and refrigeration by around 90 percent. It will keep running under Regent.
The Portfolio Context
IHG reports 21 brands, more than one million rooms across 7,000 hotels in over 100 countries, and a development pipeline of 2,400 properties. That pipeline now holds a South Pacific address.
What to Watch
Three items carry the risk. The owner has no rooms to sell until late 2027. Regent has no trading history in French Polynesia to price against. IHG must load the property into its booking channels before the first reservation can be taken.