IHG Signs the Reflag
IHG Hotels & Resorts signed an agreement with Pacific Beachcomber on 16 September 2026 to convert the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa into Regent Bora Bora. IHG datelined the release from Sydney. Rajit Sukumaran, IHG's senior vice president and managing director for East Asia and Pacific, and Richard Bailey, founder and chairman of Pacific Beachcomber, marked the signing at Regent Hong Kong.
The resort closed on 1 June 2026 for renovation. It reopens under the Regent flag in late 2027. Regent holds no other address in French Polynesia.
The Asset on the Lagoon
The resort holds 84 villas on a private motu at the eastern edge of Bora Bora's lagoon. IHG describes an exclusively overwater property with direct lagoon access and views towards Mount Otemanu and the open Pacific. The operator's own page names the islet Motu Piti Aau.
The property was the first hotel in the world to run a seawater air-conditioning system. The system draws cold water from the Pacific depths to cool the resort. IHG states it cut the electricity otherwise required for air conditioning and refrigeration by around 90 percent. The system stays in service under Regent Bora Bora.
Three Regent brand hallmarks apply at the address. Personal Havens are spaces built for retreat. Regent Experience Agents give guests one point of contact from pre-arrival to departure. With Compliments covers inclusions inside the guest experience.
The Benefit Set the Address Leaves
InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply at InterContinental properties. The membership set ends at this address when the flag changes.
Ambassador members lose four items here. A guaranteed one-category room upgrade. A guaranteed 4 p.m. check-out. A complimentary weekend night certificate. And the compensation IHG pays when a guaranteed benefit is not delivered. That compensation is a US$50 restaurant, bar or spa credit or 10,000 IHG One Rewards points.
Royal Ambassador members held a guaranteed two-category upgrade, a guaranteed 10 a.m. early check-in and two complimentary breakfasts per night in the main restaurant where the property has no Club InterContinental lounge. All of it ends at this address.
IHG One Rewards members keep their benefits through the change. Regent grants members the same benefits as most other IHG brands.
The Second InterContinental on the Island
Pacific Beachcomber operates the InterContinental Bora Bora Le Moana Resort at Matira Point. That resort stays under the InterContinental flag. Bora Bora keeps one InterContinental address and its Ambassador benefits.
Pacific Beachcomber's portfolio also carries The Brando, the InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa, the Maitai Polynesia Bora Bora, the Maitai Rangiroa and the Maitai Lapita Village Huahine. The group's own site states it has traded in French Polynesia for over 25 years.
Three InterContinentals Have Already Moved
Regent has taken former InterContinental addresses before. The InterContinental Hong Kong closed in April 2020 and reopened as Regent Hong Kong in 2023. The InterContinental Carlton Cannes returned after a two-year renovation as Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel. IHG announced in 2025 that InterContinental Melbourne the Rialto becomes Regent Melbourne with completion in 2030, in a deal that moves three Crowne Plaza properties up to InterContinental.
Regent's published portfolio names Hong Kong, Santa Monica, Phu Quoc, Cannes, Shanghai and Bali. Bora Bora joins that list at reopening.
The Next Conversion Is the Author's Guess
The source article names two candidates. It puts forward the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam on the ground that Katara Hospitality owns the property and Katara also converted Carlton Cannes. It puts forward the InterContinental Bordeaux Le Grand Hotel on the ground of the building's history and its two Michelin-star restaurant. IHG has announced neither.
The same article states that the Bora Bora resort was often reluctant to honour some or all Ambassador benefits. That is the author's assessment of the property. It carries no figure and no named source.
What IHG Has Not Published
IHG publishes no capital figure for the transformation, no rate and no change to the villa count. The release gives a reopening in late 2027 without a date. The Regent flag's first revenue nights carry no published start.