Moana Sands Beachfront Hotel

10/10

Exceptional

17 May 2026

Jemma

We were moved to the Moana Sands Beachfront Villas for our stay.
10/10 amazing! We would stay here again.

The staff were amazing and friendly. Clean room every day. They gave us late check out without even having to ask.
Ever early morning there would be men outside cleaning the pool and raking the sand so it looked picture perfect every day. They did a great job.

Great location, more remote then staying near the airport but the most beautiful beach/coast and close to the turtles.
Right next to the Wigmores supermarket and pizza restaurant and a cafe.
5 min drive to the Muri night market.

Beautiful big rooms with ocean view. Beach access and the pool.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

27 Apr 2026

Gary

I had ants in my room. It's beautiful and the staff is very friendly. The room above kept moving/dragging their furniture continuously.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

03 Nov 2025

Gavin Peter

We had a fabulous holiday the staff were very friendly and the location is awesome…the hotel is next to one of the best snorkeling on the island 😊

10/10

Exceptional

01 Nov 2025

Richard

It was the perfect location for beach access, the staff were super friendly and accommodating, plenty of water sport equipment and the room was spacious.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

28 Oct 2025

claire

this is the second time we have stayed here and it is such good value for the money, amazing spot, clean and tidy. Will def stay again and again

10/10

Exceptional

26 Oct 2025

Sharon

The property was lovely right on the beach, it had a relaxed feeling about the place, the staff were amazing such beautiful people. They accommodated our earlier morning arrival of 0630hrs. Nothing was a bother to them happy to go out of the way to help you. Look forward in returning to CI in the future.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

18 Oct 2025

Maree

The staff were amazing and so friendly and atentive . The beach and snorkeling out the front of the hotel was great. Beautiful clear water lots of fish to see and so quiet. Rooms were clean and comfortable beds. I will definitely return for a stay here

Leisure Friends

6/10

Pleasant

26 Sep 2025

Ivana

Did not use

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

05 Sep 2025

Barbara

Not too commercial, great snorkelling, friendly staff, good restaurant, love location

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

20 Aug 2025

David Elliot

Beautiful hotel and good staff but you’ll need to get your own wifi ☹️

Business_and_leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

11 Aug 2025

Jonathan

Great Ocean Views. Lovely staff. Clean, well appointed rooms. Free breakfast. Can walk straight onto the beach. Little restaurant/bar for eves.

Leisure

10/10

Exceptional

04 Aug 2025

catherine

Very comfortable and clean. Great beach for snorkelling and playing

8/10

Excellent

27 Jun 2025

Noemi

Really enjoyed our stay especially for money value..Room was spacious and bathroom excellent.. Beachfront was clean and relaxing..Breakfast was the best of the 3 hotels we stayed at. Staff very friendly.. The bad news are the ridiculous taxi fares. For example if a family of 4 want to go to a restaurant a kilometere away. It will cost $280..4x$35 one way and return the same. A real tourist turn off.Why dont Hotels have shuttle buses,,

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

14 Jun 2025

Scott James

Pros: Great location, lovely beach access, friendly staff.

Cons:
Very noisy, you can hear footsteps constantly if you are not on the top floor. Made sleeping very difficult.
Breakfast buffet is very limited.

Pros outweigh the cons however.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

23 May 2025

Ilona

I asked for a downstairs room to walk straight onto beach and to the water, just as in the picture. It was perfect.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

16 May 2025

Ruth

Staff were all very helpful and friendly

Leisure

6/10

Pleasant

05 May 2025

Amy

The property is in a good location snorkelling wise with a nice view. It’s debatable if we would stay here again, most likely not as you can hear neighbour noise IE moving furniture, talking and the cleaners make a fair bit of noise. Not ideal when you have had a late night and wish to sleep in or just have peace in general. The shower pressure would drop to almost a dribble when someone I’m guessing in another room was using the shower. The food was diabolical don’t eat there but the drinks were great. The room itself was spacious and had a great view and was clean. We would try one of their sister properties

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

05 Apr 2025

Debbie

Great location

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

21 Mar 2025

Robert Patrick Gerrard

Loved our stay. Everything is there including snorkel items. Amazing kai. We have stayed aunt other places on the same strip and Moana Sands has the best sea life for snorkelling. Can’t wait to come back

10/10

Exceptional

14 Mar 2025

PETER

All the staff were excellent, friendly and so helpful. Thats always the most important.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

21 Jan 2025

Sherry

The beach was so beautiful, safe to swim, would have taken my own snorkel if I had know how great the area was. Our room was on the bottom floor, so we could go out our doors right out to the beach. The outdoor dining was just a few steps from our room. The food was great, so were the drinks. One drink in particular was great, called a Mud Lover. The staff was great, especially Ryan, very friendly and helpful. Marvin was also great. One thing I would recommend would be to rent a car at least for a couple days, everything is very spread out, no shopping close to the hotel. There is a bus there can get you around and we did use it everyday. Overall I would highly recommend this hotel. There is not a swimming pool here, but I was very comfortable swimming in the ocean.

Leisure Friends

4/10

Poor

07 Jan 2025

Adam Paul

They closed the reception desk early, closed the restaurant and bar on a Saturday night, their restaurant food was awful - had two dishes, one was undercooked packet crumbed fish and the other was overcooked packet crumbed wings, cooked to the extent that the outside was hard and the meat inside all but disintegrated. The staff had fun playing darts while patrons picked through broken snorkel gear. Their breakfast spread was very basic and once they agreed to turn the toaster on, it took about 8 minutes to cook a slice of stale toast. Mozzies were rampant. Waiter looked at patrons like they were an interruption to this work. The floors are thin and people walking on the floor above us sounded like elephants doing circus work. Have to boil water for drinking in their kettle - no bottled water provided. Awful place to stay at and given the very high expense, we expected much more.

10/10

Exceptional

21 Dec 2024

Christian

Very nice, middle of the road lodgings in a gorgeous setting on an incredible beach.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

21 Dec 2024

Tuakana

Cool

4/10

Poor

03 Dec 2024

D

Below average food

For a quality hotel, expensive for what it was, it was quite pathetic, that they don’t even have Wi-Fi, it’s available, but you have to purchase extra…
Also, food served, including breakfast was very poor.
only positive is that it is in a nice location on the beach, but just about every other place on the island is on the beach

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

29 Nov 2024

Sharon Lee

We have stayed twice now at Moana Sands Beachfront Hotel. Absolute beachfront . Perfect for swimming and snorkelling . Great food and cocktails downstairs at the restaurant . Quiet location . The local shop is less than 1 km walk up the road, as is 2 other highly recommended eateries . ( Charlie’s and Little Polynesian) It was perfect for everything we needed and highly recommend. The staff were amazing

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

21 Nov 2024

Marissa

I like the ocean front view, the staff was so incredibly helpful n excellent service. The only thing i dont like was no outlet in the bathroom.

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

18 Nov 2024

MEGAN

The beach was beautiful and snorkling was great.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

11 Oct 2024

Michele

I liked the feeling of living on the beach. Wasn't keen on the food but that might just be me.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

30 Sep 2024

David

Absolutely loved everything about the place. The staff were super friendly and very accommodating always happy to help and always smiling. Amazing beautiful place to spend our 20 year wedding anniversary Thankyou

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

12 Sep 2024

Scott

Great spot

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

31 Jul 2024

erik

Staff was excellent as well as the food.

I loved the restaurant!

Stay at Moana Sands, you can't go wrong.

8/10

Excellent

22 Jun 2024

kenneth

Best location on the island!! Beach is awesome. Hotel is simple, nothing fancy. Not all the front staff were the most friendly, but weren’t rude! Housekeeping girls were great and friendly. Purpose of trip was r&r. Great place for that!!! Would definitely visit again

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

22 Jun 2024

Andy

Loved how close it was to the beach.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

15 Jun 2024

Sharon Lee

We have just stayed 5 nights at the Moana Sands Beachfront Hotel, and loved our stay . The view from our room was incredible . I feel I need to pay special attention to the restaurant and bar staff there . Our meals were amazing . The Chef there is both lovely and knows what he is doing . The food was so so good . We simply didn’t have a single meal we didn’t completely love . And Ryan the bartender was outstanding . Also a thumbs up for housekeeping . Who were both friendly , respectful , and just lovely in general . There were 2 shops within easy walking distance . And the local bus took us everywhere we needed to go
We will most definitely be back
Meitaki

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

14 Jun 2024

Verified traveler

Huge disappointment Not what was advertised

This lodging option in Rarotonga does not fit with a hotel style designation as is listed on Hotels.com It is a far cry from a 4 star hotel. It presents as apts or condos with only outdoor stairway access to rooms even to the 3rd floor The rooms have kitchens & a balcony The in room phones did not work There was not evenwiring for the phones either There are no elevators . There was a front desk attendant similar to a condo desk greeter. There is NO ONE at the front desk after 2 pm They are only there from 9 am - 2 pm and not on weekends . There is NO 24 hour front desk person. The phone in the room did not work There was no WiFi provided despite signs on the counter saying WiFi was available. Their advertising says restaurant on the premises. When we arrived at noon , the restaurant was quite closed and we were told it had been closed for 2 years ! But they still have the menu posted outside advertising the restaurant to drivers passing by. We quickly realized that if we stayed overnight , we would have been stranded without food, and no way to call a taxi or get back to the airport. The front desk attendant seemed unconcerned. Prior to the attendant leaving at 2 pm, we had him reluctantly use his cell phone to call us a taxi so we could quickly leave & try to find alternate accommodations at the last minute. We expected to have to sleep on the beach The taxi arrived, we got inside and we had no idea where to go or stay. The taxi driver helped us find a real hotel

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

10 Jun 2024

Kym

Excellent from the moment we checked in until Check out Staff were friendly and could not do enough for us. The food was amazing. Location was 5 star. Our room was right on the beach.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

11 May 2024

Linda

Very pleasant stay with kind and helpful staff.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

26 Apr 2024

Verified traveler

Love the Seaview room

We were staying at level 2, the Seaview was lovely. We went snorkelling just outside the hotel, many fish there. It is a small hotel, which is good, nice and chill.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

24 Apr 2024

Thirumala

Beautiful view from room balcony, Right on the lagoon; loved that suncreen was available when using equipment; Staff very friendly, helpful and knowledgable.Kitchenette was equipped for us (couple) would have preferred a microwave to reheat early-purchased meals/ leftovers

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

11 Mar 2024

Edwin

Small hotel, few guests, made it very secluded. Right on lagoon, all equipment provided. Staff all very friendly.

Only downside was breakfast buffet was closed for first half of our stay. Instead, we listed what we want, and a tray was brought up and we are in our room.

6/10

Pleasant

21 Feb 2024

Samuel

Pros
- Private beach is really nice
- Nice view from room balcony
- There was a bartender (can’t remember his name but think he’s the head bartender) but he was really nice - made us good cocktails and was super helpful/friendly

Cons
- Staff rude and unhelpful, especially a guy called Kieran that worked at reception, such a rude, dismissive person - him and the others were hesitant to call us taxis (because it cost them money) and told us to call them from our room. Also tried to request a switch to Moana Sands Resort (partner accommodation) and that whole process was painful, again were hesitant to call the resort to help facilitate and basically told us to sort it.
- Location isn’t ideal, it’s on the other side of the island from the airport, main town Avarua and in general most things. Definitely need a car or scooter - we wanted to hire e-bikes/bicycles but there was nothing around. Muri beach (where there’s some shops, cafes, resorts) is about a 35 min walk away and the only decent places that are close (within 5 min walking distance) is the Little Polynesian resort (nice food/coffee/view), Charlie’s restaurant (nice food, view and vibe) and Maire Nui Garden & Cafe although the cafe was closed for renovations until March/April.
- Breakfast is awful and basic, only ate there once
- Room isn’t bad, has aircon and sea view balcony but it’s a bit dated and the shower/water pressure was temperamental
- Accommodation in general is quite basic/dated and not much of a vibe

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

09 Dec 2023

Kenneth A

Beautiful beach. Just no lunch service except Sunday.

Business_and_leisure

10/10

Exceptional

03 Oct 2023

Todd

View of the ocean from every room. We stAyed downstairs and upstairs both had beautiful view of the ocean.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

29 Sep 2023

Todd

Pleasant

The stay was pleasant. Steps away from the beach. They give you free breakfast which is nice. Rooms are clean.

10/10

Exceptional

15 Jun 2023

Julia

We had an amazing time at the hotel. Complementary kayaks and breakfast were awesome. Location is one of the best snorkeling spots on the island. The room was spacious with a stunning ocean view and golden sand beach.
It was also great that the restaurant had some gluten-free options that is quite rare on the Island.

10/10

Exceptional

28 May 2023

Sandra

We liked that nothing was too much trouble. Very easy place to stay with everything in the room we needed. Great location on I believe the best beach in Rarotonga. Quite small and personal. Beach straight in front of our deck. We prefer this to a big resort and we had a real rest.
Sandi and Glen

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

15 May 2023

Ray

Such a nice place for a relaxing holiday. I loved the beach sand and the blue sea.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

31 Dec 2022

Lynda

Excellent stay, large spacious clean well-equipped rooms. Views and location top notch, one of the best sandy beaches with incredible snorkeling and swimming. Staff are very approachable and helpful. Great cocktails and restaurant. Ticks all the boxes! Thank you for a memorable holiday. We WILL BE RETURNING!!

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

19 Oct 2022

Karl

It needs a pool

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

21 Jun 2022

TSI CHUNG

Very average.

The selling point is the beach which is second to non. A few issues there: the breakfast is well below average with limited choices and boring not even eggs is included; coffee is not good at all. The paid wifi connection is a joke, I had to re-connect many times in my room and that applies to all the guests we came across. No room make up on Sunday without letting us know and I had to take my rubbish bins out myself. I won’t recommend this hotel to my friends.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

03 Aug 2021

Verified traveler

The staff we very friendly and extremely helpfull.
The bed was comfortable and the shower was fantastic.
The view is fantastic

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

22 Jun 2021

Verified traveler

New and we’ll fitted with great bathroom
Missing a microwave
No access to sky international and sports channels

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

02 Jun 2021

Elaine

Fabulous service and location

We were upgraded to Moana Sands Beachfront Villas even though we booked at the hotel. Loved the location right across the road from Wigmores. Amazing staff, lovely pool and fantastic snorkeling on the lagoon out front. Our accommodation was large and very comfortable with a fan and air conditioning. And they were great to deal with directly. Lovely large breakfasts of fresh fruits, yoghurt, cereal and toast and spreads to set you up for the day.

Friends_and_family Friends

8/10

Excellent

11 Mar 2020

Verified traveler

I stayed at the Lagoon property, which is only a couple of years old. The Beach front property, which was my original reservation, is still undergoing renovations. Since that fact was not mentioned on the website when I made the reservation they upgraded me to their Lagoon property.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

09 Feb 2020

Kathie

Beautiful views and great continental breakfast. Nice walk from there to Charlie's for dinner.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

02 Feb 2020

Verified traveler

The beachfront location is unbeatable. Staff were excellent.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

07 Dec 2019

Peter

Perfect, Perfect,Perfect!

A beachfront room in PARADISE! A CLEAN, COMFORTABLE ROOM with a room safe, hot water pot and a bottomless supply of tea and coffee unfailingly re-supplied by the excellent housekeeping dept. Tyne beach in front of our first floor room was manicured and raked every morning. Free kayaks and snorkel gear was used by us every day. Wonderful healthy fresh tropical fruit, yogurt, granola and fresh breads breakfast provided every morning. Front desk and dining room staff were friendly, helpful and wonderful. Thank you Chris!

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

17 Nov 2019

Verified traveler

All the staff made you very welcome it made our stay so pleasant after staying onewhere else on the island first we wish we had gone there in the beginning we will go back

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

05 Nov 2019

Verified traveler

The hotel sits right on the beach - and has great snorkeling a few metres of this beach. The rooms are a little tired but the view makes up for it. The breakfast is a simple continental - no frills - but this is reflected in the cost of your stay. Would absolutely stay here again. The staff were great.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

03 Nov 2019

Verified traveler

We have loved our stay at Moana Sands! The staff have been so friendly and helpful, everything ran smoothly from booking (email communication was excellent) to check out. We loved the complimentary breakfast, the location is great with a nice local bar just minutes away. The beach is beautiful - practically our own private beach! Our room was lovely and we made great use of the balcony overlooking the water. The hotel restaurant was also a bonus with delicious food, drinks and outdoor dining. We will be back!

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

14 Oct 2019

Stephanie

Great stay

Great stay. Wonderful friendly and informative staff. We had a studio on the beach front so could just step off the patio straight onto the beach. Continental breakfast was ok but more variety could be better especially if you stay for a longer period.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

13 Oct 2019

Verified traveler

Really friendly staff. Fantastic location and lagoon. Will definitely be back.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

13 Sep 2019

Verified traveler

Close to a very nce beach.Everything was great except for lighting in room.To dull fo older people

Business_and_leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

07 Sep 2019

NotDisclosed

Staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful, rooms clean, tidy and well furnished. Staff in the restaurant were exceptional in working around an unusual food allergy, the best service and catering for this we have experienced in a long time. Snorkelling outside the hotel was fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will be back. Thanks very much.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

07 Sep 2019

Karyn

A Lovely Small Hotel

A small hotel with only 17 rooms meant all the staff got to know us and were extremely helpful. The greatest asset of this hotel and site is the beach and snorkelling. Walk out of your room down the beautiful sandy beach and there is amazing snorkelling or kayaking. We saw a huge number of tropical fish and a turtle. The hotel supplies all you need for snorkelling or kayaking at no cost. The snorkelling from the beach was almost as good as the \"paid\" options available via commercial operators and was easily suitable for all the family. One family member was able to stand in the water and view tropical fish while his feet were still on the ground. The onsite restaurant serves amazing pizza at a reasonable price. A really quiet hotel, generally between 10pm and 8am there was little noise. Our room had the most incredible views out to the reef, photos on the website matched, what we experienced. One down side was the parking on the side of the road, at times this was full as staff also parked in this area. The building is in need of some maintenance. We would definitely stay here again - based on the access to a beautiful sandy beach, fantastic snorkelling on the door step and quiet location.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

28 Aug 2019

Verified traveler

The beach and sand every room has a oceanview clear water and snorkling

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

18 Aug 2019

NM

Great location on the beach and near Muri. The snorkelling was fantastic and the restaurant was very good. Your staff are terrific and gave that personal touch, especially housekeeping and restaurant staff.

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

02 Aug 2019

Verified traveler

Very nice service. The breakfest is very god and dinner is fantastic.

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

10 Jul 2019

Verified traveler

Not many facilities, no lunch restaurant or bar service. Rooms clean but found lots of insects

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

12 Jun 2019

tom

Great beachfront location, good snorkeling, airport pickup worked well - thanks for the early check in.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

10 May 2019

Verified traveler

Location is fabulous having direct access to the beach.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

08 May 2019

Peter Vessey

Wish we had booked for longer despite WiFi connection being bad! But it was good being out of touch with the world. Lovely place, Lovely people.smiles, smiles, smiles all the way.
Staff could not have gone further out of their way to help in all matters. Enjoyed the meals and especially the presentation. Chefs great, reception great. If we weren't Octogenarians we'd be back in a shot.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

15 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

This was our third visit to Moana Sands Beachfront Hotel. We absolutely love it there. The hotel is nice and there is a good restaurant on site, but this is not a 5 star resort. The staff is amazing; from the manager (tell Wayne Hi), reservations, front desk, housekeeping, and property maintenance. But the main appeal is a laid back environment with the best beach I have found. I paced it off and estimate that it is only about 120 feet from the rear door of the hotel unit we had to the ocean. A huge feature is that there is a reef that circles the island and is about 2,000 feet off the shoreline. This creates a lagoon which is calm and is only about 8 feet deep at the most. Better yet, the lagoon is full of coral, which means a lot of fish to see. We have snorkeled in several spots in the world and this is the best by far. It is also a wonderful place to kayak. The hotel provides snorkel gear and kayaks. The beach and lagoon is rarely being used by more than 2 or 3 people and many times you are all to yourself! My idea of Heaven!

10/10

Exceptional

07 Dec 2018

Shana

I loved the whole experience at the hotel, the staff made it even more great. Made my holiday extra special.

Thank you.