Intercontinental Resort and Thelasso-spa Bora Bora to Open May 1, 2006
BORA BORA, French Polynesia, April 3, 2006. Privately situated and accessible only by boat, the InterContinental Resort and Thalasso-Spa Bora Bora is on schedule to open May 1, 2006 along a virgin beach on the Motu Piti Aau (meaning "two hearts" in Tahitian). The new resort, an investment of US $70 million, is as conceptually innovative as it is breathtaking.
The InterContinental Resort and Thalasso-Spa Bora Bora has constructed an eco-friendly air-conditioning system, deploying a 7,874 foot pipe (the deepest ocean pipe in the world) to a depth of 3,000 feet off the reef of Bora Bora. The pipe pumps ice cold, deep sea water through a titanium heat exchanger, transferring the cold into the fresh water circuit that then powers the air conditioning throughout the hotel.
The system saves 90% of the hotel's electricity consumption for air-conditioning, which represents 2.5 million liters of fuel oil per year, and is perfectly clean with no impact on the environment outside of the 5^0C sea water returned to the ocean at 11^0C. Even the return water is re-routed to a depth of 197 feet to avoid hurting the fish and coral.
In addition to being the first hotel to utilize this one-of-a-kind air conditioning system, the InterContinental Resort and Thalasso-Spa Bora Bora will open with a host of other "firsts." The resort will be the first hotel in French Polynesia to feature all over water bungalows (80 in total, eight of which boast views of Mount Otemanau). The resort's Thalassotherapy Deep Ocean Spa by Algotherm will be the first in the world to use this mineral-rich deep seawater extracted from 2,500 feet below sea level in its signature treatments (opens September 2006). The resort will also be the first hotel in the world to feature an over water wedding chapel with a glass bottom floor (opens September 2006).
About Intercontinental French Polynesia:
The InterContinental Resort and Thalasso-Spa Bora Bora will be the fourth resort in the portfolio of InterContinental French Polynesia resorts. The collection also includes the InterContinental Le Moana Resort Bora Bora and InterContinental resorts in Tahiti and Moorea. Owned and operated by Richard H. Bailey and his company, Tahiti Beachcomber Soci`et'e Anonyme (TBSA), the existing InterContinental Resorts have all recently completed multimillion dollar enhancements over the course of the last five years.
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