We have a standard room booked for two weeks in Novemeber. We have been so excited for this trip, our first stay at the Poly and first time back after a Covid and travel restrictions.
I'm starting to feel very nervous about possible construction now though - I guess I'm worried about getting there and the experience of staying at the Poly is diminished due to construction. For those of you who are more familiar with the resort, what are your predictions for the level of disruption from this?
Just for context, I stayed at Poly several times during the 2014-2015'ish major Poly construction period (major lobby renovations, bungalow addition, Oasis Pool construction, Laval Pool major construction, DVC longhouse conversion, etc - that was a really tough stretch! I don't dismiss those that flee for safer grounds during major construction projects, but I've never personally regretted staying during construction (caveat that I'm a pretty flexible traveler and am OK if everything isn't 'perfect' at that particular moment).
Anyway, from a 'typical Poly stay' perspective unless you have a room on the "left" side of the resort facing the new tower area (so half of Aotearoa, Fiji, maybe a few in Tuvalu), generally speaking (key word) I don't think it'll have a major impact. Much of a typical Poly experience revolves around the center to right side of the resorts (if looking north) and the area between Poly and GF (left side of the resort) really is "off to the side" so to speak. You could easily go about a Poly stay and never even go over to that side at all, for some.
Some things it will impact:
- Walking/running path to GF (presumably there will be a detour of some sort)
- Access to the gym at GF (also presumably there will be a detour of some sort)
- Views/noise from some of Aotearoa, Fiji, and Tuvalu
- There is a lovely beach area there that will be cut off, but other than being a peaceful area, it's not an overly popular spot as there's limited fireworks audio and the main Poly beach area is a "better" spot anyway (IMHO, some may disagree with this)
Don't get me wrong, it looks like some of that construction will be right up on Aotearoa and Fiji so if you have a construction-facing room there, you'll have a material impact in terms of view and/or noise in the room. This will be a serious construction project after all. But others could have a stay with minimal impact if their travels don’t take them to that side of the resort.
For standard view hotel rooms, I suspect it will put a premium on Rarotonga as request (to the extent it wasn't already - it's always a popular request given its central spot in the resort). Or "not facing construction" seems like a good request too.
Those are my thoughts are the moment - guess we'll see!