IHG Overwater Villas Compared

IHG owns fewer overwater rooms than the internet thinks, and two of the best known ones are in flux right now. Here is what the group genuinely has above water, which property I would book, and where the points math quietly falls apart.

IHG overwater villas in 30 seconds

• French Polynesia: InterContinental Le Moana on Bora Bora and InterContinental Tahiti both have real overwater bungalows.
• Closed: InterContinental Bora Bora Resort and Thalasso Spa is shut for a full renovation with no announced reopening.
• Maldives: InterContinental Maamunagau, Noku Maldives in the Vignette Collection, and Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma.
• Watch the calendar: Kandooma is scheduled to leave IHG after September 30, 2026 and continue independently.
• The wildcard: Six Senses belongs to IHG, which quietly makes Laamu and Kanuhura part of this conversation.
• My pick: Maamunagau for a first Maldives water villa, Le Moana if the trip is French Polynesia.

Which properties genuinely have water villas right now

Brand portfolios move faster than travel articles do, and IHG’s overwater list has changed twice in the last couple of years. So treat every list, including mine, as a starting point you confirm with the property.

The confirmed overwater properties are Le Moana on Bora Bora, InterContinental Tahiti, InterContinental Maamunagau in Raa Atoll, Noku Maldives in Noonu Atoll, and Kandooma in South Male Atoll. Six Senses Laamu and Six Senses Kanuhura sit inside the same corporate family, which most people do not realize.

Everything else you see labeled InterContinental with a lagoon photograph is either a beach resort or a closed one. That is a shorter list than the brand’s marketing footprint suggests.

Bora Bora: one resort open, one resort dark

This is the part that trips people up, because both Bora Bora properties carried the InterContinental name and only one is taking guests. The Thalasso resort is closed for a top to bottom renovation with no reopening date on the books.

I still see it sold on aggregator pages and quoted in gift guides, which is how people end up with a deposit and a problem. If a rate looks available there, stop and get a written confirmation from the resort itself before any money moves.

The open option is Le Moana, on the Matira end of the main island. It is smaller and less resort-shaped than the Thalasso was, and it sits where you can walk out and buy a poisson cru without arranging a boat.

That access is the real argument for it. You get overwater bungalows on the lagoon plus the ability to leave, which most Bora Bora motu resorts cannot offer without a shuttle timetable.

The compromise is the view. Le Moana looks out at the lagoon and the ocean side rather than presenting you the postcard silhouette of Mount Otemanu from bed.

If the mountain view is the entire reason for the trip, say that out loud before booking. The full Bora Bora resort comparison sorts the island by exactly that question.

InterContinental Tahiti also has overwater bungalows, and they are worth knowing about for a very specific reason. They sit close to the airport, which makes them a sane first or last night rather than a whole vacation.

The Maldives lineup is three completely different trips

InterContinental Maamunagau is the polished one, in Raa Atoll, with lagoon and overwater categories and a Club InterContinental layer on top. It is also in manta country, which gives the trip a reason to exist beyond the deck.

Noku Maldives, in the Vignette Collection, is the quiet one on a small Noonu island reached by a daylight seaplane. Most of its water villas have pools, and the plain no-pool water villa is the one I find genuinely interesting.

If you are going to swim in the lagoon every day anyway, a private pool is a rectangle of chlorine you paid a premium for. Our breakdown of a private pool against direct lagoon steps is the argument in full.

Kandooma is the odd one and my favorite oddity, with no private pools in any water villa, a serious dive operation, and a famous right hand surf break off the island. It is a 45 minute speedboat rather than a seaplane, which means a late flight does not cost you a night.

Kandooma also carries a hard date. The resort has said it leaves the IHG portfolio after September 30, 2026 and continues as an independent property, so any stay after that needs its benefits confirmed in writing rather than assumed.

Nobody tells you this part, so I will. A brand exit does not change the island, the staff, or the reef, but it absolutely changes points, elite treatment, and the free breakfast you budgeted around.

Six Senses is an IHG company, and that matters

Six Senses sits inside IHG’s ownership, so the group’s most interesting water villas are arguably not wearing an InterContinental sign at all. Six Senses Laamu and Six Senses Kanuhura are both Maldives water villa resorts with very different personalities.

Laamu is remote, barefoot, and unusually serious about its marine and sustainability work. Kanuhura is the softer, more classically pretty one, and its water villas come with pools.

Here is the honest version on loyalty. Ownership and loyalty participation are two separate things, and how Six Senses properties earn and redeem has been evolving, so confirm your exact resort and rate before you count on either.

How points actually work on an IHG water villa

I am not going to quote award numbers, because they move and I would rather be useful in two years than precise for two weeks. What is durable is the mechanism, and the mechanism is where people get hurt.

Award pricing is tied to what the room is selling for in cash, so a peak week costs a punishing number of points and a shoulder week does not. That means your leverage comes from moving your dates, not from finding a secret rate.

Award inventory at a resort like this is also category limited. The entry water villa may be bookable while the sunset and pool categories are cash only, and a resort with a few dozen water villas releases very few of them.

Then there is everything points do not touch. Seaplane and speedboat transfers, the green tax, service charge, meal plans, and the dive package are all cash, and at a Maldives resort those can rival the room.

A free night on a fully priced island is not a free week. Our guide to booking overwater bungalows with points without fooling yourself runs the same math across the other big programs, including the Marriott overwater lineup that competes directly with these.

My decision rules for this portfolio

• Want the easiest Maldives arrival: Kandooma, because a speedboat runs after dark and a seaplane does not.
• Want the classic polished water villa: Maamunagau, and ask for a villa away from the arrival jetty.
• Want quiet over facilities: Noku, and consider skipping the pool.
• Want French Polynesia with freedom to leave the resort: Le Moana.
• Want the best room in the whole IHG family: look at Six Senses, not InterContinental.
• Booking anything after September 30, 2026 at Kandooma: get every benefit in writing first.

The downside, said plainly

IHG’s overwater collection is thin and unstable compared to its competitors, and that is the honest weakness. One Bora Bora property is closed, one Maldives property is leaving, and the crown jewels are under a different brand name entirely.

Skip this portfolio if your entire goal is to burn a large points balance on a water villa. You will find more consistent award availability elsewhere, and you will spend less time chasing confirmations.

Skip it also if you need a resort with six restaurants and a full kids club under an overwater villa. These islands are mostly compact, and compact means you will eat at the same two places more than once.

Book it if you want one very specific thing: a strong individual property rather than a deep brand bench. That is what this group is offering right now.

Fast answers on IHG water villas

Does IHG have overwater bungalows in Bora Bora?

Yes, at InterContinental Le Moana, which is open and has overwater bungalows on the main island near Matira. The larger InterContinental Bora Bora Resort and Thalasso Spa is closed for renovation with no announced reopening date.

Which IHG Maldives resort has water villas?

Three do: InterContinental Maamunagau in Raa Atoll, Noku Maldives in the Vignette Collection in Noonu Atoll, and Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma in South Male Atoll. Kandooma is scheduled to leave IHG after September 30, 2026, so confirm your dates.

Can I book a water villa with IHG points?

Sometimes, but award pricing tracks the cash rate and the cheapest water category is usually the only one released. Transfers, taxes, service charge, and meal plans still bill in cash, so budget for those separately.

Is Six Senses part of IHG?

Yes, Six Senses sits within IHG’s ownership, which puts Six Senses Laamu and Six Senses Kanuhura in the same corporate family. Loyalty earning and redemption at those resorts is a separate question, so check your specific property and rate.

Which one would you take a first timer to?

Maamunagau, because the villa product is easy to love and the manta season gives the week a shape. A first timer who is nervous about small aircraft should look hard at Kandooma’s speedboat instead.

My final call

If you are picking a resort rather than a logo, the best water villas in this family are the Six Senses pair, and it is not especially close. If you want the InterContinental experience specifically, Maamunagau is the one I would book and Le Moana is the one I would book in French Polynesia.

What I would not do is plan a trip around a points redemption here. Pick the island first, then see whether the points cooperate, because doing it the other way around is how people end up on the wrong side of a closed resort.

For the wider picture, the Maldives resort comparison puts these three islands next to their non IHG neighbors. That is usually the moment the brand loyalty argument loses.

Portfolios, closures, and loyalty terms shift with no notice. I refresh this page as things move, but please verify villa availability and benefits with the resort itself before you pay.