The Naha Terrace — Attraction in Naha

We had a lot of trouble choosing our accommodation in Okinawa. Not being familiar with the island we were not sure if we should stay in the city and hire a car or stay further out at a ‘beach resort’. |We eventually decided on the former choice and although the Naha terrace was nice it is a long drive if you want to lay on a beach.||The hotel itself is quite ‘grand ‘. The staff at the door were very attentive and will park your car and have it ready for you when you want to go out. Reception is friendly although we paid extra for club access and there wasn’t as much on offer as perhaps other places we have had this however in fairness there were only one other couple at the most in the club when we visited. So perhaps they were not wanting food to go to waste (which is good).||The rooms were comfortable but a little dated. The had lots of little extras which was nice and turn down service.||We did book this hotel because of the pool and this was probably my biggest disappointment. There was no change room near the pool so you either had to go back up to your room or use a rest room that was some distance away past the restaurants. It was very hot and one day we decided to go straight to the pool after a day out. We went to the bathroom near the restaurants as we wanted to be quick. I wrapped a towel around myself to walk through the hall and across to the pool. A male staff member was quite rude and told me I couldn’t do that and I must be dressed! I was paying $400 + a night to be treated like a naughty child. I am aware that customs and cultural norms need to be adhered to however i was appropriately covered and obviously walking directly to the pool. There also was very limited seating around the pool for such a heat wave and the number of people wanting to use it! ||Breakfast was adequate but not as extensive as most hotels of this price range. ||Okinawa is a bit of an anomaly and hard to describe. This seemed to also apply to this hotel. Just a bit lacking...

This was supposed to be the relaxing end to our Japan trip, but ended up being a total damp squib. Construction on their new annex, which was supposed to finish in August, is running late and now won't finish until November. However we were told about this by being handed a written letter as we checked in - at 11pm - which felt like bad faith and by which time it was a moot point, especially as the cancellation period on the room had expired a few days before. More irritating was the fact that while works were listed as taking place between 8am and 5pm we were definitely woken up by work beginning at 7am every day. Not only were we placed on the same side of the hotel as the works (very thoughtful) we didn't even receive a cursory apology or gesture for the disruption to our 'spa' holiday.

It would have helped if the rest of the experience had been better, but it was underwhelming from start to finish. On the plus side, the Terrace is clean, even the standard rooms are large and the Japanese breakfast is delicious. It's also in a decent location for exploring Naha. However, the staff seemed disengaged (apart from those at breakfast, they were lovely), the front entrance is virtually impossible to find (we ended up finding the "butler's entrance" first, creating a poor check in experience), there are no English language channels available and there were nothing but flimsy shutter blinds in the room, in contrast to the ubiquitous blackout blinds we found in every other hotel. And then of course there was the alarming presence of badly fitted strip lighting poking out right above the shower in the bathroom.

If you're thinking of staying in Naha, my advice would be to stay somewhere else, especially if you're looking for a genuinely...

Our room was quite big - more than 30 sq M. Lots of space to place two open suitcases. A little behind the times in technology. Door was opened by an old fashion and heavy metal key on a heavy chain. Only one key per room although we were two occupants! No energy saving features. Lights could be left on while you were out.||||Everything was very clean and attention to detail was great. There were bedroom slippers in the room but in addition, they brought us custom sandals in case we wanted to use the pool, which was a little affair ok for a morning dip but not for real swimming or lazing around.||||The bathroom was western style. Shower in the bath itself. Water pressure was ok but could have been better. The extraction system didn't work very well and throughout our stay there was always a slight unpleasant smell.||||The hotel has two restaurants ; Japanese and Western. We only had breakfast and always western. It's a sufficient business breakfast. Semi-buffet. Order the main course and grab the rest yourself. Not the sumptious buffet of a resort hotel which we'd just come from. There's also a lounge bar in the lobby with live music.||||The hotel is 5 mins walk from the museum but a taxi ride to the town centre. Parking is free.||||All-in-all, a good...