Hotel Mahaina — Hotel in Motobu

Me and my family stayed at Mahaina Wellness Resort Okinwa from 28 Jan to 31 Jan 2024 (3 nights).

Today is 1 Feb 2024. Having returned home in Korea, looking back my stay at the resort and memorable journey at Okinwa, I want to share some stories from the trip.

My family rent a Nissan NV350 Van and drived from Naha international airport to the Mahaina. On our way to hotel, our car hit a parked car at the road, rent car's left side mirror was broken and left little scratch to the parked car. (To make a little defence for my uncle, the driver, the incident spot was very dark.)

Our family who composed of 50s-60s uncles, parents, 80s grandma and me and my cousin in 20s wanted to handle this accident properly and had willingness to take our responsibility of what happened, but lack of japanese capability and communication issues with rental car company and insurence company really did not help us out from the situation. Text-translation application service via mobile applications could not help us to remedy the situation. Rental car company sent us a simple message 'call police' and that was all at the moment. Calling police in foreign country is never an easy task, if you can not speak any languages of that country.

Fortunately, the incident site was very near to Mahaina Wellness Resort, so my family first checked in and asked assisnce to Mahaina staff at the front.

The staff first assisted our family to call police. The officers came to Mahaina and went to the accident site. Surprisingly and still many thanks again the Mahaina staff went to the site together and provided translation service between police and our family, so that on-site investigation could be carried on seamlessly. The staff simply said that it is his duty. But, I could tell and truely feel his endeavor and effort was far beyond the boundary of our definition of what we call of duty. I deeply appreciate again.

Also, the staff called to the insurance company. With his explanation, baseline understanding about the incident was well delivered to the insurance company, enabling following measures from the insureance company could be carried out.

The police confirmed us that on-site investigation was over and informed us proper procedures of handling car accident in Japan.

Fortunately, our family's lack of preparedness and incompetence could be well covered. Again many thanks to the Mahaina staff.

To people, looking for holiday in Okinawa, I strongly recommend Mahaina especially for family travelers with grandparents. In addition to professional hotel staff, Mahaina's location is very close to major tour spots like Churaumi Aquarium, Kouri Ocean Tower. This allows for you to set a day plan with short distance, return to Mahaina hotel and enjoy onsen at the resort. Old grandparents could follow this...

Location - from the airport it is a 2h bus drive or a (still long) expensive taxi drive. I suggest the bus as recommended by the hotel website. From 1.950 Yen pP. There is a brand new small but very nice shopping center with clothing stores, restaurants, Starbucks and convenience store across the street. Family Mart 2 min walk away. Several restaurants in walking distance. Aquarium, Butterfly Park and beautiful Emerald Beach in the neighbourhood. Emerald Beach can be reached within a 30 min. walk.||Check in - well organized. First impression and arrival hall very nice. We were welcomed and our luggage was taken care of. Nice and fresh smell.||Breakfast - good. Not outstanding but enough and fresh. Same breakfast every day but many options so it's ok. We were given lunch bags on the last day as we checked out before 6am.||Staff - absolutely everybody very nice, helpful and willing to let you have a great stay. English is difficult but I guess that's what you have to deal with being the only "western people" in a hotel in Okinawa :-) Cleaning staff did a very good job as well. Overall great staff.||Room - spacious, beds are comfortable. There is a stove but the only thing it can be used for was for cooking water. But no pots or any other kitchen equipment. We had a water cooker so the stove was useless. There is also a microwave in the lobby. The room - as everything else in the hotel except for the lobby - seems that it has not been touched after it has been built. It is not dirty but old and really run down. We did not accept our first room which was even worse than the second room.||Pool - Indoor pool available. Same here - old and run down. The changing room is really disgusting. Outdoor pool is the highlight of the hotel. Good for swimming. I guess it's a 30m lane. Nice sun beds and umbrellas.||Onsen - sorry to say but really old as well. But it does the job. Nice bath made of natural stone.||Bottomline is that the hotel needs renovation badly - or it needs to adjust the rates. Maybe we were too picky. I have attached some pictures of our room - just paint your own picture. Please note that this is the 2nd room after we...

My family of 5 (with 2 teens and a tween) stayed in their Superior Room for 4 nights in June. We had chosen to break Okinawa vacation into 2 parts: northern Okinawa for the less touristy and crowded experience, and after that, 3 nights in Naha for the souvenir shopping and WW2 pilgrimage. Mahaina is a good base to explore the North:||||1) Top value for money. Although property is aged, everything works, and their Superior room is a Western/Tatami combination of 2 twin beds and 3 futons on the Tatami. Very spacious and relaxing - even has a decent sized balcony. For my 4-night stay, the hotel threw in all breakfasts, a buffet dinner, and even Aquarium tix for the whole family. ||||2) Has everything we need - large public bath (which is awesome and quite rare in hotels in the area), coin laundry, indoor pool, access to food in the neighbouring new Mahaina Condotel for those odd hours post aquarium/ Nago visits, wifi! ||||Food: Authentic and interesting, lots of plant-based options and enough in the meat department too. Breakfast buffet menu repeats in about a-third of the dishes. Dinner was good too. We enjoyed the cuisine.||||Service: Always friendly. Mood is quite relaxing and casual. Always able to find a reception staff who speaks good English! ||||Beds: comfortable! And, sea view!!||||Location: close enough to the aquarium - the hotel also operates a shuttle service to the aquarium. Other than that, we drove so the distance to other attractions are quite manageable.||||A very good stay overall. Well...