Haimurubushi — Hotel in Taketomi

This resort is huge and old, more specifically 40 years old. Apparently, it’s still popular among Japanese families with children, especially small children. Even though the area is huge, there is nowhere where you will not be able to hear a screaming child.||Due to the size of the area, everybody drives around in golf cars. We refused to do that, and the walks in the beautiful garden was actually the best part of our stay. ||Our room (for 4) was good, but not better than a lot of other standard quality hotels we have stayed at. It just cost about 10 times as much: 5000 USD for 4 persons for 4 nights. That is a serious price for which you do not get a lot at Haimurubushi.||We had a small veranda towards the garden, which we shared with a lot of ants 🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜. Please do not keep food in the room, as the ants will find it!||The bathroom was nice & big, and like in many old houses it took a looooong time before the water got hot. The area around the wash basin was pretty small, too small for our stuff to be there.||The room was clean, or rather became clean, as I had to ask especially to have the floor cleaned, since it was quite sandy when we arrived. The house keeping came every day around 15h to clean our room. We did not try the opportunity to not having cleaned and then have 4000 yen instead, as we just wanted a nice, clean room with clean towels. House keeping just about managed that, but absolutely no more than that. ||The hotel basically has no swimming pool, as the pool is packed with small children and their parents. The maximum depth in the very small pool is 1 meter. No swimming, just screaming...||The beach is ok, but you are only allowed to swim in a small area lined in with blue markings. At low tide, you cannot swim, as the marked area is dry. There are two types of sun chairs provided by the hotel. Some in brown plastic on the beach that are so slippery that the towels keeps falling off, so basically you sit on plastic. The other type has some white (plastic) cushions, and they are really old and moulded, please see picture. However, you can sit decently on those. The beach seems clean, but my husband found an old fridge on the beach a few hundred meters from the hotel?||We asked for having our suitcases picked up at the room (in one of the many golf cars), when we were leaving, but the hotel refused that! Apparently, it was not part of our 5000 USD ‘package’???! Finally, they did help with the luggage, but I thought that was just about the most crazy thing I ever heard...||We did have breakfast included, though, and the cooks really try to do a good job. However, again, the breakfast is more or less chaos, and children are running around everywhere - putting their fingers everywhere...||We also ate buffet dinner a few times, and there the situation is the same...||The view spa (onsen) was quite nice, and did indeed have a nice view, as well as a shampoo-bar. We thought that was cool!||In general, the staff was really nice, but practically speak no English except for single words. ||In conclusion, if you think Haimurubushi is a high-end resort, as the price certainly suggests, please think twice. ||I strongly discourage tourists wanting a bit of luxury to visit this resort. You...

We booked an Ocean front suite (165) which came with a patio and was furnished with a hammock, patio sofa, and love seat. The setting and the view is fantastic, we were even visited by 2 of the island cats. Unfortunately this could be one of the probable cause of the problem. ||||Both cats were sleeping on the patio furniture. We thought nothing of it as we’ve had stray cats on the island before. I decided to lay on the patio furniture to enjoy the view and sea breeze, after the cats had left. An hour after laying down, i started to itch on my side what was touching the cushion. I thought this was just because of the material and decided to take a bath to remove the irritant. The bath did help lessen the irritation and I decided to ignore it and just enjoy the rest of the evening. Sadly, I had a restless sleep as the itching returned. ||||
The next morning as I was getting ready for my morning shower, I noticed tons of red spots on where I was itching. It looks like I was bitten all over by lots of insects. I informed the front desk, they apologized and stated they will address the problem. Back in the room, the maintenance staff came, we heard them arrive and go to the next suite. They then knocked on our door to switch out the cushions. We asked them where the cushions came from and they stated next door and they will just swap them out. We told them that won’t work since we are on the first floor and we have seen the cats wander between the balconies. They said this is what the manager had instructed them to do. I insisted that this was enough as the cats had also probably slept on them. They said they will contact the manager for what else they can do.A few minutes later one of the front desk managers came to our room to explain that there is nothing they can do and also that he had not heard of any cats on the property.||||I told him the property can simply spray the cushions with bug killers and wash the covers. He stated that they were not washable. I then proceeded to show him that the covers had zippers and could be removed to be washed. I also showed him the insect bites all over my side. But he still was adamant that there was nothing he can do. I informed him that we paid for the room and the room included the patio. This went of for a few more minutes then he eventually agreed to see what further he can do.||||2 hours later the maintenance guys returned with what they stated were freshly washed cushions and some powder to sprinkle around the balcony to discourage the cats from returning. ||||I would have given the place a 1 star but it is a nice property with generally helpful staff. It has lots of amenities and nooks and crannies to get lost in and relax. We normally stay at the resort next door but wanted to try a different one to have...

We stayed at Haimurubushi for 4 nights in the middle of August. Indeed it was the 1st visit after 25+ years when I first visited Okinawa. It was amazing to remember the great memories back then.||Room:|We stayed at an Ocean View Suite (Twin). The room was spacious and the view was fantastic. We also had a nice surprise that a stray cat (though believed to inhabit in the resort) visited our terrace, when we were eating breakfast.|The lounge access for Suite room guest was a plus with complimentary soft-drinks and alcohol.|The only down-side was that we were harassed by the invasion of ants, as some other reviewers point out. It seemed they were coming from the terrace and we couldn't help spraying anti-ant spray, but still there were still those who managed to come in especially around the mini-bar area.||Hospitality:|Almost all the staff we came across were friendly.||Activities:|We participated in the night-safari within the resort, snorkelling to visit wild sea turtles and coral reefs and a night-time Okinawa live music. We also enjoyed the time in the private beach. In spite of the fact, the time was one of the busiest times during the summer holiday seasons, the beach was quiet enough. You could find some varieties of fish, one of which pops out its head out of the nest on the seabed.|A note to non-Japanese visitors - they don't speak English, so you need to have at least a basic command of Japanese or should be accompanied by someone who can assist you.||Food:|Me and my wife are veggies - unfortunately the food selection was very limited. There were only a few items we could eat in the buffet (breakfast & dinner). For us the food items stood out were the super-food salad bowl containing quinoas, chickpeas, avocados etc available at the Beach Cafe, and brown-sugar flavoured cream puff available at the Open Cafe. |The Suite room guest could optionally switch the breakfast buffet to a "picnic-style" breakfast containing a panini (though cold), chips (French fries), onion rings, a pack of fruits, yogurt and two beverages. It is indeed better than too small, but we found the volume was too big, and probably chips & onion rings were not necessary.||Transportation:|Probably for 1st time non-Japanese visitors, it may be a bit hard to reach the resort. You need to reach Ishigaki Airport first, then to Ishigaki ferry port. From there, you need to pick a correct ferry service to Kohamajima Island, as there are other ferry services going to other islands. The resort bus is waiting at the Kohamajima Port for the arrival of the ferries, so no booking is necessary.||Advice:|Have a stroll around the resort as it is easy to come across some cute animals. Join some activities and make sure to listen to & enjoy the...