If you forgot about the cost and put it down to the Yen - Pound exchange rate a delightful hotel placed suitably close to the middle and north parts of Okinawa to explore by self drive car. The room was placed on the seventh floor looking north up the coast not on the beach side, our choice. Big room, good bed, wired internet.

We took breakfast in the Chinese restaurant and enjoyed treats everyday. Look out for the tankan juice and I also for the slightly alcoholic smaller glass beverage next too it. Tankan being a local citrus type of juice.

The Chinese restaurant was also good for evening meals. To cut costs and if not very hungry you can also eat out further down the road at the complex at their snack type of places.

The hotel is "big" on weddings and a production line seemed to be running between the chapel, the church and reception / meeting rooms with several going on all at the same time. Joining the queue for a little present of cake or whatever they were getting as a gift from the newly weds was tempting.

Enjoyable stay.

I stayed here for four nights with my spouse, who was attending a nearby conference. Our comfortable, immaculately clean room offered nice furnishings, ample space, bathrobes, slippers, and extremely firm beds, which we like. We could have used a tad more drawer space, however. All rooms have sea views, but ours overlooked the parking lot as well. If we left the window open at night for fresh air and the sound of surf, voices and vehicle noise also entered the room.

A breakfast buffet , included in the room price, was available in three restaurants. Our favorite proved to be the Chinese restaurant, because of its spectacular sea views and dim sum offerings. All restaurants had extremely high prices, due in part to the poor exchange rate now between the Yen and the U.S. Dollar. For example, a sandwich with a few potato chips went for about $16 (U.S.) and a glass of ice tea cost $9 (U.S.) . We found a small, rustic restaurant -- Umi no Ie -- a 20-minute walk away with excellent food and reasonable prices.. Go to the main gate and turn left.

It was too chilly to swim during our stay, but the huge pool and beach looked inviting. There are many water activities offered for guests. Other offerings include a spa, nail salon and laundry room with myriad washers and dryers.

The resort is about an hour by taxi from Downtown Naha. It takes at least 90 minutes (2 hours during rush hour) to get to or from Naha by bus. I recommend a rental car for those who want to explore the island. Please note that an International Driver's license is required. Many conference participants assumed they could rent a car with only a driver's license from their country and a passport and soon learned otherwise.

Service was excellent. There was always someone available who spoke good English and was willing to work with me to find answers to my questions, many of which were quite complicated.

The hotel offers a fantastic view of the sea however would opt for the view overlooking the beach. The other view overlooks the chapel however there are two big aircon vents on top of the ballroom or kitchen so that ruins the view and has a constant humming sound.

ROOMS- The color tone is nice and matches. Comfortable rooms and being in Japan very clean.

FOOD & BEVERAGE- The AQUA BELLE very average. Could not believe we had to wait for breakfast. Would recommend the hotel to open up the Ocean Cafe to eliminate guest from having to queue up. The breakfast selection is good and definitely better than dinner. The price of dinner is 5000 YEN but the selection is poor but they do cater for the kids.

SWIMMING POOL- They have a pool side bar which was closed despite it being advertised as available and same goes for the beach snack bar. We could not even order food to have by the pool which was a little disappointing.

BEACH- The beach is within walking distance. Be prepared to pay for everything.

We purposely decided to pay our bill earlier to avoid the 11am check out queue but they still try to make us queue up. Should offer some sort of express check out system.

Lastly if you do decided to rent a car... make sure you have an INTERNATIONAL LICENSE or US MILITARY LICENSE.. no other license is excepted so we were stuck on the resort. If you take a taxi to Chariumi aquarium ( a must go ) it will cost you 11,600 YEN.
I would definitely go back again but will rent a car next time.

This hotel easily beats many 5-star European resorts in terms of interior design, cleanliness, location and staff attitude.
It feels very secure. Looks recently renovated and has a number of pleasing features, for example the atrium lighting has changing degrees of blue.
Our room had a fantastic view over the sea, was equipped with a decent bathroom, but strangely the balcony was without furniture. In-fact none of the balconies appeared to have furniture.
Attire: casual throughout and at all times

Good:
-Feels very safe
-Gorgeous location
-Very helpful staff
-Staff speak sufficient English
-English menus are available
-Very clean
-Contemporary interior
-Exquisite food, especially “Unkai” - the Japanese restaurant
-Car valet; one of the best I’ve ever experienced
-Free in-room internet access
-Very well kept grounds


Not so good:
-Room was never cleaned before 3pm; when paying in excess of £500/night without breakfast I expect my room in a resort to be cleaned by lunchtime latest.
-Sauna and steam room are out of bounds if you have a tattoo … this is Japan!
-Many, many very young children
-Most leisure activities cost extra and are in my opinion totally overpriced, for example:
~Ocean kayak area is smaller than the swimming area
~Submarine does not go below the water
~Putting green is very poorly maintained
~Bicycles could do with a drop of oil
~Water bikes do not function properly
We purchased a resort pass that allowed us to use above facilities (except the submarine) for free, but I feel that the 8000Yen/person for the pass borders on rip-off when considering the state of the equipment.

Summary: A great hotel, but shame about the leisure facilities - would have expected better for a 5-star resort in Japan