I had a 13 day stay there last September (2004) and here are my thoughts.

Like everywhere in Tumon Bay, this hotel is roundly pitched at a Japanese short-stay clientele, and their sensibilities.

As a result, things which just wouldn't be tolerated at, say, the Westin Maui are simply ignored. There is rust everywhere, and the concrete is stained in a quite disgusting way.

The rooms are quite good, and we were upgraded to an Executive Parlour Room (due to Plat status) which was spacious and superb. The staff were also marvellous, especially Jayward.

The pool area is far too small for a hotel of this type.

Worst of all, because the hotel is pitched at a Japanese market the rooms are virtually all Smoking rooms. You can get an ozone machine, but it is little help. The tour desks downstairs are all entirely for the benefit of Japanese tourists, and there are no English-language brochures or tours on offer.

An unfixable problem is the shape of the hotel. It is basically oval-shaped, with the narrow side facing the ocean in order to call virtually every room "ocean-view". In fact, this set-up means that all rooms see the ocean at a great angle, and none are genuinely beachfront rooms.

The other unfixable problem, of course, is the climate. I had forgotten how humid Guam is. It's not really a place for a beach holiday.

So, in conclusion:

1) Great staff.

2) Badly designed building, with inadequate pool area.

3) Badly maintained building, with poor attention to detail.