joakgarp

End of may noticed rates of 44k. Score a brg and you have a room for 33k yen. Bit over the top but still doable for a couple of nights. Want to see more of this hotel, pictures, reviews etc!

Pseudo Nim

It will, but it's not even bookable on poiints right now. Super irritating. I've been waiting 2 months to book it now.

msp3

I'm guessing we shouldn't hold out any hope of getting it as a Cat 7? That's the feeling I get from aspirational places like Maldives and Bora Bora now "technical issues" will persist until 2019 when they become bookable but as Cat 8s

Pseudo Nim

Nagasaki Joe

I searched for a room at the end of January 2019 and got a rate of 38,760 yen per night or 60,000 points per night. It shows up as a Category 7 hotel.

Pseudo Nim

Pseudo Nim

Woohoo! It became bookable!

.... so I booked it for 5 nights, the system took 240K points out of my account, errored out and now I don't have a booking in my file OR the points. WOOHOO! This is the best way to spend points, I don't even need to actually go anywhere!

[edit] and in the meantime Golden Week got blocked off.

SkiAdcock

Officially open. Marriott press release today:

The Luxury Collection Debuts Iraph Sui On Okinawa?s Irabu Island | Marriott News Center

"...announced the opening of the 58-room IRAPH SUI, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Miyako Okinawa, marking the third Luxury Collection property in Japan....a stunning seafront property that overlooks the warm pristine waters of Japan’s southern Okinawa islands.

IRAPH SUI, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Miyako Okinawa is nestled in natural greenery and lushly landscaped gardens on Irabu Island. Luxuriously appointed guest rooms that range from 495 square feet to 1,290 square feet offer a complete set of amenities and private balconies with views of the white sandy beach and azure ocean, with several suites in the hotel also featuring private swimming pools.

Culinary offerings at IRAPH SUI are authentically inspired and serve up modern, gourmet cuisine with spectacular views of the ocean. Tin’In showcases an international selection of dishes featuring the finest local ingredients, including wagyu beef, pork and the freshest daily catch from the sea. The hotel’s indigenous spa offers a diverse range of treatments that incorporate natural Okinawan products, such as a local salt blended for body scrubs and “Kucha,” a mineral-rich deep sea mud.

IRAPH SUI will offer immersive experiences and opportunities to discover the rich traditional culture of Miyako. Guests can enjoy nearby excursions including visiting the unparalleled beaches that the destination has to offer – from Toguchinohama Beach, known for its flour-like sand, to Sawada Beach, famed for its unique landscape with large boulders resulting from a tsunami in 1771 – in addition to the iconic Irabu Bridge, celebrated as the longest free bridge in Japan. Visitors can also explore the island with a local storyteller or discover the unique underwater scenery of the Okinawan Ocean through luxurious, fully catered dive trips. For those seeking activities a little closer to home, morning yoga sessions in the tranquil surroundings of the property are designed to refresh the mind and restore the soul, while sun seekers can lounge by an infinity pool that seemingly melts into the sea or choose from a selection of beach and sea sports at the nearby beach club.

Located on the southern part of Irabu Island, the hotel is located 20 minutes by car from Miyako Airport. In 2019, the new Shimojishima Airport, which will also cater to private jets, is expected to open, making this a convenient gateway for international guests traveling to the island."

Category 7. Hotel website:

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...iyako-okinawa/

"IRAPH SUI, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Miyako Okinawa is located on Irabu Island, which lies 300 kilometers southwest of Okinawa’s main Island and is blessed with beautiful nearby coral reefs, primeval forests and a rich historic culture. IRAPH SUI faces the clear beautiful sea and provides plenty of space to relax and rejuvenate. In addition to 58 guest rooms, some with private pools, there are luxury facilities such as a gourmet restaurant with panoramic views that serves diverse dishes with fine local ingredients such as wagyu, pork, fresh fish and delicious vegetables. You can satisfy your body and soul in our relaxing spa, enjoy our swimming pool that seems to melt into the sea and sky, play with your dog in our Dog-friendly Room, or unwind in our lobby lounge with magical sunset view. Guests from around the world are warmly welcome to indulge in the sea, sun and slow passing of time at our hotel."

Pseudo Nim

Kagehitokiri

special opening rate through early march (about 3 more weeks left)

private pool >
$769 jr suite
$1719 corner suite
? presidential suite

almost certainly going to cat 8 if based on rates, looking at rate calendar

mackenzie77

Seems like a Cat8 but not on the official list of hotels moving up. I guess I can just speculate book for now and then cancel later if it ends up staying at Cat7.

Kagehitokiri

how many brand new hotels are on the official list and when did official list come out

Pseudo Nim

Ok. So I just got here. Definitely a very new property, which is really nice - the design is good, modern, everything is still sparkling new. Love that part. I'll write a more formal review, which will have the positives in it as well (since of course there are many), but a few things that I found comically lacking that I wanted to point out first (and as we know, people complain more than they recognise, so I'll just fall in with the statistic for now).

- this is completely my miss by not looking at the pictures enough, but who ever thought of building a hotel in Miyakojima, a place basically famous for its supreme beaches, with .... no beach?! You cannot access the ocean from the hotel, it's just rocks. Oops.
- I think the hotel staff operate on the bus schedule, which means if you drive up in a car, people are completely shocked to see you. What's more amusing is that the entrance door is this solid block of plastiwood, with no windows in it, which means nobody from the lobby can see you - the three security cameras notwithstanding. So we drove up, stood around for a while, went into the lobby; the agents were completely perplexed to see us. While they scurried around to get us a place to sit to do the checkin, someone helpfully went and parked our car.... but didn't take our suitcases out! So when the checkin was done and the agent asked us whether we had no bags, I asked her whether someone really parked our car without taking our bags out... neverending hilarity.
- There's a Veuve Clicquot champagne hour from 5.30 to 6.30. I expect this to go away once they realise how cost-inefficient it is, but it's a nice touch for sure.
- Be careful with their definition of a "sofa bed" in the suites. Also be careful with their definition of an "adult". They define an "adult" as anyone over six years old. So extra bedding charge applies unless you use the "existing bedding" - which is OK, but the problem is the sofa in the room has no bed function - you need to rip off the velcro cushions to discover a ... wooden box. When I called the front desk to ask them how to make it into a bed, they explained that I need to rip off the cushions and sleep on the wooden box. I'm like okay, but I need to put some sheets or something on it, right? I can't have a seven year old child an adult sleep on a wooden box, right? So they start telling me the story about the bedding upcharge that was explained to me on checkin that I refused. I'm like ok guys, if this is how you define a bed, then my suite has a thousand beds, because I can just sleep on the naked wooden floor, because besides it being raised a foot, there's absolutely no difference with this sofa that's missing cushions and the naked floor. Finally, some night manager came up and made it into a bed with a few sheets. The funny didn't stop there - he's like "would you like to use one of the pillows on your main bed?" and at this point I had nothing to lose, so I go "why, are you going to give me free sheets but will charge me for a pillow?" and finally, I even managed to get a free pillow.
- This is considered a "resort" (except there is NO MENTION of this word ANYWHERE on the corporate homepage). Which means you are not guaranteed late checkout - "based on availability". I asked them to fix it so that it's clear, at least.

And all this in the first day's stay.

We did get a really nice upgrade, though - the pool suite which has a private pool. It's not a huge pool, but it's a cool feature. The room has a "partial" ocean view and a "full" footpath view with people walking by, but hey, can't have everything I guess.

Oh oh, and another good one. On Marriott.com, they have reviews for hotels, right? Which are supposed to be anonymous? That's why they make you create a nickname etc? Well, one of the negative reviews is written by a Platinum member who was denied a room upgrade because the suite was "sold", and then he was put into a room facing the suite that he was denied, and it was empty the whole time. Fine, that's already funny in itself, but the hotel's reply is priceless: they write a long apology letter to "Mr. XXXXXX" (putting his real name in the apology) several times in the letter, completely and totally defeating the whole point of anonymous reviews. Lol.

More to come! I love these brand new hotels that can't figure out their heads from tails.

porphyra

Any more updates of this property? With their insane peak award pricing and high rates they must be doing just fine even through COVID. Any more experiences on how they typically treat elites?

joakgarp

How's the beach at this property? I'm surprised with the high rates as well as there is a very good huge resort south of Miyakojima called Myakojima Tokyu Hotel with a 10/10 amazing beach. Rates are decent if booked well in advance between 150-350€/night.
​​​​​​But I guess the Iraph is suitable for short weekend stays with guaranteed no children running around.