Very nice hotel with some negative aspects

Overall, I gave a "thumbs up - remommended" for this hotel. Although we will not return for multiple reasons.

negative:

- lots of kids, no seperate adults pool.
- very disappointing Regency Club, with lots of children too. limited food selection, especially 90% western food (I go to Japan for Japanese food, not mexican or european)

positives:

- very nice hotel
- nice pool 
- great staff

As soon as they noticed I was a Globalist, they escorted my wife and myself to the Regency Club. The Club had just closed for appetizers, but we were able to drink something while the check-in was processed.

Booked a standard room and used a TSU, and a Sunset Suite was guaranteed. My Hyatt Concierge entered a remark for a further upgrade based on availability. About 4 weeks prior to our stay, the hotel contacted me and advised they were unable to further upgrade me to a premium suite at no cost, as all the suites would be sold out (which is true, hotel was completely sold out during our stay). They offered us an Ocean Corner Suite for the price difference (22500Y). As I am aiming for LT Glob this year via base points and not nights, we accepted the offer.

The room was fantastic. We were on the 6th floor and according to me the best room category from a location perspective. Sun all day including sunset. Gorgeous.

Service in general was very good. On our 7 night stay, I once had to call guest services, as the room was not made at 4pm. They multiple times apologized for the service failure. On a 2nd occasion they were still cleaning the room at 5:30pm. My expectation is that rooms should all be done by 2pm or at lease prior to the check-in time. Turndown service starts at 6pm btw…

Otherwise, Service at the pool, the restaurants, the regency club was very good.

The big big disappointment is the Regency Club. We just came from GH Hong Kong, and next hotel was GH Macao,  and our expectations were high.

Morning selection every day on our 7 day stay was the same. the same 4 cheeses, the same bread, the same warm selection. same 3-4 fruits (canned apricots; pineapple, grapfruit or oranges). Salad. Egg station. Miso soup…

Evening: very disappointing. every day the same. Taco chips with guacamole, sour cream, some warm dish that changed. since there was a kitchen, I actually expected some cooking there too (like GH Macao), but no. Same 4 cheeses as in the morning.

I totally missed the Japanese food, it was completely western. Guacamole in Japan, sorry. 

Futhermore, children running around, screaming, etc. We like it peaceful and quiet. On one morning I counted 15 children.

The club is very hectic and not calm at all. We appreciate a quiet and dignified atmosphere in a lounge. So we only had drinks in the evening (free) and went to the restaurants. Maybe that was the intention of the hotel? I love whisky, and was so sure I could have japanese whisky in the lounge when in Japan– but no, they had Ballentines if I recall correctly.

RC is on the 3rd floor, and view is awful:

We dined at the “Cucina Serale” on the first evening, since the regency club was already closed for appetizers. We both had Pasta and food was excellent

We dined twice at “Serale” and both times food was excellent

My wife has never had Japanese food except Teppanyaki, and does not like Sushi and raw fish. Myself, I love Japanese food, so obviously wanted to try the Sushi. The Japanese restaurant actually has 4 separate restaurants and it is nearly impossible to have different Japanese food and still sit together. I understand that for the Teppanyaki. I asked twice if I cannot have Sushi and my wife the set menu, and answer was no.

Based on my superb experience with the local concierge, I asked her. She called the manager and they made it possible. They prepared a special sushi menu for me alone for 110$.

Sushi was good, yes, but not worth the 110$. The standard set menu price for the sushi restaurant was 200$ definitely not worth it in my view, irrespective if the Sushi chef is some Michelin type chef or not.

I had sushi at a mall in Nago and it was just as good, a whole set menu for 15$

Overall, I was disappointed with the Japanese restaurant especially because of the outrageous pricing.

I gave a "thumbs up - remommended" for this hotel. Although we will hardly return for multiple reasons.

negative:

- lots of kids, no seperate adults pool.
- very disappointing Regency Club, with lots of children too. limited food selection, especially 90% western food (I go to Japan for Japanese food, not mexican or european)

positives:

- very nice hotel
- nice pool 
- great staff

You need to be aware that this is a family resort! Unsure if it was due to the season we were there, but there were so many kids between the ages of 1 and 6 or 7. About a quarter of the guests were children, so be aware of this fact. Our kids are grown up so we usually look for resorts with an adult pool only. In spite of the fact that there are 2 outdoor pools and 1 indoor pool, neither was designated an adults pool only, which was disappointing. The lower pool would actually be ideal for kids, but it is salt water while the upper pool is regular water. I guess that’s the reason none was a designated adult pool.

The pool area actually is very nice nevertheless, we somehow got used to the screaming kids and lived with the fact.

Nice pool landscape though. Good pool bar menu and service.

upper pool has regular water:

the lower pool has salt water

Evening impression:

The beach is pretty small and during low tide not really swimmable.

tides are pretty big. here 2 pictures to illustrate:

EThe hotel is about 1 hour by taxi from Naha airport. the concierge arranged a pick up for us. Cost: 12'000Y.

We also rented a car, self parking was advised to be 1000Y, valet parking 1500Y. We valet parked, but nothing was charged!

Be aware, if renting a car, you need a translation into Japanese and an international driving license for most countries. (Switzerland only needs translation).

The concierge assisted with the translation via the Japanese "AAA" and it cost about 5'000Y.

I asked My Hyatt Concierge for support in a specific case and she reached out to the local concierge team and helped me out. I was so grateful and happy. I brought them Swiss chocolates as an appreciation token and the team kept thanking me. Some I had never seen, but upon saying bye at check-out they thanked me. So they knew me without having seen me.

The Concierge team is fantastic. They are extremely knowledgeable and also speak and write very good English. And they made it possible for my wife and me to have dinner at the Shirakachi.