Lalamare Kouri

The sea view was amazing, and the rooms were clean. The rooftop was open for stargazing. Laundry was free to use, with detergent supplied, and we were given free breakfast for multiple stays.

The hotel itself was fine, though it sits quite a way up a steep hill from the seafront. What really frustrated me was how checkout day was handled, and it soured the stay. I went scuba diving on our last day. While I was out, my friend was supposed to leave our luggage at reception and look around the island. It was only our bicycle saddle bags, nothing large. When I got back, she was still sitting there with them. Reception had first refused to store them, then reluctantly agreed for just long enough for her to get food, telling her to return because they had no space. She spent hours waiting with the bags, unable to carry both hers and mine up and down the hill in the heat. The reception back office was plainly visible and looked like it had plenty of room for a few bags. I consider checkout day luggage storage standard for hotels, and this felt completely unacceptable. They could easily have tried to help her somehow, but instead left her stuck in reception.

The rooms are huge, and the roof terrace has a great view. But the bed was noisy, restaurant smells came in around dinner, and we had loud upstairs neighbors our first night, so we didn’t sleep well. There’s no front desk after 9 pm. If you book, ask for the second floor, though there’s no lift. At check-in they give you a list of things you mustn’t do, including a note that the water heater cuts off after an hour of continuous use. Seeing that spelled out in black and white just didn’t feel good.

The night before our Okinawa trip, my six-month-old baby was admitted to emergency care because of infantile spasms. I contacted the management to ask if they could offer a partial refund and even offered to show proof, but they showed no sympathy and stuck firmly to their no-refund policy. The other two hotels I booked in Okinawa also had strict no-refund terms, yet refunded us after we explained our situation sincerely and in detail. Even our car rental, which also had a no-refund policy, returned our money. If you want a place with a human touch and connection, this isn’t it. There’s already so much suffering in the world in 2023; organizations should do their part to make things better. If possible, don’t book here.