Miyakojima Tokyu Hotel was our last stop on our Japanese adventure. Miyakojima is a stunning island packed full of world-class beaches, crystal clear seas, and a few rather odd sights that will only make sense if you’ve been to the island. If you want an example, Google the “German Cultural Village” in Miyakojima and you’ll get an idea of what we mean.

Sadly, the sun decided to hide away for much of our stay in Miyakojima, which meant that we were able to give our hotel a real road-test, especially as we were fresh from one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever stayed at, the Intercontinental in Naha, Okinawa.

There’s much to like about the Miyakojima Tokyu Hotel, namely the friendly local staff, the location (the beach on which the hotel is built is stunning with white sand and shallow water for paddling), and the comfort levels of the room.

Other activities like the putting are also really good options, especially for families, and had we been staying for longer in nicer weather, we definitely would have hired bikes from the hotel.

Top marks also for having a cheap laundrette on-site; we washed most of our holiday clothes for a few pounds before heading back to England!

However, a couple of disappointing factors let the hotel down slightly in our eyes. It was a shame that the pool areas were out of action, despite the temperatures not being at all bad for much of our stay. Cordoned off swimming pools don’t add to the appeal of a beachside hotel. Our hotel in Okinawa had one drained and one filled, including a small children’s pool, and it seemed odd not to offer the same sort of arrangement here. Our previous hotel also had a sauna and spa area, which again this hotel lacked.

The buffet for breakfast, whilst vast in terms of range, wasn’t always top-notch in terms of quality. That said, our little girl revelled in being able to eat chicken katsu for breakfast, so that’s a tick in the box from her! It was also irritating to have to remember to take physical tokens to the restaurant in order to be admitted and shown to our table (why can’t they just accept name/room number like every other hotel?).

As we mentioned earlier, the local staff couldn’t have been more eager to help us out and to be extremely warm and welcoming. Our check-in experience was, however, soured by the attitude of one of the (non-Japanese, it has to be said) receptionists, who tried to take a deposit off us because, as he took pleasure in telling us, the hotel had experienced a “big group of Italians” leaving one time several years ago without paying. Not great as Westerners to feel judged by association and certainly not the kind of service you would get from a Japanese member of staff. Similar stories along this theme have been mentioned several times on TripAdvisor so you’d have thought they might have learned not to rub Westerners up the wrong way with this tale!

One final letdown was the amount of unsightly building work going on across the hotel, something which perhaps soured our overall perception of the resort, either fairly or unfairly.

We will definitely be back to Miyakojima in the future; it’s a stunning location that we loved. We probably won’t, however, be staying at the Miyakojima Tokyu Hotel, unless they can add a little bit of polish to the few bad points mentioned here (and perhaps lower the price per night to bring costs more in line with the feel of the accommodation).