Stay at the Sheraton Grande Ocean Resort in Miyazaki City, Japan

100   Recommended
Room 3001 , Corner Suite
June 3, 2019 by

 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended
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Sheraton Grande Ocean Resort
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

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Room 3001

Corner Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Corner Suite

We arrived at the hotel in May for a 2-night weekday stay, for which I used one FNA and 35,000 Rewards points. We arrived by car. Parking was free at the front of the hotel in a large parking area. The hotel is about 41-stories tall and can be seen from miles away.

Check In

The check-in area is on the 3rd floor. Upon learning of my Platinum status, the check-in staff ushered us up the 36th floor Club Lounge to check in. Since I speak Japanese, I did not have a chance to test the English language skills of the hotel staff. Actually, most of the foreign hotel guests are from China, Taiwan, and South Korea, and since foreign guests are normally serviced by English speaking staff in Japan, there should be a number of good English speakers, but probably limited to key staff position. I would not expect general staff to speak much if any English at all, given that they are recruited locally.

The Club Lounge is fairly spacious with excellent views of the ocean and surrounding area. My Platinum status was recognized and I was clearly told what my benefits were. Although I had reserved a standard room, I was told that we would be upgraded to a Corner Suite on the 30th floor. We were also given the choice of an amenity kit or 1,000 Rewards points as a gift and informed that breakfast, Club Lounge access, pool, fitness center, and hot springs access would be free as Platinum members. We were then taken to our room and given a tour of the suite.   

Room

The Corner Suite was nearly 1,200 sqf with ocean and city views. The bedroom and living room were divided by sliding doors. Off the bedroom was a large bathroom with bath, walk-in shower, two sinks, and a toilet behind a door. There was also a second bathroom (toilet and sink only) near the room entrance. Both the bedroom and living room had TVs with international news channels (CNN) and the living room had a large sofa, two chairs, coffee table, and a desk. Although I believe the hotel was built in the late 1980s, the room was well appointed and in much better condition than I would have expected for its age. The standard room is already quite spacious at 538 sqf, but the upgrade to this larger suite was really appreciated.  

View from the room (30th floor)
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Service

We had no problems with the hotel service. Most of our encounters with service staff were at breakfast, the Club Lounge and the hot springs, where essentially, they operate in the background to ensure that you have everything you need. Overall the service was friendly, courteous and professional.

Dining

As a Bonvoy Platinum member, I was offered one of three free breakfast options: 1) breakfast in the Club Lounge, 2) the buffet at the Pine Terrace, and 3) a Japanese breakfast at Kyushu Rice Komekyu. We opted for a Japanese breakfast on our first day. We were brought our meal on a tray with locally grown rice served in a separate wooden container, and a very large bowl of miso soup. One of the breakfast dishes was vegetable shabu shabu, which included mushrooms, cabbage, and carrots, along with a shoyu-based dipping sauce. There was also a potato dish, a couple of rolled eggs, which were a little disappointing taste-wise, and small piece of salty and tasty fish. I especially liked the miso soup, the vegetable shabu shabu, and the local rice, which blended well with the other dishes. At the end, we were served tea. The whole meal was attractively presented and the chef even came out to explain the dishes and answer any questions. Overall, a highly satisfying breakfast.   

 

On our second day we opted for the breakfast buffet at the Pine Terrace. This was a very large buffet of mostly western dishes, but also included many Japanese dishes such as Udon, Japanese-style curry rice, miso soup, natto, two kinds of cooked rice, and many other dishes. There was also a huge salad bar, an omelet station, and your western standards of bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and many other choices. I tried not to overeat and mostly succeeded, but still felt full afterwards. The Udon was particularly good, and the Japanese curry rice, though not my favorite kind of curry, was delightfully spicy, for a change. With the range of food choices, you’re bound to find something you really like. Overall, it was very satisfying. The Pine Terrace opens at 6:00 am, and we arrived around 7:15 (after our morning hot bath at the onsen) and were immediately shown to our table, but by the time we left around 8:00 am, a long line to get in had already formed. It closes at 10:30 am.

 

There are a variety of restaurants at the hotel, but we wound up eating dinner at the Club Lounge simply because their Cocktail time (from 17:00 to 20:00) with food was sufficiently filling, and of course included free beer, wine and champagne (Moet-Chandon and Ferrari). I believe there was also sake and shochu.

Breakfast at Japanese restaurant Kyushu Rice Komekyu

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Club Lounge

The 36th floor Club Lounge is spacious and comfortable with great ocean views.

Breakfast is served there from 6:30-10:00 am, tea times from 10:00-17:00, cocktail time from 17:00 to 20:00 and bar time from 20:00-22:00. Since we were provided a free buffet breakfast as Platinum members, we did not try the lounge breakfast, nor did we try tea time. Bar time I believe is when alcoholic beverages are served minus the champagne. During cocktail time, some appetizers and food are served. It’s a very relaxing space and a great place to have dinner and drinks, though you may not get fully satiated with the food provided.  

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Hot Springs (Onsen(

There are three onsen located near each other on the hotel property. If you are not a Platinum member, you must pay a fee to use the any of the three onsen, but members get access to two the onsen for free (all other guests must pay 1,000 yen per use). The other onsen consists of four individual outdoor baths with attached private rooms for changing and relaxing and can be rented for 5,000 yen per hour. Like most onsen, there are indoor and outdoor baths (rotenburo). Both onsen we used also had saunas and cold water baths (mizuburo). The baths were not large, but were never crowded. One outdoor bath was surrounded by trees and the other was next to a pond. The views were very pleasant and relaxing. The onsen open at 6:00 am and close at 12 noon, and open again at 16:00 and close at 23:00. This is a great amenity to have at the hotel and well worth taking advantage of. (Further details: https://seagaia.co.jp/english/hotel/shosenkyu.html)

Entrance to onsen

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Fitness Center/Pool

A fitness center, indoor heated pool, and sauna are located on the 3rd floor Ocean Club. We toured the facility, but did not use it. If you are not a platinum member, there is a fee to use them, which is not uncommon at Japanese hotels. The hotel also has an outdoor pool on the ground floor level, but I think it’s officially open for use from the summer.

Location

The hotel is located a few miles north of downtown Miyazaki City on the southeast coast of Kyushu, and as of 2010, it had a population of about 400,000. We were planning on walking around the city after checking out of the hotel, but heavy rains prevented it. The hotel is located in the middle of the Phoenix Seagaia Resort (https://seagaia.co.jp/index_en.html), so there are lots of activities to do, but our main outdoor activities were taking a long walk on the bicycle path that circles the resort, spending time in the morning and evening in the two free hot springs, and enjoying food and drinks in the Club Lounge in the evening. Since this is almost as far south as you can go on Kyushu island itself, there are a fair number of palm trees and Papaya are even grown in the area. In some respects, the climate and area remind me of Okinawa, but just not as hot.

The ocean is within walking distance of the hotel, but the beach is extremely windy, the waves are high and rough, and is definitely not a good place to sunbathe. If you play golf, you will not be disappointed, as there are two golf courses within the resort, one of them designed by Tom Watson and PGA tournaments play there.

View toward Miyazaki City from our room

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Overall

If you are planning a trip to Kyushu and are a Bonvoy Platinum member, this would be a very enjoyable stay, especially if this is one stop of several on a tour of Kyushu. Platinum status is recognized and rewarded and the benefits obtained from our stay (upgrade to a suite, free breakfast, free hot springs, free Club Lounge access, free fitness center/pool access) were worth at least a few hundred dollars and probably more. Because there are so many activities at the resort, not to mention sightseeing in Miyazaki, I would not recommend staying less than three nights, four would be even better.  

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