The Saipan World Resort is what you expect when you go to a tropical island and need some rest, a little beach and sea, some pools and activities, and the kids happy! We were there in december 2010 during a visit to Japan. Spacious rooms, we had connecting rooms with the grandparents. We spent a lot of time on the hotel's beach, just laying in the surf, did some shopping, enjoyed some meals, went to an outdoor weekly market (with lots of food!). This is what you need to recharge. The hotel had lot's of facilities, the public spaces were very spacious and open (nice in a tropical climate), the Korean restaurant was good, but don't go to the "Italian" one, they don't know about pasta. The breakfast buffet was excellent, but good coffee is hard to find on this island (Maxwell House and Folgers, that's about it). We definitely will go back.

Me and my family chose this resort because of its water park. The park did not disappoint. It kept my 11, 10, and five-year olds reasonably entertained for our seven days-stay at this resort.

I would rate this hotel somewhere between three and four stars. The mainly Fillipino and Chamorro staff were professional and considerate. The only complaint I have about the hotel was the lack of Internet connections in the rooms. To check the Internet, I had to troop down to the lobby with my notebook computer everyday. There is only one common terminal in the lobby, and it was always occupied with kids playing Internet video games.

The guests were, I would say, 75% Korean (the hotel is owned by a Korean company), 20% Russian, and the rest were Japanese, Chinese, and American. Likely because of this ratio, the food in the buffet restaurant appeared to be oriented towards Asian tastes. I found this of benefit to my waisteline. If you're a "meat and potatoes" person, however, the menu selection in the buffet may leave you disappointed and embittered. I really like how the hotel gave us one free buffet, breakfast or lunch, everyday, but gave us tickets so we could easily choose which meal we decided to take. Kids under 12 ate free for breakfast and lunch. Because the island is so small, we often went out in our rental car in the morning, returned to the hotel to take our free lunch, then went back out again in our car to continue exploring.

Because this is a family resort, if you're looking for a party place this hotel is probably not for you. The bartenders at the lobby bar and in the sports bar (only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) appeared to be very bored. Again, because it is a family resort, I think the hotel probably should take a little better care of its table-top games in the lobby area. The three table tennis tables, billiards table, and miniature pool table were always in use. It was frustrating for the guests, I think, that the equipment was not well-maintained and often missing.

Most people dried their swimsuits on their room balconies every night. The ocean breeze worked well in this regard. The hotel, however, appears to not approve of this because there are no clotheslines on the balconies to assist in this endeavor. We just draped our swim clothes over the balcony table and chairs and this more-or-less worked.

If you decide to stay at this hotel, please take my advice and check the prices on ALL the languages' site pages for this resort. We found the price offered on the Japanese web page for this resort to be half the price offered on the English page. Also, the package deal on the English page included a $10 charge for taking the hotel's van from and to the airport, while on the Japanese site it was free! I expect that the prices on the Korean site are also cheaper than the English site. Use Google translate to help you navigate through the sites if necessary so you can book your reservation. For some reason, our package deal included a 2 p.m. checkout time, while most of the other guests in the resort had a noon checkout time. I'm not sure why.

The fitness room is not free. It is part of the hotel's spa which requires a separate fee to enter. Otherwise, it looked like a nice facility. The resort's washing machines and dryers cost $1.25 each to use and worked well.

The following was my letter to the World Resort:

Hello,

I am a returning resident of Saipan. Although I am not an expert in hotel management, I stayed at many different hotels for over 200 nights in 2009 alone.

I stayed 1 night at your hotel on Saturday, Dec 4-5. I was very disappointed in your service at the front desk by Joeme and Jina. I understand that most of your guests are Asian and Russian tourists, but when ANYONE walks up to your counter (reception), they deserve to be acknowledged. Although I was rudely and blatantly ignored by Joeme and Jina, I gave them a couple minutes before I asked for help. I was leaning on the counter with no one else around so there was no mistake in thinking that I was already being helped. It was so obvious that they were ignoring me, so I finally asked if I was at the wrong place. After finding out that I was a guest who just wanted to check-in, they proceeded in the most horrible hotel reception experience I've ever had. They not only moved at snail pace, but they did not smile and only spoke to me at the bare minimum. I was asked to fill out a form and sign a sheet without summarizing what it was about. They did not mention an overview of the hotel's ammenities, location of the elevator, choice in room floor/location, etc..., water park info, restaurant info or anything! All I was told is where to get the water park pass and even that was unclear! Like I said, I was the only customer present at the check-in counter the whole time!

Needless to say, this ruined my mood the whole day. I was mostly upset because at a time where Saipan needs to step up their game in keeping tourists and making them return to the island, we have people like Joeme and Jina who have no interest in that goal.

I was also disappointed in the bell staff (not available when I arrived). Every vacation resort I've been to has bell staff who are quickly available to help customers with their bags. At your hotel, I had to walk over and get my own cart!

The water park and beach staff were very helpful and accommodating. The restaurant staff were ok. To be honest, if Pacific Islands Club was not fully booked, I would've cancelled my reservation and moved over there. Although we live on Saipan, we went to your hotel to celebrate my son's birthday. I'm not sure if I will ever visit or recommend your hotel to my friends who plan on visiting me from the mainland United States.

Not only for the betterment of your hotel, but also for the tourism health of Saipan, I hope you do improve on your service. If you want to be like PIC, you would have to start with the staff. I have to admit, your rooms are nicer than PIC, but I'd rather go back to PIC because ALL the hotel staff are friendly and helpful - that is what matters! Do you ever wonder why PIC is always full even when all the other hotels on Saipan are suffering from the lowest occupancy in years?!