At Mercure Naha Okinawa, they are taking the democratisation of travel to the next level.
Access to water views
There are no presidential suites here despite the grand views from the top floor, and many of the cheaper rooms have a water view of the river, and being a bit further from the city centre, its neighbours are mainly low rise, and with the road and monorail on one side, panoramic views of the distant green field are not a dream, but a reality for most guests here.
You may hear the odd ambulance from the road below, but Naha is generally a quiet place, nothing to disturb my sleep at night.
Both business and leisure travellers can access high quality services
All the guest rooms have modern facilities like Wi-Fi and phone charging, as well as comfortable and clean beds, in a clean and bright décor. The in-house restaurant caters for a variety of tastes, making it suitable for groups or individuals.
While it isn’t on Kokusai Street, it is just a few stops away on the monorail, and there is easy access to Tomari Port as well, the ferry gateway to Aharen and the Kerama Islands.
Sustainability is about quality of life for all
At Mercure Naha, sustainability is about improving the quality of life of everyone who passes here, for both the current and future generations. At their heart is their human element.
To sustain the local society, the hotel employs and trains local staff, ensuring a connection to the local community, while providing them with access to Mercure’s international best practices, enabled by foreign staff and managers. This enables them to better understand the needs of both local and foreign guests, including their dietary requirements.
Mercure Okinawa Naha's restaurant serves dishes made with attractive Okinawan ingredients. You can enjoy high quality meals at reasonable prices. The interior is bright, open, and has a calm atmosphere. Whether you are dining as a couple, or on a business trip, you can enjoy creative cuisine using ingredients unique to Okinawa. Like the rest of the hotel, there are wheelchair and stroller friendly spaces and an ease of access.
Besides making quality travel experiences accessible for all, Mercure Hotel Okinawa Naha is a champion for sustainability. Sustainability is not just about caring for the environment, but there are cultural and societal aspects as well, using the Global Reporting Initiative or GRI Standard to track its progress, and setting a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% per sq meter. The greenhouse emissions intensity for the baseline year, FY2017 (April 2017 to March 2018) was 0.135 (t-CO2 /㎡)
It had also achieved a 4 out of 5 star rating with the European Environmental Assessment Program in 2023, which is called Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark or GRESB,
This is an annual benchmarking program to evaluate Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations of hotels and other property owners and is distinguished by its comprehensive evaluation of sustainability initiatives. The owner of Mercure Hotel in Naha Okinawa championed participation in this program since and has held the "Green Star" rating for six consecutive years. Since 2020, it was also recognised as the sector leader in the Asian Hotel category.
One way to reduce greenhouse emissions, is to allow bicycles to be kept in the rooms.
In February 2018, Mercure Okinawa Naha became the one of the first Japanese owned hotels to acquire BELS accreditation, which is similar to NABERS. BELS stands for the Building-Housing Energy-Efficiency Labelling System, which was set up by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, to measure the energy conservation rating of the building,
Conclusion
It is no wonder, that Okinawa has sustainability in its soul. Its shrines are a monument to nature, unadorned like Sefa Utaki. When you slow down and hear the waves or hear your shoes crackle on the sound of coral stone, you are communing with the soul of nature.
A long life is only worthwhile if it is a life of meaning and purpose. In Okinawa, a moment with the centenarians is like a dance with time, a moment called ichigo ichie.
