My husband and I were attending a wedding of a dear friend in Saipan. Since we did not pick the hotel, there was no option of changing locations We stayed in the Emerald tower.

The attitude my husband and I decided to have was just to laugh at how dirty, run down and gross it was. We tried to make lemonade from the lemons we got!
I think the island in general is not, and hasn't been for about 30 years, in a good economic state, so I’m sure these hotels are barely hanging on and money for renovations is just not an option.

With that being said…

As we walked into our room we just started to laugh. It was apparent that nothing has been updated since about 1975. The once "white" shades were now a yellow, stained, crooked mess. The mold in the bathroom (it could be smelled throughout the entire room) would have caused any American mainland hotel to be shut down. The alarm clock was built into the head board of the bed and did not work; nor did our safe for that matter. Although, the staff did come and fix it the first day after a couple of phone calls. I am typically NOT a germ-phobic, not much grosses me out, but I would NOT walk on the floors without shoes on. The size of the rooms were HUGE! That would have been a plus, but that just meant more disgusting carpet to cross as I went to the door or bathroom.

The beach was beautiful and the view out my room was great, but the music playing from the water park next door seemed to act as our alarm clock instead. By the end of the trip I knew the playlist by heart.

They let you bring your own drinks into the rooms and beach. That was a plus! We bought beer and wine at the grocery store across the street.

Like another reviewer, nothing seemed to be open in terms of facilities or restaurants.

I also was deeply saddened and obsessed with the mangy dog tied to a cage on the hotel’s beach. I would spend a lot of my time petting him and trying to cool the dog down. I even brought it my leftover meals. The dog was the sweetest thing I’ve ever met and I doubt its fate was good. I’d be surprised if the poor thing was still alive. It haunts me still today. I hope someone rescued him from the heat, flies and mosquitoes that were literally killing him. Out of all my complaints of the hotel, the dog is my biggest. I’m sure he’s just one of thousands on the island in that state, but it was so hard to see. I tried to contact a humane society with now luck.

I would certainly NOT recommend this hotel to anyone who has even mediocre expectations.
But all in all, the friends were got to spend time with was most important and I had a wonderful time in Saipan!