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Accomodations - REVEIW -
11-14-2009, 03:31 AM
I am starting this thread to help other travelers choose accomodation. Please feel free to add to this thread if you think your comment or review will help others. Scoring will be out of 10 for each category. Please also provide some descriptive justification for your score decision
Please keep in mind that this is PURELY a subjective view, individual expereience may differe --------------------------- Hotel: Hotel Granvia Kyoto Location: Kyoto Overall Score: 8/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 10/10 - Right above the JR Kyoto Station Staff Language Proficiency: 8/10 - Staff speaks fluent Japanese and Semi-Fluent English. Some staff speaks Mandarin and French. Cleaniness:9/10 - Mainhalls, rooms and MOST facilities are extremely clean. Bathroom conditions are great, but do show signs of use. Price: 7/10, solely judging from the $ figure and not from the perspective of "Bang for the buck". Rooms average at around USD$150 a night Overall Comment Great place to stay at if money is not a concern. Location is highly convenient, very clean hotel with polite and helpful staff. Highly recommended --------------------------- Hotel: Hotel Sun Targas Ueno Location: Tokyo - Ueno Overall Score: 7/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 9/10 - About 5 minutes walk from the JR Ueno Station. Staff Language Proficiency: 3/10 - Staff speaks fluent Japanese and very little English Cleaniness: 8/10 - A smaller business hotel with very clean room and facility. Price: 8/10, At about USD$40 per person per night, with very clean and comfortable accomodation. Overall Comment Room size are typical Japanese "BUsiness Hotel" sizes, a bit on the small side. Location wise, while the hotel is very close to a major JR station, it is quite hidden and its not easy to find it --------------------------- Hotel: Heiwa Plaza Hotel Location: Yokohama Overall Score 6/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 9/10 - 10 minutes walk from JR Sakuragicho station Staff language proficiency: 7/10 - Staff Speaks fluent Japanese, and was able to communicate in English Cleaniness: 5/10 - Very small business hotel, rooms and facility shows heavy signs of usage. Rusty and corroded pipe were observed in bathroom and other areas of the room Price: 6/10 - About USD$80 a night, I've epxected a bit more for that kind of price Overall Comment Hotel is overpriced whe comparig its facility with other business hotel of similar price --------------------------- Hotel: Green Hotel Hakata Location: Hakata Overall Score 8/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 7/10 - 10 Minutes walk from Tenjin station. Tenjin station's exit is not something that can be easily accessed, carrying heavy luggage will be a pain to navigate around Tenjin Staff language Proficiency: 8/10 - Staff speaks fluent Japanese and English Cleaniness: 9/10 - Very clean hotel. Price: 8/10 - USD$80 a night for 2 people. Overall Comment Very good hotel if you don't mind the navigating through Tenjin with your luggages --------------------------- Hotel: Flex Hotel Hiroshima Location: Hiroshima Overall Score 8/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 8/10 - 10 minutes walk from JR Hiroshima Station. Staff language proficiency: 7/10 - Fluent Japanese and conversational Englhish Cleaniness: 9/10 - Very tidy and clean hotel. Bathroom and all other facilities shows little sign of usage Price: 8/10 - USD$90 a night for 2 people Overall comment Great hotel, convenient location, and a great view if you are to dine at their outdoor patio. --------------------------- Hotel: Himeji Castle Hotel Location: Himeji Overall Score: 7/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 7/10 - 15 Minutes walk from JR Himeji Station. Staff Language Proficiency: 8/10 Fluent Japanese and english Cleaniness: 8/10 - Not the best, but acceptable, I expected more from a hotel of this caliber Price: 8/10 - USD$110 a night for 2 people Overall comment Ok hotel, right on the "Acceptable" level base on my standard --------------------------- Hotel: Dotombori Hotel Osaka Location: Namba (Osaka) Overall Score: 8/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 9/10 - 3 minutes walk from Namba station Staff Language proficiency: 8/10 Fluent Japanese and English Cleaniness: 8/10 - Very clean room and equipment. Bathroom shows sign of usage, but well maintained Price: 8/10 - USD$90 a night for 2 people Overall Comment Great hotel, highly recommended. Very conenienve location, right in the heart of Namba where all the action is --------------------------- Hotel: Garden Hotel Location: Kyoto Overall Score: 7/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 7/10 - 3 minutes walk from Karasuma Oike station, but GETTING to Karasuma Oike can be a challenge, no escalator at exist, making it difficult if you are traveling with heavy luggage Staff Language Proficiency: 8/10 Fluent Japanese and English Cleaniness:7/10 - Rooms are clean, but do show an obvious sign of usage Price:7/10 - USD$110 a night for 2 people Overall Comment Hotel is decent and acceptable, but a bit overpriced for what you get --------------------------- Hotel: Royal Park Hotel Location: Yokohama overall Score: 9/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 9/10 - 2 minutes walk from Sakuragicho Station, right within the Landmark Tower building Staff Language Proficiency: 9/10, Fluent in Japanese and English, staff with other language proficiency available upon request Cleaninesess: 10/10 - Rooms are spotless and its very big and comfortable. Price: 9/10 - USD$180 a night for 2 people, a bit on the high side, but its well worth it Overall Comment Great hotel, the view itself (Looking down at Minato Mirai) is worth the money. Very very clean with amazing service. You should try their in room massages, very relaxing. --------------------------- Hotel: Oak Hotel Location: Ueno, Tokyo Overall Score: 6/10 --------------------------- Score location:7/10 - 10 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station Staff language proficiency: 8/10, Fluent Japanese and English Cleaniness: 4/10 - Totally unaccetable, there were dust in the room, all facility shows heavy sign of usage Price:7/10 - USD$70 a night for 2 people. Overall Comment I guess this one is a matter of you get what you pay for. My experience with this hotel is sub-par, very noisy hotel with a lot of "Hippies" like rock-star wanna be crashing in at this hotel. My reservation was initially for 7 nights, I left after the first night and move to Tokyo Prince instead. Too many of these "Rock Star Wannabe" try to pick up the girls at the front desk. --------------------------- Hotel: Tokyo Prince Hotel Location: Hamamatsucho, Tokyo Overall Score:7/10 --------------------------- Score Location:7/10 - 10 Minutes walk from Hamamatsucho Station Staff Language Proficiency:9/10, Fluent in Japanese and English. Other languages available upon request Cleaniness: 7/10 - Clean rooms, but OLD facility Price: 8/10 - USD$140 a night for 2 people Overall Comment A bit on the expensive side, but right in the heart of Tokyo. Location is rather convenient, with lots of good restaurant around the area. easy access to Ginza and Shinbashi (route to Odaiba) ============================ Thats it for today, I will put up another review for some other ones I stayed at 2 years ago 
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11-14-2009, 04:35 PM
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Hotel: Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku Location: Shinjuku, Tokyo Overall Score:9/10 --------------------------- Score Location:9/10 - 5-10 Minute walk from Shinjuku Station Staff Language Proficiency:7/10, Fluent in Japanese and English. Cleaniness: 9/10 - Clean rooms although a single can be small, more then enough tolietries provided Price: 8/10 - CAN $140+ a night for 1 person Overall Comment Wonderful location, if you like walking everything can be accessed from here in a few hours, think the longest walk I had was to Akibahara took about 90 mins. Lots of restos near by and not just Japanese. Free interent in your room.
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11-14-2009, 07:12 PM
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Hotel: K's House Hostel Location: Kyoto Overall Score: 8.5/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 8/10 - Shichijo, Kyoto, a few minutes walk either way to Kyoto eki or Keihan line Shichijo. Staff Language Proficiency: 8/10 - Bilingual Japanese and English mostly. Cleanliness:7/10 - New(ish) facilities, well maintained, but it is a hostel so people may be untidy in the shared dorms or kitchen. Price: 8/10, it's a hostel and prices range from 2300 (dorms)-3500 (single private) pp.pn, so quite reasonable. Overall Comment There's a cafe attached that serves breakfast if you're not up to self-catering and a useful bike hire service. Staff are very friendly and provide a lot of tourist information right there in the lobby, as well as selling useful things like padlocks if you lose or forget to bring one for the dorm. Internet and skype headsets available 100y/hour. --------------------------- Hotel: Sakura Hostel, Asakusa Location: Asakusa, Tokyo. Overall Score: 6/10 --------------------------- Score Location: 6/10 - Somewhat hard to find as hidden down the backstreets (head past the neon love hotel to find it), but very close to Asakusa temple and train lines. Staff Language Proficiency: 7/10 - Most well-capable of speaking english. Cleanliness:6/10 - Acceptable levels of cleanliness, although the showers and beds are a bit old. Price: 6/10, Mix of rooms available with dorms starting at aprox 3000yen, and private rooms ranging from twins for 8000yen to 8 beds for 23000 yen. A bit on the pricey side for what you get, but then, this is Tokyo. Overall Comment: Looking at the website, they may have renovated, but it's the only place I have ever stayed where the dorm ceilings were padded with grey rubber. Beds were old and you had to go outside along a veranda to get to the showers and toilets from the dorms. A lot of breeze-block walls and outside looked straight into other people's apartments. Basically ugly but serviceable. Staff were unmemorable, so neither criticism or praise there. The shared showers were irksome as there was nowhere very dry or secure to put things, but it was clean. Lockers are small, but the place in general is quite safe.
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Coganoi Bay Hotel -
11-15-2009, 12:51 AM
Coganoi Bay Hotel
〒649-2211 和歌山県西牟婁郡白浜町3212-1 tel.0739-43-6000 fax.0739-43-5805 ご予約・お問い合わせは 0120-87-1026（ハナトフロ） http://www.coganoi.co.jp/bay/index.html _____________________________________ They have an older Ryokan style sister around the corner which I have heard is also beautiful. 5 years already...     Cheers - Oz
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11-15-2009, 05:22 AM
Hotel: Toyoko Inn.
Location: There is one in almost every decent sized city, and some tiny ones too. Overall Score: 8/10 --------------------------- Score location:8/10, they are almost always situated near or not far from the local transport hub, be it the JR station, or the bus terminal Staff language proficiency: 5/10, some of the staff doesnt speak english, some do, but not to worry, i havent met one that didnt take the time to try and understand my crap japanese. they look after you well. Cleaniness: 10/10, clean, modern facilities, great housekeeping. Price: 8/10, prices vary around the country but they average Y2,500 to Y7,000 a night per person, depending on location of course. for the location, service, its great. it's cheap if you consider that it includes a japanese breakfast, ie hot rice, miso soup and something else on the side. sometimes they throw in dinner as well, one place did japanese curry free. Comment: Its a great chain, and the hotel is staffed exclusively by women. company policy or something like that. their proximity to transportation links make them the perfect place to stay for anyone doing alot of travelling around japan. and hey, i just googled and they even have an english website: Hotel Reservations - Hotel Chain Toyoko Inn
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11-15-2009, 02:17 PM
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You can join their member`s club and get a free night for every 5 you stay (if you`re a woman) or 10 you stay (for men). They are my husband`s business hotel of choice, as they`re cheap, nice, everywhere... And with the free night every 10 days he gets to keep the hotel allowance from his company. 
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11-17-2009, 01:20 PM
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 i'm pretty sure i've got a good few nights free if i had signed up.
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11-17-2009, 02:43 PM
Intercontinental Hotel, Tokyo bay.
Located near Takeshiba station on the Yurkamome line, the Intercontinental Hotel is only minutes from Ginza and Tokyo station by train or taxi. Overall, the Intercontinental rates an 8/10. My favorite reason for choosing this hotel was because of it's fantastic views of Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge. The staff at the check-in counter spoke good English, and I had no problems checking in, or receiving directions to the hotel's restaurants and facilities. For facilities, I give it a 6/10 rating. There is no swimming pool, and the hotel gymnasium is small. I would rate the restaurants at 8/10. The Japanese restaurant is particularly good, with fresh fish chosen from the nearby Tsukiji fish market. The breakfast buffet is tasty, and at $30 per person, is about normal for a 4 star Tokyo hotel. My bay-view room at the Intercontinental Hotel cost $330 per night. The Conrad Hotel at Shinbashi (walking distance from Shinbashi Station). This is one of Tokyo's better hotels, very modern, and very convenient. The Conrad hotel overlooks the Hama-rikyu gardens (formerly known as the "Detached Palace"), which were built by the Tokugawa Shoguns in the 17th century. Besides the views of the gardens, Tokyo Bay and much of the metro area are also visible. The Conrad Hotel lacks nothing, every detail is superb, from the decoration of the rooms, to the lobby and restaurants. It is an American Express preferred hotel, and deserves a 9/10 in every category. For those of you with an Amex Platinum card (or higher), you get 11am check-in, 4pm checkout, and complimentary glasses of champagne. I enjoyed a garden-view room with a king-sized bed. The bathroom was unique in that the large bathtub was located next to a large window, which allowed me to enjoy views of the city as I bathed. My room at the Conrad Tokyo Hotel was $720 per night. The Tokyo Disney Sea Mira Costa Hotel (at Maihama Station on the Keio Line). This is one of the most unique, beautiful, and enjoyable hotels I have ever visited. The exterior of the hotel duplicates the architecture of Venice, Italy, even down to the minor details. The fountain in the front of the hotel reminds one of Rome's spectacular fountains, but impressive as the fountain is, it is outdone by the fantastically beautiful lobby. It really must be seen to be believed. In appearance and atmosphere, it deserves a perfect 10/10 rating. The hotel offers 3 restaurants which are quite good, though not spectacular. But if one doesn't care for the hotel's restaurants, one can simply go into the Disney Sea park and eat at one of the many restaurants located there. I give the hotel's restaurants a 6/10. The Mira Costa Hotel offers wonderful facilities which include both indoor and outdoor pools, a wonderful spa, and a very good gymnasium. I give the facilities a 9/10. Language was a problem when booking my room, it took some work to get an operator who could help me with the process. But the booking agents aren't actually on the hotel property, and are responsible for reservations at many hotels in the area. As it was, the hotel staff on site spoke good English, and were quite helpful in every way. I give the staff a 10/10 rating. My harbor-view, balcony room at the Mira Costa Hotel was 63000 yen per night. Included with the price is one Disney park admission ticket, and up to 2 tickets for the Disney Resort train line. Sansuiro Inn, 20 minutes from Yugawara station (on the Tokaido Line) by bus or taxi. The Sansuiro Inn is a Japanese Ryokan located in Yugawara in Kanagawa prefecture. It is located high in a valley, with a river running below, with numerous natural onsen baths located in the vicinity. The hotel was recently remodeled before my stay, and every item inside, from the cedar ceilings to the tatami floors was brand new. For appearance, the hotel rates a 10/10. Our 7th floor room was beautiful, with incredible views of the tree-covered valley. On our large balcony was a big cedar-wood onsen tub. A second, and even larger tub made of stone was located in the bathroom. If I could, I would give the room an 11/10. The Sansuiro has a cafe, a souvenir shop, and one restaurant. More facilities are not necessary as meals are served in one's room. The dinner and breakfast menus offered much variety, including dishes for those who don't care for Japanese tastes. I chose a Japanese dinner, which was served in courses, one after the next, for more than one hour. Just when I thought I couldn't eat another bite, a new tray and dishes would be brought in. The quality, freshness, and taste of the food was very good, a 9/10. At night the maid laid out our futons so we could sleep. I was surprised to find that the Sansuiro used Tempur-pedi futons. The comfort of the futons, combined with the sound of the river running over the rocks below, as well as the summer-night insects made my sleep incredible deep and resting. Of all the Ryokans I've stayed in, the Sansuiro is by far the best. My room at the Sansuiro Inn was 70,000 yen per night. Other strong mentions are the Tokyo 4 seasons (next to Tokyo Station), Nikko Hotel (Odaiba, on the Yurikamome line), Fujiya hotel (Hakone), and the Yamamotoya (also in Hakone). All are good quality, but not as nice or enjoyable as the hotels mentioned in my reviews.
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12-29-2011, 06:58 AM
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12-29-2011, 06:02 PM
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