Michael
One of the nicest hotels I didn't really love. Facilities are excellent and the aroma that greets you at the elevator entrance on the ground floor is wonderfully welcome. Staff is also great and I loved the location sandwiched between the train station and Amu Plaza, both with plenty of delightful dining and shopping.
Where is falls short for me is in the quality of sleep it provided. The bed was comfortable enough, but I was glad I had my travel pillow with me because I wasn't digging theirs. I visited during a July heat wave, so it was miserable outside and that carried over inside as well. With a west-facing room, I had to close the blackout curtain by early afternoon or feel the radiant heat coming off the window. Even then, I dropped the AC to 21c and it was not enough to make the room feel 'cool.' Worse yet, whatever ambient humidity plus the fabric of the sheets made for an unpleasant stickiness that kept me tossing and turning all night.
A couple of other heat-related nits that stopped me from loving the hotel: the room's toilet seat was heated with no option to turn it off (it was one of the newer, streamlined controllers). Absolutely unnecessary in a Japanese summer. And the breakfast -- which was good but not great -- is served in a restaurant that has a wall of windows taking in all the morning sun, which leaves most of the tables baking and half of those seats staring directly into a massive fireball. Semi-sheer shades would make all the difference.
Where is falls short for me is in the quality of sleep it provided. The bed was comfortable enough, but I was glad I had my travel pillow with me because I wasn't digging theirs. I visited during a July heat wave, so it was miserable outside and that carried over inside as well. With a west-facing room, I had to close the blackout curtain by early afternoon or feel the radiant heat coming off the window. Even then, I dropped the AC to 21c and it was not enough to make the room feel 'cool.' Worse yet, whatever ambient humidity plus the fabric of the sheets made for an unpleasant stickiness that kept me tossing and turning all night.
A couple of other heat-related nits that stopped me from loving the hotel: the room's toilet seat was heated with no option to turn it off (it was one of the newer, streamlined controllers). Absolutely unnecessary in a Japanese summer. And the breakfast -- which was good but not great -- is served in a restaurant that has a wall of windows taking in all the morning sun, which leaves most of the tables baking and half of those seats staring directly into a massive fireball. Semi-sheer shades would make all the difference.
