Kumamoto Nishi Ward Hotels

A very nice stay in the city of Kumamon! Staffs are friendly, the room is big, amenities are well prepared. Had a three-night stay in the same hotel and enjoyed the convenience of it as it’s right next to the JR Kumamoto station with bus stops nearby and connected to the AMU plaza.

The hotel is conveniently located, just a 5-minute walk from Kumamoto Station's exit. It's the second high-rise building to the left within the station plaza. In terms of facilities, the King room we initially stayed in was quite small, a common characteristic in Japanese hotels. It was rather inconvenient having to place our 26-inch suitcase on the sofa just to open it. The next day, we switched to a Twin room, which offered a significant improvement in space. The decor, apart from the bathroom, was generally acceptable. Overall, it was a decent, though not outstanding, stay.

Location - opposite the Kumamoto station. May not be near the city central, it’s easy for traveller who is carrying large luggage. Cleanliness - it’s really clean Amenities - you can even choose your pillow type at the counter. It uses password lock instead of card. I really like this idea because the thought of losing the card is quite daunting. The onsen for female is really good. It’s huge enough to fit 4-5 people and it’s opened over the night. It does allow the guests to choose their time. Breakfast- it’s really nice and wholesome (refer to picture). It also provide evening drink which include alcohol.

You can see this hotel when you walk out from the east gate of JR Kumamoto station. Although the nearby area is not popular with just few restaurant and store, but it has a local railway station. However, I have to say this is the worst hotel I have ever lived in my travelling life. This one in the Kumamoto shame on the whole Toyoko Inn system. I had got some strawberry and sweets in the fridge in the room, and they were all frozen to ice at that night. I did not change any switch in the fridge and it was set up to 2 of total 5. Then I took the frozen strawberry to the front and told the stuff, but a lady just said sorry about that and that's all. I can understand there are some difficulties for the staff to explain why bad thing happened to the customers, but at least they should show they would put effort to fix the problems. This happened in the second night, but I have not get any explanation or compensation when I left even till now. And the water pump also created lots of noises when nearby rooms using water, so I think is might be refrained from an old hotel.

Overall, I am satisfied, but as the review shows, the heating was only on the ２ floor because of the maisonette type, and the １ floor remained very cold. I gave up the air conditioner and used only the small fan heater that I had prepared in the room, but it was warmer than using the air conditioner. (in summer, if the air conditioner is not working, it may be tough without a fan.) The shower head was more troublesome than the air conditioning, and it was not very easy to use in terms of water quantity. I was a little disgusted during my stay, so I went to a hot spring called Yurakusu nearby. It may have been inconvenient because it was a long stay, but tableware (paper plate, etc.) is prepared only one sheet a day, so it may not be enough to eat three meals. Also, since the trash can bag was not prepared to be replaced, I used the same trash bag all the time. If you are interested, you may want to buy it separately because there are 100 averages nearby.

I stayed at this hotel twice. The second time (this booking) we had a room on the older (?) wing and it was almost twice the size of the first one. So for this review I will only share feedback on this “older” room. This room was big and thus good for us as we had 2 large luggage and more space in the room allowed us to open and pack our luggages with ease. The bathroom was large with the large traditional bathtub. Toilet had bidet and etc but lacked heating which made it very cold in the winter. Basin tap was still the old turn types which was not eco friendly as it’s more difficult to shut it off. Location was just opposite the train station which was excellent. But the nearest convenience store is also only at the train station which is about a 5-7mins walk away. Breakfast was curated to suit the Japanese palette more and ends at 9a.m which is really way too early!! We left something behind in the hotel but they managed to send the item back to us at our new hotel (still in Japan) which was highly appreciated. Despite a few minor shortcomings listed above, the pros still outweigh the cons and I’ll definitely be happy to stay here again.

とても清潔で快適なお部屋でした。 お城の裏で繁華街からは離れていたので、夜は静かに過ごせました。 熊本城へは歩いて行けますし、路面電車の駅も近いので繁華街にも出やすいです。 （お城を抜けて歩いて繁華街にも出れますが、夜は暗くて静かなので女性一人で歩いて帰るのは気をつけた方がいいかもしれません） 今回は1泊でしたが、長期滞在でも過ごしやすそうなきれいなお部屋でした。どうもありがとうございました。