Hotel Abashirikoso — Hotel in Abashiri

I booked this hotel for 2 nights because I am here for the Okhotsk Abashiri Marathon and this was the only hotel which was available for me to book. The service is the most atrocious I'd out of so many hotels I had stayed before in Japan.||Firstly, there was a weird unpleasant smell in the room and the carpet looks really dirty. It smelled like smelly salted fish and hong kong feet smell! I feedback to them about it and they send someone to use some machine to freshen the room a bit which helps a little but not much. Because on the night before the marathon, there are many runners all checked into the hotel, so I could understand that the rooms are all fully booked and they couldn't change a room for me. I accepted it since they say they will change me to another room for the 2nd night.||That's when the problem happened. Upon returning from the marathon at around 2-ish pm, I was brought to another room. It smelled equally bad and the carpet was equally dirty. The toilet seemed like it is for people with disability. Nevertheless I concluded that all the rooms prolly has the same unpleasant smell so I decided to let it go since I will check out early the next morning anyway. The staff asked me if I dislike tatami smell because that is the smell of tatami. I had been to Japan 13 times and lost count of the many ryokan or hotel with tatami flooring which I had stayed in before. It is the first time I learnt that tatami smells like smelly salted fish or hong kong feet by the way. Then all the other hotels prolly used fake tatami cos theirs smelled "woody" and doesn't smell like this unpleasant smell at all.||Then I went to shower and realised that the shower tap was faulty! There is a hot and cold water tap for the shower, but when I turned on the hot water tap, it is obviously too hot to shower in it. So I have to turn on a little bit of the cold water tap as well. I barely turned it 1/4 of a round, and the water becomes cold! Water pressure was also terrible. I tried 4 times before I gave up and just hurriedly make do with the cold water to rinse myself and get out of the room.||I then went downstair to inform the front desk, hoping they can either send someone to fix that or change me to a room with no faulty shower. But the response was so bad that I lost my patience with them after a long while. Firstly, do note that they speak limited english and cannot understand you most of the time. We had to communicate via google translate because my broken japanese couldn't bring across my message.||The front desk staff told me that it is because all the marathon runners are now back in the hotel. And everyone is using onsen so that's why I have no hot water in my toilet. I was like what has onsen got to do with the faulty tap in my toilet? Then subsequently she said everyone is showering and all of them has got no hot water. Mind u, I am the only one complaining at the front desk and if all runners do not have warm water in autumn after such a tiring run, wouldn't they all crowd to the front desk to complain as well?||Basically she refused to do anything except ask me to accept the room as it is and wait. At this point, I lost it and insisted she called the manager or the guy who can speak english on the phone cos it was impossible to communicate. I am a paying guest, and was never a demanding or unreasonable one unless I felt I am wronged or shortchanged. I paid ¥47,520 for 2 nights and while not the most expensive of all my stays in Japan, isn't exactly cheap either. I didn't get the room for free or at a discount either! So what kind of service is this to insist the guest continue to use a room with a faulty shower till it mysteriously fixed itself?||Only after I finally raised my voice, the staff then called the manager. Even then, the manager kept repeating the staff's version, which is to ask me to slowly wait till the hot water comes back because all the marathon runners are using the shower! In the end I spent 1 hour in the lobby arguing with them and they refused to change room. Finally, I lost it and told them if they can't change my room, then if there is a need I just top up to save myself out of this misery. And finally they agreed to change me to another room and true enough, the shower taps are not faulty at all! Water pressure was good and there are both hot and cold water which is adjustable. So very obviously their staff are lying through their teeth about all the runners having no warm water!||This is the worst service ever, considering it is in Japan. I don't know if they gave me such bad service because I am a foreigner and not a Japanese. Also note that the amenities provides is so basic that they only provide shampoo with rinse and bath foam. There is no conditioner at all and the 2-in-1 shampoo with rinse is just basically some cheapo shampoo. This is very unlike Japan cos this is the first time I visited a hotel like this. And I had stayed in more than 100 hotels all over Japan during my 13 trips in the past 6 years!||For those of you who are still adventurous enough to stay in this hotel, do take note to stay away from the lake view twin rooms with a lot of carpet! It smells really bad and it is definitely not the tatami cos the newer room which appear more spacious and has less carpet and more tatami doesn't smell as bad. My room is in the main building and I am not sure if the rooms in the central building are better. I went to the 6th floor to do my laundry after my marathon and even the carpet there looks newer and smells better and has no weird smell.||If you are visiting Abashiri, I would highly recommended Hokuten No Aka Lake Abashiri Tsuruga Resort instead. It is a much finer hotel that definitely has better service and no smelly room. I couldn't get a room there this time round because they are fully booked due to...

I booked this hotel for 2 nights because I am here for the Okhotsk Abashiri Marathon and this was the only hotel which was available for me to book. The service is the most atrocious I'd out of so many hotels I had stayed before in Japan.||Firstly, there was a weird unpleasant smell in the room and the carpet looks really dirty. It smelled like smelly salted fish and hong kong feet smell! I feedback to them about it and they send someone to use some machine to freshen the room a bit which helps a little but not much. Because on the night before the marathon, there are many runners all checked into the hotel, so I could understand that the rooms are all fully booked and they couldn't change a room for me. I accepted it since they say they will change me to another room for the 2nd night.||That's when the problem happened. Upon returning from the marathon at around 2-ish pm, I was brought to another room. It smelled equally bad and the carpet was equally dirty. The toilet seemed like it is for people with disability. Nevertheless I concluded that all the rooms prolly has the same unpleasant smell so I decided to let it go since I will check out early the next morning anyway. The staff asked me if I dislike tatami smell because that is the smell of tatami. I had been to Japan 13 times and lost count of the many ryokan or hotel with tatami flooring which I had stayed in before. It is the first time I learnt that tatami smells like smelly salted fish or hong kong feet by the way. Then all the other hotels prolly used fake tatami cos theirs smelled "woody" and doesn't smell like this unpleasant smell at all.||Then I went to shower and realised that the shower tap was faulty! There is a hot and cold water tap for the shower, but when I turned on the hot water tap, it is obviously too hot to shower in it. So I have to turn on a little bit of the cold water tap as well. I barely turned it 1/4 of a round, and the water becomes cold! Water pressure was also terrible. I tried 4 times before I gave up and just hurriedly make do with the cold water to rinse myself and get out of the room.||I then went downstair to inform the front desk, hoping they can either send someone to fix that or change me to a room with no faulty shower. But the response was so bad that I lost my patience with them after a long while. Firstly, do note that they speak limited english and cannot understand you most of the time. We had to communicate via google translate because my broken japanese couldn't bring across my message.||The front desk staff told me that it is because all the marathon runners are now back in the hotel. And everyone is using onsen so that's why I have no hot water in my toilet. I was like what has onsen got to do with the faulty tap in my toilet? Then subsequently she said everyone is showering and all of them has got no hot water. Mind u, I am the only one complaining at the front desk and if all runners do not have warm water in autumn after such a tiring run, wouldn't they all crowd to the front desk to complain as well?||Basically she refused to do anything except ask me to accept the room as it is and wait. At this point, I lost it and insisted she called the manager or the guy who can speak english on the phone cos it was impossible to communicate. I am a paying guest, and was never a demanding or unreasonable one unless I felt I am wronged or shortchanged. I paid ¥47,520 for 2 nights and while not the most expensive of all my stays in Japan, isn't exactly cheap either. I didn't get the room for free or at a discount either! So what kind of service is this to insist the guest continue to use a room with a faulty shower till it mysteriously fixed itself?||Only after I finally raised my voice, the staff then called the manager. Even then, the manager kept repeating the staff's version, which is to ask me to slowly wait till the hot water comes back because all the marathon runners are using the shower! In the end I spent 1 hour in the lobby arguing with them and they refused to change room. Finally, I lost it and told them if they can't change my room, then if there is a need I just top up to save myself out of this misery. And finally they agreed to change me to another room and true enough, the shower taps are not faulty at all! Water pressure was good and there are both hot and cold water which is adjustable. So very obviously their staff are lying through their teeth about all the runners having no warm water!||This is the worst service ever, considering it is in Japan. I don't know if they gave me such bad service because I am a foreigner and not a Japanese. Also note that the amenities provides is so basic that they only provide shampoo with rinse and bath foam. There is no conditioner at all and the 2-in-1 shampoo with rinse is just basically some cheapo shampoo. This is very unlike Japan cos this is the first time I visited a hotel like this. And I had stayed in more than 100 hotels all over Japan during my 13 trips in the past 6 years!||For those of you who are still adventurous enough to stay in this hotel, do take note to stay away from the lake view twin rooms with a lot of carpet! It smells really bad and it is definitely not the tatami cos the newer room which appear more spacious and has less carpet and more tatami doesn't smell as bad. My room is in the main building and I am not sure if the rooms in the central building are better. I went to the 6th floor to do my laundry after my marathon and even the carpet there looks newer and smells better and has no weird smell.||If you are visiting Abashiri, I would highly recommended Hokuten No Aka Lake Abashiri Tsuruga Resort instead. It is a much finer hotel that definitely has better service and no smelly room. I couldn't get a room there this time round because they are fully booked due to...

Let's start with the bad - The Wi-fi is absolutely TERRIBLE. It cuts out all the time, it's slow like it's 20 years ago, and it's downright impossible to watch a simple youtube video with that little worry in the back of your head that it will freeze at some unknown point. In 2024 bad wifi is unforgivable and shameful. At home I can pull 600Mbps, and here it's 10Mbps in the best of times, 0 usually. They should hire a reputable professional to install good wifi. Looking at wifi equipment hung up in the hallways, it seems botched together by maybe someone's little know-it-all nephew.

The building is obviously quite old, and it shows in wear and tear in lots of places. It doesn't take that much effort to patch up some dents and scrapes, clean stains on the floors, and adjust the door closers properly. I don't care that I have to carry a physical key, but it looks stupid if the door closer can't close the door. Allthewhile the door closer on the bathroom door is way too tight and slams the door with too much force. Needs finetuning.

There was absolutely no mention anywhere in the building, on signage or maps of any kind, where the coin laundry is. It's in the central building on 4F-5F-6F. I could've asked the staff and I'm sure they'd be happy to show me how to get there, but I should be able to find out on my own. After all, the Japanese are always keen on providing as much information as humanly possible, which I appreciate, but I don't appreciate if they omit important (to me) details.

The breakfast was rushed a little. It closes at 0900, but at 0820 I was called to ask if I will come to the buffet. Yes, I'll come right away, I haven't forgotten. I felt like I was being rushed, rather than reminded. At 0840 a lovely lady came to my table telling me the buffet closes at 0900. That's 20 minutes away, so why you're telling me this, lady? She also insisted that if I want coffee, I better go get it now. Again, it felt like being rushed, rather than being friendly reminded. The next day I was earlier and no such things happened. I could eat in peace.

Now for the good points.

The staff is really friendly. They will welcome any new visitors at their car, to carry the suitcase inside for them. That's a nice touch. They're always at the entrance ready to wish you a nice day, or to welcome you back. I did feel very welcome in this hotel.

The bath house, contrary to other reviews, I found it actually quite nice. It seemed clean, no weird odour, and no dead critters stuck to the wall. They could do with a good session of deep cleaning the ceiling and upper parts of the walls, but I'm guessing that's not something any hotel does daily, or even weekly.

The bed (western type) had a medium-hard mattress, which is just fine for me. Dimmable lamps on the bedside are a plus, and the carpeted floor feels comfortable. The fact that even the bathroom is carpeted, felt a bit weird, but it's not my problem how they're keeping this clean. At least the toilet and unit bath weren't carpeted.

The breakfast was pretty nice. Combination of international and Japanese items, coffee, milk, and "orange juice" (orange lemonade, really). There is soup, rice, bread, salad items, the works. It seems like it's the same every day though. Maybe a bit of rotation of a the menu would do nice. Might be more interesting for the cooks to have something different to do as well.

The location is perfect as well. Next to the lake, which is beautiful, but still quite close to the city, at less than 10...